What a Wonderful World
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| "What a Wonderful World" | ||||
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| Single by Louis Armstrong | ||||
| from the album What a Wonderful World | ||||
| Released | October 1968 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1967 | |||
| Genre | Traditional pop music | |||
| Length | 2:21 | |||
| Label | ABC Records (US) HMV Records (UK) |
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| Writer(s) | Bob Thiele George David Weiss |
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| Louis Armstrong singles chronology | ||||
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"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as George Douglas) and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world (Thiele as a producer and Weiss as a composer/performer). Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. The publishing for this song is controlled by Memory Lane Music Group, Carlin Music Corp., and Bug Music, Inc.
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[edit] History
Intended as an antidote for the increasingly racially and politically charged climate of everyday life in the United States, the song also has a hopeful, optimistic tone with regard to the future, with reference to babies being born into the world and having much to look forward to. The song was initially offered to Tony Bennett, who turned it down.[1] Thereafter, it was offered to Louis Armstrong. The song was not initially a hit in the United States, where it sold fewer than 1,000 copies because the head of ABC Records did not like the song and so did not promote it, but was a major success in the United Kingdom, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart. In the US, the song hit #116 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Chart. It was also the biggest-selling single of 1968 in the UK where it was among the last pop singles issued by HMV Records before becoming an exclusive classical music label.[2] The song made Louis Armstrong the oldest male to top the chart, at sixty-six years and ten months old. Armstrong's record was broken in 2009 when a cover version of "Islands in the Stream" recorded for Comic Relief — which included 68-year-old Tom Jones — reached number one.
ABC Records' European distributor EMI forced ABC to issue a What A Wonderful World album in 1968 (catalogue number ABCS-650) which did not chart in the US due to ABC's non-promotion of it,[3] but did chart in the UK where it was issued by Stateside Records with catalogue number SSL 10247 and peaked on the British chart at #37.
The song gradually became something of a standard and reached a new level of popularity. In 1988, Louis Armstrong's 1968 recording was featured in the film Good Morning, Vietnam and was re-released as a single, hitting #32 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1988. The single charted at number one for the fortnight ending June 27, 1988 on the Australian chart.
[edit] In popular culture
"What a Wonderful World" was used ironically in 1978 radio broadcast of the last episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (first series). The song was later used for the closing titles of the corresponding television episode, and in the first teaser for the Hitchhiker's film, lasting only one stanza before the Earth explodes.
A part of the song was used in The Runner (Davandeh), an Iranian movie. It was included in the soundtrack for the film Good Morning, Vietnam in 1987. It was sung by Willie Nelson for the 1996 film Michael.
The Louis Armstrong version was also used during a sequence in Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine, where it accompanies scenes of violence in a montage about United States intervention in international affairs, as well as having the Joey Ramone cover playing over the ending credits. It has also been used ironically as the theme music to the BBC series A Life of Grime. The Louis Armstrong version was used also in the 2004 Japanese film, Swing Girls, during a scene where the main characters are chased by a wild boar. A Israel Kamakawiwoʻole medley with "Over the Rainbow" was featured in the films Finding Forrester, Meet Joe Black, 50 First Dates and the documentary Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten. Actor Hrithik Roshan recorded the song in his voice to be featured in the 2010 Indian movie Guzaarish.
In December 2011, following the final episode of the nature documentary Frozen Planet, BBC aired an advertisement that consisted of a spoken-word rendition of the song performed by David Attenborough using nature images to illustrate the lyrics.[4]
[edit] Chronological list of covers
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- 1968 Louis Armstrong: million selling original version
- 1968 Eddy Arnold: used in the 2008 Oliver Stone film W.
- 1968 Engelbert Humperdinck: on his album A Man Without Love
- 1968 Frankie Laine on his album "Take me back"
- 1970 Louis Armstrong with the Oliver Nelson's Orchestra, including spoken introduction
- 1970 Tony Bennett: on his album Tony Bennett's Something
- 1988 Willie Nelson: on his album with the same name.
- 1989 Diana Ross performed the song live, releasing it on her Forever Diana: Musical Memoirs 4-CD set
- 1989 Don McLean performed the song live, releasing it on his For the Memories Vols I & II
- 1990 The Flaming Lips on their breakthrough album In a Priest Driven Ambulance
- 1992 Shane MacGowan & Nick Cave: male duet, released as a single
- 1992: Anni-Frid Lyngstad from ABBA and Marie Fredriksson performed the song as a duet at the open-air gala concert "Artister for Miljo"[5]
- 1993 Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: Hawaiian ukulele version (medley with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow") on the album Facing Future
- 1994 Victoria Williams: on her Loose album
- 1995 Natalie Cole, with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras on their live Christmas album A Celebration of Christmas Live From Vienna
- 1997 Major Organ and the Adding Machine: avant-garde cover on the compilation Christmas in Stereo
- 1997 CeCe Peniston: for VA compilation Merry Arizona 97: Desert Stars Shine at Christmas
- 1998 Keb' Mo': on the soundtrack of the film Madeline
- 1998 Accion Mutante: on their EP Y No Hai Remedio
- 1999 Anne Murray: on her album What a Wonderful World, which sold an estimated 2.5 million worldwide. It went #1 Contemporary Christian, #4 Country and #38 Pop on the US Billboard chart. It also spawned a book and DVD. The album was re-released in 2008 as a 14-song set.
- 1999 Kenny G's rendition of the song on his album Classics in the Key of G, in a digital duet with Louis Armstrong
- 2001 Sticky Fingaz: on his album Blacktrash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones
- 2001 Cliff Richard: (medley version with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow") on his album Wanted
- 2002 Joey Ramone: on his posthumous solo album, Don't Worry About Me (recorded just weeks before he died); used in a TV commercial for Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and the soundtrack to the 2003 release of Freaky Friday
- 2002 Raffi on his album Let's Play
- 2002 Tony Bennett and k.d. lang: on the album A Wonderful World
- 2003 Ghoul: on their album Maniaxe
- 2003 B.B. King: on his album of covered R&B standards, Reflections
- 2003 Coldplay covered this song on their A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour
- 2003 Guy Sebastian: on his debut album, Just As I Am (more upbeat alternative arrangement by Sebastian)
- 2003 Sarah Brightman: on her album Harem
- 2004 Kenny G released a recording with his saxophone overdubbed on top of the original version
- 2004 Rod Stewart & Stevie Wonder: on Stewart's album Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III
- 2004 Michael Bublé: on his album Babalu
- 2004 Celine Dion: on her album A New Day... Live in Las Vegas and Miracle
- 2004 LeAnn Rimes: on her album What a Wonderful World
- 2004 Minako Honda: on her album Toki
- 2005 TNT: on their album All the Way to the Sun
- 2006 John Legend recorded his version for his Christmas album.
- 2007 Lesley Garrett recorded her own version for her album When I Fall in Love
- 2007 Mika Nakashima: on her album YES
- 2007 Stacey Kent: on her album Breakfast on the Morning Tram
- 2007 Paolo Nutini: at Live Earth.
- 2007 Katie Melua: singing with Eva Cassidy's version to raise money for the Red Cross. This version also reached #1 in the UK chart in December 2007.
- 2008 Ministry: on their cover album Cover Up
- 2008 Beth Orton: Starbucks Winter Wonderland Compilation
- 2008 Kristin Chenoweth: Recorded the song in a medley with "Sleep Well Little Children" for her Christmas album A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas
- 2009 The Clarks: Recorded for a commercial for the 2009 Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins; appeared on their album Restless Days
- 2009 Christian Bautista on his album A Wonderful Christmas
- 2010 Robert Wyatt recorded a version with Ros Stephen and Gilad Atzmon for the album For the Ghosts Within.
- 2010 Micheal Castaldo: recorded an Italian version of this song on his 2010 album, Aceto.
- 2011 Ainhoa Arteta: on her album Don't Give Up
- 2011 Coldplay: in the Glastonbury Festival 2011, in an electronic organ.
- 2011 Less Than Three: Jonathan Borgia's acoustic version
- 2011 Misia: on her cover album Misia no Mori: Forest Covers.
- 2012 Imogen Heap: covered this song in a New Years video message.
- 2012 Dwayne Johnson: covered this song in the campfire scene in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
| Preceded by "Congratulations" by Cliff Richard |
UK number one single Louis Armstrong version 24 April 1968 (for 4 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap |
| Preceded by "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis |
UK Singles Chart number-one single (Katie Melua & Eva Cassidy version) December 16, 2007 - December 22, 2007 |
Succeeded by "When You Believe" by Leon Jackson |
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.sundancechannel.com/videos/230330900
- ^ http://www.globaldogproductions.info/h/hmv-pop1001-1617.html
- ^ http://www.bsnpubs.com/abc/abc600.html
- ^ Frost, Caroline (December 9, 2011). "David Attenborough Narrates 'Wonderful World' - Stunning Montage From BBC (VIDEO)". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/09/david-attenborough-wonderful-world_n_1138984.html. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
- ^ Oldham, A, Calder, T & Irvin, C: "ABBA: The Name of the Game", page 217. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1995
[edit] External links
- How political is What A Wonderful World? BBC News article about history and meaning of song
- 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow / What A Wonderful World – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole' Mini-Review on Stray Poetry
- Bob Thiele page and listing of piece used in visual media. at the Internet Movie Database
- George Weiss page and listing of piece used in visual media. at the Internet Movie Database
- What a Wonderful World Lead sheet at wikifonia.org
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