The Best Morning Wakeup Songs
The right music can set the whole day on a positive trajectory.
Thank you for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection. I wanted to start off by apologizing for last week’s newsletter getting pushed. I had some kind of superflu that really knocked me out of commission. I had luckily already recorded my interview so the video and podcast weren’t affected and came out as usual, but I couldn’t concentrate on writing with the combination of the illness and severe cold medicine fogging up my brain. I’m still recovering, actually, and some things have been pushed back and have yet to be rescheduled. These are the hazards of being a one-man operation. Hopefully the schedule won’t be affected for too long, but it might be a little chaotic for a few weeks. It turns out that the holidays are a tough time to reschedule interviews, but I have some promising things in the works. Thanks for your patience.
With that part out of the way, this week’s newsletter has already been teased by the release of last week’s video and podcast episodes. I’m talking about great songs to play in the morning to prepare for the day.
Let’s get to it.
Many people say they get ideas in the shower. I haven’t really experienced that very often, as my showers are generally much more mundanely spent on the task at hand of getting clean. However, a few months ago, I was getting ready to go out one night and I was listening to music while showering. A song came on, and I couldn’t help but smile and sing along to it. It lifted my spirit and struck me as a song that would put me in a good mood regardless of when I heard it. I played that song on the way to work soon after that, and it woke me up nicely and put me in a great frame of mind for facing the workday. That’s how I came up with the idea of compiling some of my favorite morning wakeup songs.
There are many ways to wake up and face the day. Some people like to be jolted out of sleep so they can avoid falling back to sleep. My morning alarm is a ringtone on my phone that features the drum break from Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.” Some people might not want to use a song they like to wake them up for work each morning, which I can understand. They may grow to resent the song over time. That’s not the case for me.
I can’t stay mad at “In the Air Tonight.” It does give me quite a jolt that allows me to wake up beyond any fear of slipping back below the veil of slumber, and as soon as that initial shock wears off each weekday morning, I smile because that’s one of the most iconic drum breaks in all of rock history and it’s performed by the drummer from my favorite band of all time.
Other folks like to wake more gently, particularly on weekends, when there isn’t always a need to get going anywhere in any particular hurry. That might require a softer approach. Maybe a yacht rock favorite would do the job.
Regardless of whether a phone alarm or an alarm clock is the mechanism used for breaking the barrier between sleep and wakefulness, morning music is an important part of getting into the day for many people. Some listen to music or the radio while getting ready to leave the house and/or during the commute. If I rode transit to work, I’d absolutely have the earbuds in every morning.
I drive to work, and a lot of my commute time is spent listening to podcasts. I’ve always got a long list of shows I want to hear, so that’s a good time to hear big chunks of them. I will sometimes listen to music on a work commute but it’s usually a podcast.
So how do I get into my day through music? I work in a cubicle at my day job and it’s a noisy environment in the morning. People are arriving at the office, getting coffee, talking to each other about some sporting event, movie, or TV show, etc. I like to shut that out, answer any outstanding emails, and start my task list for the day, so I grab my noise-canceling headphones and put on some music. I listen to music any time I’m not in a meeting or making/taking a call. So that first song or album of the day can set the tone for the workday. I’ve learned that certain bands and songs have the ability to energize me or set a positive tone.
I’ve compiled a list of my five favorite morning wakeup songs to help set the proper trajectory for my daily mood. I don’t listen to one of them every day, but I know that if I do, they will properly prepare me to take on the day.
Before I get to those five songs, I have a couple of honorable mentions that nearly made the list but didn’t quite get there.
Honorable Mentions
James - “Sometimes (Lester Piggott)” — This is a great song for a rainy weekend morning when there’s nowhere in particular I need to be. Lyrically, it discusses a severe rainstorm and the tempo is that of driving rain. It builds in intensity, allowing one to take a few moments and slowly reach a fully wakened mental state. The final choral vocal is big and beautiful and I love the line, Sometimes, when I look in your eyes I can see your soul.
Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers - “Hello New Day” — An upbeat song with simple but uplifting lyrics and a jaunty rhythm, it’s a great way to start the day with some positivity.
Well I feel lucky, I feel cool
What can I say?
Every time I give away a dollar or two
I find three more on the way
Now for better or worse, the whole universe
Is singing along with every song I play
Hello new day!
Yes - “It Will Be a Good Day (The River)” — Speaking of a positive way to start the day, Jon Anderson’s lyrics for this underrated Yes gem give any day a bright start, as does the exquisite and intricate Steve Howe guitar work. This is another good weekend waker-upper, when there’s nowhere in particular to be. It’s a great way to ease into the day.
Sometimes I forget
How mighty this earth
Astounding winter skies
Truth is in birth
Peace that it brings to me, my naked eyes
Be a good day
This trio of songs didn’t quite make my top five, but I thought they were still worth bringing up. However, it’s time for the main event.
The Top Five
5) R.E.M. - “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite” — Sure, it’s got the word “sleeps” in the title, but this is a fun, bouncy morning song and it’s great to sing along with in the car, which is always a great way to wake up on the way to the office. The lyrics are weird and opaque, and the chorus is hard to keep up with, but that’s partly why it’s such a great song to wake you up and get you going.
The third single from R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People (1992), “Sidewinder” was released on Feb. 1, 1993 and peaked at No. 28 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Chart, No. 24 on the Alternative Airplay Chart and No. 17 on the UK Singles Chart. It went to No. 1 in Iceland and was that country’s No. 3 song of 1993 on the year-end chart.
Obviously influenced by “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” Michael Stipe borrows the opening “dee dee DEE dee!” from that earlier pop/rock classic. The band may not have rated “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite” very highly, never having performed it live, but it wouldn’t have been an easy one for Stipe to sing night after night either. I love that they left in Stipe’s giggle in the beginning of the chorus after he fails the pronunciation of Dr. Suess’ name. He pronounces it “Zeus” and then proceeds to laugh while singing. It’s just so damned endearing.
Beyond that, it’s kind of a nonsense song, but I love the hodgepodge of lyrics, how peppy it sounds, and how Stipe really sells the vocal in a fun way. It’s got a good energy and makes me happy, which makes it such a good song with which to start the day. In the context of the greater Automatic for the People album, it’s a bit of light in what is otherwise a tonally dark (but brilliant) record.
4) Rush - “The Spirit of Radio” — Rush was always a thinking person’s band and so it’s no surprise that the Canadian trio wrote the perfect morning song with lyrics about listening to the perfect morning song. Lyrically, it starts off in a way that can’t be touched:
Begin the day with a friendly voice
A companion, unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood
Neil Peart’s lyrics celebrating music and the medium of radio are superbly written. The song was inspired by the slogan from Toronto radio station CFNY-FM and features a frantic opening guitar riff by Alex Lifeson meant to mimic radio static — although radio static never sounded so good.
The lead song from Rush’s Permanent Waves album (1980), “Spirit” was released as the record’s first single in February of 1980. It climbed only to No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 but reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named it one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll.
The song immediately grabs the listener’s attention with that Lifeson riff and settles in with the wonderful, upbeat, opening verse quoted above. It goes through a few of those patented Rush twists and turns, but ultimately it just moves me and makes me happy in a way that few songs can, and that’s why it’s on this list. It is the friendly voice I’m beginning the day with, and it is my companion unobtrusive.
3) Iron Maiden - “The Trooper” — I’ll admit that I never grew out of staying up far later than I should when I have to be up in the morning. I did it in high school and college, and I still do it today. When that happens, and I’m dragging badly in the morning, there’s one band that will always get my blood pumping, providing that much-needed morning adrenaline to shake off the cobwebs and get mentally focused, and that is Iron Maiden.
For me, Iron Maiden’s is the quintessential music for waking up when I don’t want to wake up, and “The Trooper” is perhaps the best of their work at clearing my sleep-deprived brain and helping me focus and stay sharp. It’s audio caffeine.
