Lyrics for Wide Awake as interpreted by TannerCKG

Wide Awake Lyrics
You can look a hurricane right in the eye
twelve hundred people dead
or left to die, follow the leaders
were it an eye for an eye
we'd all be blind
deaf or murdered this i'm sure
in this uncertain time

so come pull the sheet over my eyes
so I can sleep tonight
despite what I've seen today
I find you guilty of a crime
of sleeping at a time
when you should have been wide awake

Down on the road the world is floating by
The poor and undefended left behind
While you're somewhere trading lives for oil
As if the whole world were blind

so come pull the sheet over my eyes
so I can sleep tonight
despite what I've seen today
I find you guilty of a crime
of sleeping at a time
when you should have been wide awake

wide awake
wide awake
wide awake
wide awake

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Aeneas
08-30-2006

Rated 0 
First comment (no, I have no idea why I got the song early). There's something really haunting about this song. Its definately political, but it isn't as in your face as a Rage song would have been about this.

Its supposed to be about Hurricane Katrina.

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Harakiri
08-31-2006

Rated 0 
Definately about Bush Government in general and the Hurricane incidents...

Its my favorite song of the new album (not because of its contents) - but it has a similar dark theme like "Like a Stone" from the first album

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__Undiscovered
08-31-2006

Rated 0 
This song is beautiful!! I love it!

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Runningace18
09-01-2006

Rated 0 
I love the chorous of this song.

And the lyrics stand out as well, this is Audioslaves most political song yet... a well written piece about government inaction post-katrina, claiming that people were left to die.

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JoNNieS K
09-02-2006

Rated 0 
pretty obviously condemns the incompetence and hypocrisy of the bush administration.

"I find you guilty of a crime
of sleeping at a time
when you should have been wide awake"

it's basically saying how the administration chose to neglect it's own people when they were most in need....... meanwhile continued to focus solely on their operations in the middle east.

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ZDLR my idol!
09-07-2006

Rated 0 
"The poor and undefended left behind
While you're somewhere trading lives for oil
As if the whole world were blind"

Talking about how the President was still sending troops to Iraq while there are people dieing in America from a disaster. The President should be more concerd about his peoples health and not leaving them to die instead of fighting a "trading lives for oil"(War In Iraq)
As if the hole world were blind, Meaning Bush thinks no one nos what hes doing and thinks hes justified doing what hes doing

peace!

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ElderOblivion
09-08-2006

Rated 0 
This is such a great song...the best one on the album along with "Sound of a Gun", and maybe "Original Fire"....

To sum it all up: Bush is an asshole. A very big asshole. You don't normally get assholes as big as him.

It's pretty obvious it's about Katrina, and the "I found you guilty of a crime" line is a very fine moment indeed...

Don't let the political lyrics overtake the actual song, as it's equally strong...

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Runningace18
09-11-2006

Rated 0 
I agree strongly with what these lyrics are saying.

The connection to the war in Iraq is this. A poor sub-America has formed and while Bush talks so strongly about defending these rights for people across the country, he is denying them to people who actually live in the US.

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qotsa777
09-14-2006

Rated 0 
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Chris has let those bastards make him write politically!!

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ElderOblivion
09-14-2006

Rated 0 
They didn't "make him" do shit...

Cornell wrote this on his own accord...and who could blame him?

The mishandling of the hurricane relief and preparation was one of the most idiotic moves, well, ever...

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woyloyboog
09-14-2006

Rated 0 
The bassist Brad Wilk said this song was "about George Bush and how much of an asshole he is". Direct quote. Clears everything up...

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ST1
09-22-2006

Rated 0 
Yah man, cornell can have his own political views. He preformed for the relief fund for katrina. I think these lyrics are the strongest on Revelations. Theres no point in disputing what its about. Before it was even released, there had been articles stating the significants of wide awake. Bush is still trying to pull the sheet over our eyes and divert our attention to the saftey of America when its all just about greed.

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Themactator
09-27-2006

Rated 0 
Bush is a tool!

As for the song, another great track!

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revel4tion
10-16-2006

Rated 0 
well pretty much everything regarding the bush administration about this song has been said so i'll just say that i really like the chorus guitar riffs and the part towards the end when he screams "wide awakkkeeee". It just oozes with guts and balls

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Runningace18
10-17-2006

Rated 0 
As I listen to this song more and more, the thing that has me hooked on this song is Cornell's voice on the verses. It sounds so accusing, so disgusted with what has happened.

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glorifiedg79
10-18-2006

Rated 0 
this song doesn't have to exclusively be about the bush administration. it's also accusing you of not getting your ass up and improving the world. similar to pearl jam's Life Wasted, their intent was to protect the environment, but still had undertones of "don't waste your life away". this song is just the same.

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Ithelbro
12-08-2006

Rated 0 
This song certainly points the finger at the Bush Administration's complete incompetence on the Katrina issue, and their greed-driven affairs in the Middle East.
Cornell's vocals at the end of the song are at the top of his lungs (spine-chilling). He is not usually so direct or political with his lyrics, but i am more than glad he is with this song. Audioslave is a very passionate band and they ROCK!!

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Ba Bu
12-26-2006

Rated 0 
Chris Cornell himself once said "Music isn't about making politcal statements. It's about the sound and letting meaning find itself in the listener."
Like someone said, it doesn't have to be about Bush specifically. To me, this means that we are wasting time fighting stupid wars when we could be doing so much more.

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metallica 86
12-30-2006

Rated 0 
This song id great except although sometimes I find myself falling asleep in the verse and dying for the chorus to start.

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russellhg13
03-20-2007

Rated 0 
As said before this some is definitely about the pre- and post-Katrina issues. I would go out on a limb to said that this should be a slap in the face of the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin and the Govenor of Louisiana. I would at least hope Chris Cornell either did not write this or that he has enough clarity to see that the tragidy of Katrina was the lack of direction to the poeple of that area from those who have the most oversight and power. The Bush administration failed only in that they did not see and overcome the conplete lack of incompetance of Nagin and company. But I digress, I for one am glad to see Chris Cornell separate from Audioslave so he leave songs as political as this to Rage and those alike.

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THNDR
06-07-2007

Rated 0 
Zack's fans will probably stone me for this, but I prefer the way of this sad yet powerful protesting better than the riotmaking aggression.
This has an effect on your conscience, not your instinct for justice.

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xBrY89x
12-07-2007

Rated 0 
I love the acoustic version on the AOL Sessions disk. Great stuff.

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wanthisdawg
01-23-2008

Rated 0 
to me, it has a much darker feeling compared to the rest of the album. morello's solo/riff with cornell screaming "wide awke" in the end is what makes this sog stand out as ar as it's attitude goes.

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einstiensdog
04-06-2009

Rated 0 
Its interesting, "come pull the sheet over my eyes, so i can sleep tonight" Bush actually had no idea what was going on because was actually sleeping! I am not excusing him in the least, i mean he really dropped the ball and lives were lost and that was a wrong that Bush could never make right. And i think that's why Chris said "I find you guilty of a crime
of sleeping at a time when you should have been wide awake". He literally was sleeping.



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