'Wake Me Up When September Ends': 10 Fun Ways To Commemorate Green Day's Hit
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By Uptin Saiidi
In the words of Green Day, “summer has come and past,” and tonight as midnight strikes we’ll be humming the melody of the band’s second highest U.S. selling single, “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” On the surface, we completely understand the mellow-sounding track; it’s that awkward month between summer break and apple picking when the weather is totally bipolar.
But like me, you might have mistaken its meaning. Because of the song’s release date, it’s most commonly thought to be about the events of 9/11, but band member Billie Joe Armstrong clarified the song was actually written as a memorial to his father, who died of cancer in September 1982.
Later, the song was dedicated to the deceased guitarist Johnny Ramone of the Ramones, who died in September 2004.
The song eventually because a tribute to victims of Hurricane Katrina and was performed live with U2 at the first game played after the hurricane in the Superdome in New Orleans.
In honor of today’s timely meaning of the song, we made a list of ten fun ways to commemorate:
1. Blast the song on repeat with loud speakers from your window. Depending on the street you live on, you might get away with this for anywhere between 1 to 17 plays.
2. Host a party and make a playlist on your iPod consisting entirely of this song. When the annoyed guest gets restless of hearing it on repeat, tell him you’ll put it on shuffle.
3. Go to the Broadway musical "American Idiot."
4. Head to a karaoke bar and request to sing it. (I recommend arriving early and telling the host you need to go on as close to midnight as possible).
5. Grab 24 of your closest friends and head to a nearby football game, put body paint (one person per letter) to read "Wake Me Up When September Ends." (Again, arrive early so your group has their own row and so you have time to verify you’re standing in the right order).
6. Text your ex you haven’t talked to in 12 months. “Wake me up when September ends.” Nothing more, nothing less. Whether they’re a Green Day fan or not, it’ll give them a smile and don’t worry about giving off a misconstrued meaning…that totally could have been a mass text.
7. Text your mom. Just be prepared for her to call you around midnight.
8. Start a trending topic on Twitter #WakeMeUpWhenSeptemberEnds
10. Remember the song’s origin as Armstrong’s memorial to his father and the progression to become the tribute to Hurricane Katrina victims.
