"Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a song by American rock band Green Day, released on June 13, 2005, as the fourth single from the group's seventh studio album, American Idiot (2004). The song was written by frontman Billie Joe Armstrong regarding the death of his father.

The song became a hit single, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also a top ten single in the United Kingdom, Belgium, New Zealand, and was a number one single in the Czech Republic. In the United States, the song became symbolic after Hurricane Katrina, where it was dedicated to victims of the disaster and also regarded as a dedication to the victims of the September 11 attacks that occurred in 2001. The song became the fourth single from American Idiot to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The song's music video depicts a couple broken apart by the Iraq War, which was intended to convey the song's central theme of loss.

"Wake Me Up When September Ends" was written by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong about his father, who died of cancer in September 1982 when Billie Joe was ten. Armstrong, at one point, dubbed the song the most autobiographical he had written to that point, considering it "therapeutic" but also difficult to perform.

The song is largely unrelated to the storyline that is central to American Idiot.

The single peaked at number six in the United States, becoming Green Day's second top 10 single. It also peaked at number 8 in Canada and the UK, while making number 13 in Australia. "Wake Me Up When September Ends" had sold 1,652,000 copies as of May 2010, and was the second highest-selling single in the US from American Idiot, behind "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". The song ended the streak of Green Day's three consecutive number one hits on the Modern Rock Tracks chart ("American Idiot", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Holiday"), but it hit number 2 on the chart, kept from number one by Gorillaz "Feel Good Inc.". The song also hit number 2 on the Adult Top 40 and number 4 on the Mainstream Top 40. This was the band's most successful song to the adult contemporary market, hitting number 13 on its own chart and their only song to chart other than "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". The song was certified Silver in the United Kingdom for sales of 200,000.

...
Wikipedia