“I Need to Wake Up” is a song by Melissa Etheridge, written for the 2006 documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth. It is the first instance of a documentary film winning the Best Song category, beating three songs nominated from the musical film Dreamgirls and one from the Pixar animated film Cars. Etheridge received the 2006 Academy Award for Best Original Song for “I Need to Wake Up”. Upon receiving the award, she noted in her acceptance speech: “Mostly I have to thank Al Gore, for inspiring us, for inspiring me, showing that caring about the Earth is not Republican or Democrat; it’s not red or blue, it’s all green.” The song was on the enhanced version only of her greatest hits album, The Road Less Traveled. (More from Wikipedia)
Dreamgirls created drama at the Oscars that year to match what was being portrayed on the screen. Despite not being nominated for Best Director or Best Picture (or any nominations for Best Actor or Best Actress either, for that matter), Dreamgirls had the most Academy Award nominations in 2007 with eight – a first at the Academy Awards. In a rare feat for an actor in a debut role, Jennifer Hudson was named Best Supporting Actress, but Eddie Murphy’s loss to Alan Arkin (for his role in the quirky and delightful comedy Little Miss Sunshine) as Best Supporting Actor was regarded as an upset. Three of the songs from Dreamgirls were nominated for Best Song, but they also lost out to the Melissa Etheridge song “I Need to Wake Up” from the Al Gore documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth.
(April 2015/1)