The second single off the band’s Piece of Mind album (1983), Iron Maiden dropped “The Trooper” on June 20, 1983. One of Maiden’s signature ‘gallops,’ the song peaked at No. 28 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Chart, No. 12 on the UK Official Company Charts, and No. 12 in Ireland. Not many bands can pull off a song inspired by Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s 1854 poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” — itself inspired by the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War — but Iron Maiden pulled it off.
It’s a hard-charging, high-octane, brash, loud (yet melodic) metal song that gets my blood (and fist) pumping in the car on the way to work. It’s a song that demands you reach out and crank the volume knob to the right. Adrian Smith and Dave Murray provide amazing dual guitar heroics throughout, while Steve Harris and Nicko McBrain drive the song forward into full gallop, and Bruce Dickinson belts out the lyrics like he’s mad at somebody.
There’s virtually no way to listen to this song without becoming fully awake. It’s the audio equivalent of slamming an energy drink.
2) Queen - “Headlong” — This song has the energy level of “The Trooper,” but whereas the Iron Maiden track beats me over the head, Queen’s song keeps me on my toes in the morning. The driving rhythm laid down by drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon absolutely pulses, and Brian May’s guitar growls like some melodic Hound of the Baskervilles, while the incomparable Freddie Mercury lays down the vocal with his trademark theatrical flourishes. The band changes the end of each iteration of the chorus, requiring a little focus to sing along with in the morning.
The song was the third single from the Innuendo album (1991), Queen’s 14th studio release. “Headlong” dropped as a single on Jan. 14, 1991 in the United States but not until May 13 in the UK — just six months before Mercury’s death. It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and No. 2 on the U.S. Radio & Records AOR Track Chart, as well as No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart. May originally wrote the song intending to use it for his solo album, Back to the Light (1992), but once he heard Freddie sing it, it became a Queen song instantly. May’s guitar solo is top notch
Look, just crank this one up in the car on the way to work and if it doesn’t get you going, forget about the office and head to the nearest clinic to make sure you have a pulse.
1) Electric Light Orchestra - “Mr. Blue Sky” — This is the song that inspired the topic. It’s an infectious song that is fun, happy, bouncy, and it’s virtually impossible not to smile while listening to it. Jeff Lynne channels the Beatles, the Kinks, and even the Bee Gees in this song and yet it comes off as something uniquely ELO anyway.
The second single from the Out of the Blue album (1977), “Mr. Blue Sky” is the fourth and final part of the album’s “Concerto for a Rainy Day Suite.” Released as a single in January of 1978 in the UK, the song only reached No. 35 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, but climbed to No. 6 on the UK Singles chart. It has since become an FM radio staple on classic rock stations in the United States.
That clanging percussive sound is Bev Bevan hitting a fire extinguisher. Seriously! That alone should wake anyone up.
“Mr. Blue Sky” is a peppy, feel-good way to start the day. It’s only just a few ticks over five minutes long but it goes through all kinds of twists and turns, becoming a mini-epic. The patented ELO strings and piano at the end give it a huge, cinematic feel.
To me, it’s just the best song for starting a new day on the most positive note possible. It wakes me up, gets me bouncing instead of dragging, and puts a smile on my face. What could be better?
What are some of your favorite songs to get you going in the morning? If I get enough responses, I’ll share them in the next issue of this newsletter to help spread the joy.
I wanted to get a few outside opinions on morning wakeup songs, so I also spoke to a couple of fellow music fans to get their takes. Dave Zalatoris from the Beer in Front Podcast and Jon Lamoreaux from The Hustle Podcast are the hosts of shows that I enjoy quite a bit and their podcasts are in regular rotation on the commute I discussed above. They each graciously agreed to join me for a discussion of favorite morning wakeup songs, and they had lists that were quite different than mine. You can check out our discussion below to get their lists of five and a few honorable mentions, or you can check out Episode 89 of the Michael’s Record Collection podcast to hear the conversation and clips of the songs. And be sure to check out their excellent shows as well.
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