.png)
Watch the video of the song “Wake Up Everybody" by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes with Teddy Pendergrass. Composed in 1975, this recording is of the longer original version. Read the lyrics¹.
Wake up everybody no more sleepin' in bed No more backward thinkin' time for thinkin' ahead The world has changed so very much From what it used to be There is so much hatred war an' poverty Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way Maybe then they'll listen to whatcha have to say 'Cause they're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands When you teach the children teach em the very best you can The world won't get no better if we just let it be The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me Wake up all the doctors make the ol' people well They're the ones who suffer an' who catch all the hell But they don't have so very long before the Judgment Day So won'tcha make them happy before they pass away Wake up all the builders time to build a new land I know we can do it if we all lend a hand The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind Surely things will work out they do it every time The world won't get no better if we just let it be The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me Change it yeah, change it yeah, just you and me Change it yeah, change it yeah Can't do it alone, need some help y'all Can't do it alone Can't do it alone yeah, yeah Wake up everybody, wake up everybody Need a little help y'all Need a little help Need some help y'all Change the world What it used to be Can't do it alone, need some help Wake up everybody Get up , get up, get up, get up Wake up, come on, come
on Wake up everybody
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION
The song invokes a variety of voices and speaks to many different vocations. In the spirit and challenge of the song, what would waking up mean for you? What would it look like in your daily life? Consider composing a verse that speaks to your life: I need or want to wake up to _____________. Lord, please help me.
AWAKE
This second week focuses on the word awake. As Christians, we often find ourselves called into cycles of newness and resurrection. The good news is that we are never alone in the process. With God at our side we can trust that every time we are called to wake up to new ways of seeing or being, we are learning more about ourselves and our purpose. Trusting in the process allows us to grow even closer to God. Find all previous daily devotionals here
¹Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes with Teddy Pendergrass. "Wake Up Everybody." Wake Up Everybody, written by John Whitehead, Gene McFadden and Victor Carstarphen, Nov. 1975.