Shooter Jennings lived his first few years in a crib on his parents' tour bus. By age five, he was playing drums. Between tours, he took piano lessons. He started playing guitar at fourteen and sometimes played in his father's band. He and his father recorded a few things together when they happened to have some microphones set up and the tape recorder plugged in. At age sixteen, Jennings discovered rock 'n' roll.
As an adult, Jennings left Nashville, Tennessee to seek his fortunes in Los Angeles. He assembled and performed with Stargunn, a southern rock band whose sound he described as Lynyrd Skynyrd mutating into Guns N' Roses. Stargunn performed at local clubs for six years, built a rabid following and earned praise from the local music press. But the Hollywood party scene eventually began to bother him. He says, "I was posing as a rocker—a country guy trying to be something he wasn't."
On March 30, 2003, Jennings dissolved Stargunn and moved to New York City to spend time with his girlfriend and sort out what he wanted to do next. An unexpected gig at the House of Blues a few weeks later revived his creativity. He returned to Los Angeles to form another band, the 357s. After six weeks in the studio, he completed his first solo album, Put the O Back in Country. Universal South released the album in early 2005.
Jennings portrayed his father in the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line. He is the host of Shooter Jennings' Electric Rodeo, a two-hour weekly music show on Sirius Satellite Radio's Outlaw Country channel. He currently dates Drea de Matteo. Shooter Jennings' second solo album "Electric Rodeo" was released on April 04, 2006.
Wake Up!
Shooter Jennings Lyrics
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Make good neighbors
For you my friend
This might be true
But you still gotta put
The boards on the windows
That t.v. in the corner
That's their greatest tool
They poison you mind
When you're a child
With their fear
And their guilt
And their rules
They teach you that you're just a number
As they program you in school
So by the time you're out
In their world on your own
You've been trained not to bite
The hand of the cruel
Source
Wake up!
Don't believe that the system is failing
Don't believe that the planet is dead
They'll keep all the food for their fat fucking bellies
And the starving will kill or be fed
And they'll try to turn me against you
So divided we'll turn to them
Because anything strong cannot be conquered from without
Before first being conquered from within.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Life is a movie we are all actors
Don't let them edit you out.
Life is a movie we are all actors
Don't let them edit you out.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
In Shooter Jennings's song Wake Up! the lyrics depict a message of awareness and rebelliousness towards the conformist society. The first verse sets up a scenario where society is trying to impose its rules and restrictions to people, where "good fences make good neighbors" implies that people should respect each other's boundaries, but "boards on the window to the soul inside of you" indicate that people should not let anyone control their mind or spirit. The second verse talks about how the media and traditional schooling provide a subset of ideas meant to poison one's mind with fear, guilt, and rules. Society teaches people to conform to an artificial system where they are not individuals, but rather numbers one from many. Therefore they are groomed to accept any form of cruelty as their destiny. The chorus exclaims the need to awaken and not believe that the system is failing or that planet is dead. The verse continues with the powerful imagery of people being starved while the elites consume all food for their "fat bellies," thereby depleting the hope of survival for the masses. Society attacks people by dividing and conquering them against each other, but it cannot do so externally as humans are strong, so they must first be conquered from inside, leading to the final chorus of not letting society get people down, which should encourage to stand up to it.
Line by Line Meaning
They say good fences
Make good neighbors
There is a common saying that good boundaries make for good relationships between people.
For you my friend
This might be true
This advice may hold particularly true for you, my friend.
But you still gotta put
The boards on the windows
To the soul inside of you
However, you still need to protect your innermost self from negative external forces, much like boarding up windows in a house.
That t.v. in the corner
That's their greatest tool
The television is a powerful tool that those in power use to influence people's thoughts and beliefs.
They poison you mind
When you're a child
They begin to poison your mind at a young age with the messages they broadcast through media.
With their fear
And their guilt
And their rules
The messages they send are often fear-based and guilt-inducing, and serve to enforce certain restrictive rules and beliefs.
They teach you that you're just a number
As they program you in school
In the education system, they teach you to see yourself as nothing more than a number, and to conform to the standards they set for you.
So by the time you're out
In their world on your own
You've been trained not to bite
The hand of the cruel
By the time you leave school and enter the wider world, you've been conditioned not to resist or stand up against those who are cruel to you.
Wake up!
It's time to wake up and see the truth behind the messages you're receiving.
Don't believe that the system is failing
Don't believe that the planet is dead
They'll keep all the food for their fat fucking bellies
And the starving will kill or be fed
Don't be fooled into thinking that the system or the planet is failing; in reality, those in power are hoarding resources and allowing people to starve.
And they'll try to turn me against you
So divided we'll turn to them
Because anything strong cannot be conquered from without
Before first being conquered from within.
Those in power will try to turn us against each other, but we must remember that a united front is the strongest defense against external forces.
Life is a movie we are all actors
Don't let them edit you out.
Life is like a movie, with all of us playing our part. Don't let those in power cut you out of the story or edit your true self.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't let them get you down.
Don't allow those in power to discourage or defeat you. Keep fighting and standing up for what you believe in.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
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