“Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” —WHAM!

Literary Device Song ProjectMs. McKee08/22/10

Onomatopoeia

“You put the boom boom into my heart”

• “Boom boom” is making reference to the sound of the speaker’s heart beat.

Alliteration

• “You send my soul sky high when your lovin’ starts”

• The repetition of the consonant “s” draws the listener’s attention to the words and emphasizes the impact speaker’s lover has on him.

Assonance

• “You send my soul sky high when your lovin’ starts”

• The use of the long “I” sound draws the audience’s attention to the words “sky high” and demonstrates the dramatic impact the speaker’s lover has on him.

Allusion

• “Jitterbug into my brain”

• This makes reference to the Jitterbug, a 1940’s style swing dance, or to swing dancers, who were also known as Jitterbugs. This demonstrates, once again, the impact the speaker’s lover has on him.

Onomatopoeia

• “Goes bang bang bang till my feet do the same”

• “Bang bang bang” is making reference to the sound of the speaker’s lover has on his brain. She makes his body want to start to move.

Assonance

• “But something’s bugging me, something ain’t right”

• The “uh” sound in the first syllable of each word draws the listener’s attention to the fact that something is wrong with the speaker and that he is really bothered by something.

Assonance

• “My best friend told me what you did last night”

• The “eh” sound in the first syllable of each word draws the listener’s attention to the lyrics. The person who informed the speaker was his closest friend!

Repetition

(The Chorus)•“Wake me up before you go go / Don’t leave me hanging on like a yo-yo / Wake me up before you go go/ I don’t want to miss it when you hit that high…”

The chorus is the most important part of the song. It is repeated to draw the listener’s attention to it and to force the listener to retain the information and think about it after the song is over.

Repetition

• “Wake me up before you go go”

• “Go go” is repeated to put emphasis on the end of the next line with which it rhymes: “yo-yo”. It calls the listener’s attention to the speaker’s desire to be woken up. It brings out the importance of the situation for the speaker

Simile

• “Don’t leave me hanging on like a yo-yo”

• The speaker is comparing his emotional ups and downs to the movement of a yo-yo to create a visual impact on the audience

Alliteration

• “I don’t wanna miss it when you hit that high”

• The “H” sound in the lyrics are repeated to bring to the audience’s attention how much the speaker desires to be with his lover.

Assonance

• “’Cause I’m not planning on going solo”

• The long “O” sound is repeated to emphasis the fact that the speaker does not want to be by himself.

Hyperbole

• “You get the gray skies outta my way”

• The speaker’s lover does not literary turn a dark day into a sunny day, but is an exaggeration for the impact the lover has on the speaker.

Alliteration

• “You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day”

• The “S” sound is repeated to emphasis the impact the speaker’s lover has on him and how she brightens up his day.

Assonance

• “You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day”

• The repetition of the long “I” sound emphasizes the words and demonstrate what a positive impact the lover has on the speaker’s mood

Allusion

• “You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day”

• This makes reference to a 1950’s actress, Doris Day. It is comparing Doris Day to the sun shine

Hyperbole

• “Turn a bright spark into a flame”

• The speaker’s lover cannot literally turn a spark into a flame; it is an exaggeration of how the speaker views his lover and the impact she has on his emotions

Hyperbole

• “Makes me crazy when you act so cruel”

• The speaker’s lover does not literally make the speaker crazy, but this is an exaggeration of the impact the lover can have on the speaker’s emotions