Avichii’s “Wake me Up” featuring Aloe Blacc on vocals is definitely one of my recent obsessions. I love the mixture of EDM and country, and I read a review calling it “Mumford and Sons on speed”, which admittedly, I would probably enjoy listening to.

I love the music, which is Avichii’s doing, but Blacc does a great job on the vocals as well, which he wrote.

The first half of the first stanza is purely feelings about being young and inexperienced in the world:

 Feeling my way through the darkness
                    Guided by a beating heart
                     I can’t tell where the journey will end
                     But I know where to start

And then come the assholes telling him he’s doing it all wrong.

They tell me I’m too young to understand
                    They say I’m caught up in a dream
                     Well life will pass me by if I don’t open up my eyes

You know what, who cares? If this is a dream, it’s a good one.
Well that’s fine by me

So wake me up when it’s all over
                       When I’m wiser and I’m older
                       All this time I was finding myself
                       And I didn’t know I was lost

There might be a hint of sarcasm to the chorus. Like, how are you going to wake up wiser and older without all the experiences and mistakes that got you there? Also, I love the different meanings that can be taken by the last two lines. Is it saying that you can find yourself without trying? Is it a sarcastic “oh-ho, guess I must have been lost because you say I was…”? Or maybe something else entirely.

So now, he tells them why he’s not going to worry about doing everything right:
  I tried carrying the weight of the world
                     But I only have two hands

And yeah, he has some dreams… but they’ll either work out or they won’t; he’s not going to stress about it right now.
 I hope I get the chance to travel the world
And I don’t have any plans

(I love those two lines, because as a procrastinator, I wholeheartedly relate.)
I wish that I could stay forever this young
Not afraid to close my eyes

(Me too, man, me too)
  Life’s a game made for everyone
                   And love is a prize

(probably the cheesiest line in the song, but it’s still a nice sentiment.)

  So wake me up when it’s all over
When I’m wiser and I’m older
All this time I was finding myself
And I didn’t know I was lost

do do do do do do do, deh deh do doo doo deh deh! (those are techno noises, if you couldn’t tell.)

Also, you can totally do the cotton eyed joe to certain parts of this song. win!

Anyway, I totally relate to this song, I love it’s catchiness, and I’m glad it was dubbed a summer anthem, because a great anthem it certainly is.