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Music by N. Hogan & D. O’Riordan.
Lyrics by D. O’Riordan.
Produced by Stephen Street.
Engineered by Cenzo Townsend assisted by Emma Jane Lennon and Shay Dooher at Windmill Lane, Dublin.
Mixed at Town House Studios, Shepherds Bush (London) by Stephen Street and Cenzo Townsend assisted by Tom Stanley.
Mastered at Sterling Sound by George Marino.
Publishing administered by Universal Music Publishing, Ltd, London.
In an interview given in 2002, Dolores said about the song: “It’s kind of like I have an awakening occurring right now in my life and I kind of just have woken up and I’m smelling the coffee, and it’s kind of like encouraging other people maybe to venture on that beautiful awareness, awakening.”
In an interview to VH1 (2002) Fergal told that the song is “A realization that life isn’t all about work, work, work. Life is to be enjoyed. You’ve only got one chance, and it’s too late when you’re 60 or 70 and you turn around and say, “I should’ve done this, or I should’ve done that.” Follow your heart.” In another interview (2002) he explained what the title of the album and the song means: “It’s a realization. Most of the band has a family now and is married with kids and stuff. They bring so much joy into your life and open your eyes to a different side of life. It’s like, “I’ve finally woken up and smelled the coffee. It’s hit me. This is what it’s all about.”
In November 2001, in an interview to Hot Press, Dolores told: “You do have to wake up to these realities. I can’t believe the amount of young people I know who have, for example, skin cancers. The song ‘Wake Up And Smell The Coffee’ is about myself and becoming aware, in a general sense along these lines. On a more personal level, it’s also about looking at the face of my daughter, seeing myself in her and hoping she doesn’t go through any of sadness I went through.”
Noel explained in 2001 that “’Wake Up And Smell The Coffee’ is a phrase to say, enjoy the moment. We have reach maturity after ten years of some success moments, very bad moments, and moments of a lot of confusion, and now we are adopting that philosophy, to notice everything you have, of the luck you have, and to enjoy everything, because maybe it can be the last chance you have. And that’s what we do, enjoy the album recording process, the concerts, everything!”
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