Audioslave’s “Wide Awake” Lyrics Meaning

During the summer of 2005, the Southeastern United States suffered from an event known as Hurricane Katrina, The tragedy saw nearly 2,000 people die. Many of these deaths were under what some would deem avoidable circumstances. Or viewed differently, if such a death toll ultimately culminated from a natural disaster that occurred in a poorer, Third World country, spectators may just take them as unpreventable casualties. But since the United States is a richer nation that boasts of a thoroughly-funded, top-class infrastructure, then so many people going on to meet their fate as the result of Katrina has been largely viewed, by Americans themselves, as a failure on the part of the government.

A major part of said criticisms revolved around allegations that the federal government, which at the time was under President George Bush Jr., took its sweet time in responding to the crisis. This was because the bulk of the victims, as Chris Cornell puts it in the second verse, were “poor and undefended”. 

You will notice that immediately after making that statement, he accuses the person who turned their backs on them as rather being “somewhere trading lives for oil”. And verily, the business venture the Bush family is best known for having been involved in, besides politics, is oil. Furthermore, by this time the United States had already initiated the Iraq War as well as the War in Afghanistan, which quite a few, shall we say conspiratorial-minded Americans were actually convinced was about oil.

What “Wide Awake” is all about

So basically what we’re dealing with here, as described by Tim Commerford, is a piece akin to a George Bush Jr. diss track. That is not to say that he’s called out personally. But it is he who is basically being accused of poor, uncompassionate leadership. 

Or as presented, the “crime” he’s “guilty” of in response to Hurricane Katrina is, most simply put, ignoring his own constituents. He ignored them when they were in need of life-saving assistance. Or as the vocalist poetically puts it, he was ‘sleeping at a time that he should have been wide awake’. Simply put, Bush lacked presence in that situation. And this was a situation where the leadership position he was voted into was most needed. 

Indeed, Hurricane Katrina perhaps holds the general distinction of being considered one of the worst-handled disasters in American history. And Bush, may we say as the result of being the character who he is, was the primary recipient of such criticisms.

When was “Wide Awake” released?

“Wide Awake” is a track from “Revelations”, the project which proved to be Audioslave’s last studio album. That is to say that Chris Cornell (1964-2017), the group’s frontman, left the band shortly thereafter. This track was released officially, through Epic and Interscope, on 5 September 2006. 

Upon Cornell’s departure, so basically went Audioslave.

Was “Wide Awake” released as a Single?

No. Audioslave’s “Revelations” album was supported by just two singles. The first of these two singles was “Original Fire”. The other one was “Revelations”.

Credits

Chris Cornell co-wrote this track. He apparently had an affinity for it, as he was known to regularly perform it on his own. A rendition of “Wide Awake” can be found on his 2011 live album “Songbook”.

The other writers of this track were Cornell’s Audioslave bandmates. We therefore have the full list of writers looking like this:

• Chris Cornell
• Tim Commerford
• Tom Morello
• Brad Wilk

The producer of this track is Brendan O’Brien.

Notable Appearance of “Wide Awake”

“Wide Awake” made at least one notable pop media appearance, on the 2006 “Miami Vice” film starring Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell. That said, it should be noted that the song did not actually feature on the movie’s soundtrack.