Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes were the quintessential soul group, a band of talented singers fronted by the Most Beautiful Man In The Room, Teddy Pendergrass. They seemed to spring to life with a series of AM radio hits, including “Wake Up Everybody”, a departure from their classic love songs. It seemed as if we all heard this song at the same time, and it inspired a series of classroom speeches delivered by impassioned classmates who dissected the meaning of this song, line by line.
This is still a poignant message song, the perfect life point instruction that my generation crowded around the radio to hear at a post-Watergate era when American life was rapidly changing. Our San Francisco classrooms were full to bursting, Manson girls were taking pot shots at the President, kung fu movies were the rage and there was a self-awareness for those of us walking in the urban life that was changing into something bolder.
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