Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)

"Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" is a 1966 hit single written and produced by Holland–Dozier–Holland and released as a single by the Four Tops on the Motown label.

The single talks of a man who refuses to believe that his longtime love is leaving him for another man after hearing gossip from neighbors (in this case, Four Tops members Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Abdul "Duke" Fakir and Lawrence Payton and The Andantes) about the woman leaving him behind his back.

Failing to be convinced, the lead singer, Levi Stubbs, pleads somebody to "shake him and wake him up" when, he believes, the nightmare "is over".

When he finally sees his woman with someone else, he still believes he's in a dream.

The song peaked at number eighteen on the US Pop Singles chart adding another hit on the Motown group's lucrative catalog. It peaks at number five on the R&B singles chart.

The Supremes recorded a version for their 1966 hit album The Supremes A' Go-Go.

Barbra Streisand covered Shake Me, Wake Me on her 1975 album, Lazy Afternoon.

Amy Holland also covered this song on her 1983 album On Your Every Word.

Claude François, French singer and composer, covered the French version of that song as Réveille-moi (lit. "Wake me (up)").

It was on Shaun Cassidy's album Wasp in 1980.

Credits

• Lead vocals by Levi Stubbs
• Background vocals by Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Lawrence Payton, and The Andantes (Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps)
• Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers