Wonderful Tonight
| Wonderful Tonight | |
|---|---|
| Eric Clapton | |
| publication | November 25, 1977 |
| length | 3:45 |
| Genre (s) | Pop , soft rock |
| Author (s) | Eric Clapton |
| Publisher (s) | Unichappell Music |
| Label | RSO records |
| album | Slowhand |
Wonderful Tonight is a ballad by British rock musician Eric Clapton . The song was released on November 25, 1977 on his fifth studio album Slowhand . The single was ranked 16th on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 30 in seven other countries. The recording produced by Glyn Johns has received musical awards in eleven countries and is Clapton's most successful internationally , with more than four million records sold and over 400 radio transmissions per day Single. The piece has been published on more than 50 albums, has been covered many times and has been used in numerous films and series.
Origin and admission
Clapton wrote the song on September 7, 1976. He was inspired by Pattie Boyd , whom he married about three years later. Clapton had seen her dress up for Paul and Linda McCartney's Buddy Holly party. Compared to the British newspaper The Guardian Boyd said: "Clapton sat and played guitar , trying above to get dressed. It took me so long and panic about my hair and clothes. I went downstairs thinking he was going to scold me, but he just said, 'Listen to this!' and had written the song in the meantime ”. ("Clapton was sitting round playing his guitar while I was trying on dresses upstairs. I was taking so long and I was panicking about my hair, my clothes, everything, and I came downstairs expecting him to really berate me but he said, ' Listen to this! '. In the time she had taken to get ready Clapton had written this song “). Because Clapton didn't want to be late for the party and Boyd shouldn't change his clothes one more time, he said to her: “You look wonderful tonight” (“You look wonderful tonight”). Clapton himself describes Wonderful Tonight as "simple, handmade and mostly acoustic"; “I got back to my guitar and the lyrics to the song just flowed out of me. I wrote the whole thing in about ten minutes, actually rather angry and frustrated. "
Wonderful Tonight was recorded at Olympic Studios in London in May 1977 . In addition to Clapton as guitarist and singer, Carl Radle on bass , Jamie Oldaker on drums , Dick Sims on keyboards and the background singers Marcy Levy and Yvonne Elliman also played . Slowhand album producer Glyn Johns placed great emphasis on discipline and accuracy during the recording process. However, since Johns realized that Clapton could also work in alcohol and drug intoxication, his principles were in the background during the "slowhand sessions": "Although the band and I were stoned or drunk most of the time , Johns was happy with the recording" says Clapton.
Musical structure
The title is in the key of G major and is played in 4/4 time at a moderate tempo of 96 BPM .
(Music quote from Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight on RSO 2090 275)
content
In the first verse of the song, Clapton describes that it is late in the evening ("It's late in the evening") and how Boyd ponders what clothes to wear ("She's wondering what clothes to wear") and how she does makeup ("She puts on her make up") and combs her long, blonde hair ("And brushes her long blonde hair"). Boyd asks Clapton during the first bridge if she looks good (“And then she asks me, 'Do I look alright?'”), And Clapton replies that she looks wonderful tonight (“And I say, 'Yes, you look wonderful tonight '"). In the second stanza of the piece it is described that Clapton is going to a celebration with Boyd and that everyone turns to the wonderful woman ("beautiful lady") who is with him. In the second bridge, the question-and-answer element appears again between Boyd and Clapton when she asks him whether he feels good ("Do you feel alright?") And Clapton replies: ("Yes, I feel wonderful tonight" ). In an interlude accompanied by the lyrics , Clapton explains that he feels wonderful ("I feel wonderful; Because I see the love light in your eyes") and finds it amazing that only Boyd does not realize how much he loves her ("And the wonder of it all; Is that you just don't realize how much I love you"). The third and final stanza of the piece describes that it is time to go home as Clapton has a headache . He gives Boyd the car keys and she helps him go to bed. The song ends with a repetition of the lyrics "My darling, you are wonderful tonight" when Clapton turns off the light in the room.
Publications and live performances
On the release of the piece, Clapton wrote in his autobiography: “In any case, I wasn't overly impressed with the song, for me it was just a little song that I could just as easily have discarded. It was the first time I played it to Pattie around the campfire at Ronnie Wood's and he liked the song, so I thought, maybe you'd better keep it. "
An interpretation recorded in December 1979 in Nippon Budōkan appeared in April 1980 on the live album Just One Night . The recording is 4 minutes and 42 seconds long and was produced by Clapton and Jon Astley. Clapton played the piece together with Albert Lee as second guitarist and organist. Henry Spinetti acted as drummer, Chris Stainton as keyboardist and Dave Markee on bass on the new version. On October 8, 1991, a nine-minute live version of the song appeared on the double album and DVD 24 Nights . Guitarist Phil Palmer , drummer Steve Ferrone , bassist Nathan East , keyboardist Greg Phillinganes , percussionist Ray Cooper and singers Tessa Niles and Katie Kissoon took part in this performance . Before Clapton's last guitar solo, Kissoon took on a vocal part in the piece.
In November of the same year the single was released as Wonderful Tonight (Edit) together with the B-side Edge of Darkness under the label Duck Records. When the recording producer, Russ Titleman, played this version to Clapton after his son's death, Clapton wrote, “[…] this song [had] a very calming effect on me for whatever reason, and I could the night after finally sleep again. "
Further variations of the piece were used in the concert films Live in Hyde Park from 1997 and Planes, Trains and Eric from 2014 as well as on the live album and the video recording One More Car, One More Rider from 2002. The title also appeared on the compilation albums Timepieces: The Best of Eric Clapton from 1982, Backtrackin ' from 1984, The Cream of Eric Clapton from 1987, Crossroads from 1988, The Cream of Clapton from 1995, Crossroads 2: Live in the Seventies from 1996 , Blues and Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton from 1999, Ballads from 2003, 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Eric Clapton from 2004, Complete Clapton from 2007, Icon from 2011, Slowhand Deluxe and Slowhand Super Deluxe from 2012, Forever Man from 2015 and 50 other albums.
On March 28, 1979, one day after the wedding of Boyd and Clapton, he and his band started a three-month tour of the USA in Tucson . When the musicians were playing Wonderful Tonight , Clapton asked his wife on stage to sing the song for her. Even during other appearances on the tour, Boyd was on stage for this piece.
On June 11, 1988, Clapton performed the song together with Dire Straits as part of the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium . Clapton often plays the title at his concerts, including the Journeyman , 1992 and Reptile World Tour . In 2011 Clapton played the song in an acoustic version with Steve Winwood during his Japan tour .
Cover versions and adaptation
The British R&B band Damage covered the song and released it on April 28, 1997 together with the B-side I'm Ready on the Big Life Records label. The release produced by Steve Mac reached number five in the UK Top 40 charts as well as another five country charts and is still the band's most successful single. In 1998 the Texan country singer David Kersh recorded a version of the piece on Curb Records . His rendition, produced by Pat McMakin, reached number 29 on the Billboard country charts and 45 on the Canada Country Tracks chart.
In 1980, the American country singer Charlie Rich recorded Wonderful Tonight for his album Once a Drifter . The piece was produced by Jim Ed Norman. In 1989 a version in Spanish was released by the Argentine singer JAF. Another country interpretation was released in 1990 by Butch Baker on Mercury Records . His single was number 66 on the country charts. In the same year the band Kotch released a reggae cover along with two B-sides on a 12 ″ record under Mango Records. In 1999 the Dutch singer Günther Neefs recorded an interpretation produced by Marc De Coen for The Love Album .
The Filipino Ramon "RJ" Jacinto covered Wonderful Tonight for his 2000 work The Ultimate RJ Bistro Collection . In 2005 the song appeared on his compilation Rock 'n Roll Classics . The American country musician Don Williams released a version of the title on his album My Heart to You in 2004 . In 2006 a cover version of the German singer Mike Leon Grosch was released . The recording was produced by Ingo Politz and Bernd Wendlandt. The Canadian jazz singer Michael Bublé adapted the song for his album Call Me Irresponsible in 2007. Music producer and singer Babyface covered the song for his album Playlist . Khalil Fong recorded another version of the piece for his album Timeless in 2009.
The song appeared in the movie Captain Phillips and on May 18, 2000 in Friends episode 25 of season 6, The One With the Proposal Part 2 , while the characters Monica and Chandler dance to the song after their engagement. The title was also used in the 27th episode of the first season of the series Gent de paraula and in Teddy's Short Story from 2011. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of WWE Monday Night Raw , Dwayne Johnson wore a parodied version of the song for Vickie Guerrero in front. In November 2013, actor Jeremy Irons presented the song on the Canadian talk show George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight .
Criticism
Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald called the song the "most touching ballad of the decade". Musically it is a mixture of country and pop music. The Japanese music journalist Ayano Miyahara of the Yomiuri Shimbun commented on the title: “This song expresses both Clapton's passionate, masculine and sentimental side.” Miyahara also found that the lyrics and the melody harmonize perfectly. Critics of the website reviewstream.com described the song as "one of the best love songs of all time" and praised the simple structure of the song.
Anke Rüdiger from the Süddeutsche Zeitung described the ballad as a “breakthrough to a world star” and particularly emphasized Clapton's “love-sounding song”. Rüdiger awarded the title 5 out of 5 points and in retrospect recognized the song as “Song of the Month (May 2000)”. Andreas Güllner from the Sächsische Zeitung describes in his “Classic Review” that Clapton's “title impressively reflects his skills as a singer, guitarist and songwriter”. Güllner describes Clapton's guitar work as "excellent" and "virtuoso". He concluded by saying that the title was an absolute evergreen. In 1992, Stephan Dieckmann of Radio NRW described the song as "a good balance against the unplugged hype". Guitar World journalist Kory Grow called Wonderful Tonight "the ballad of the century" in retrospect.
Commercial win
In 1978 the single reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed in the charts for 17 weeks. In Canada the single reached number 15 on the RPM 100 singles chart and number 26 in New Zealand on the Recorded Music NZ charts. Nine years later, the song hit the charts again, ranking 81st in the UK and high in Belgium , the Netherlands and Ireland . The live version from the album 24 Nights reached number 30 in the UK single charts on November 16, 1991. In 1999 the single placed at position 17 on the Flemish Ultratop 50 charts. With the release of Complete Clapton in 2007, the title reached number 86 on the South Korean Gaon Chart . The publication also received a musical award in Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Yomiuri Shimbun lists sales of more than 1 million records in Japan. The data listed here results in more than one and a half million singles sold worldwide.
| Country / Region | Award | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales) |
||
 Japan (RIAJ)
|
 diamond
|
1,000,000 |
 United States (RIAA)
|
 gold
|
500,000 |
 United Kingdom (BPI)
|
gold
|
400,000 |
| All in all |
2 × gold 1 × diamond |
1,900,000 |
Web links
- Lyrics of Wonderful Tonight on Golyr.de
- Original version by Wonderful Tonight
- Live interpretation from the publication 24 Nights
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eric Clapton Detailed Song List. (No longer available online.) Songwriters Hall of Fame , archived from the original on April 3, 2015 ; accessed on March 22, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Chris Smith: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History: From arenas to the underground, 1974-1980 . Greenwood Press, 2006, ISBN 0-313-32937-0 , pp. 102 .
- ^ BMI Special Citation of Achievement - Eric Clapton. Equipboard, accessed March 11, 2015 .
- ↑ Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. Songfacts, accessed March 23, 2015 .
- ↑ a b c d Eric Clapton: My Life . 3. Edition. Kiepenheuer & Witsch , Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-462-03934-4 , pp. 181 .
- ↑ SLOWHAND. Music Direct, accessed March 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Slowhand at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Just One Night at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ 24 Nights at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight (Edit) / Edge Of Darkness. 45cat, accessed March 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Eric Clapton: My Life . 3. Edition. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-462-03934-4 , pp. 225 .
- ↑ a b Wonderful Tonight at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Eric Clapton: My Life . 3. Edition. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-462-03934-4 , pp. 189-191 .
- ↑ Dire Straits & Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight Wembley - 88 on YouTube
- ↑ Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood Live at the Budokan 12/3 2011 on YouTube
- ↑ Official Singles Chart Top 100 - 11-05-1997 - 17-05-1997. Official Charts Company , accessed March 23, 2015 .
- ^ David Kersh - Chart history. Billboard , accessed March 23, 2015 .
- ^ David Kersh - Chart history. Billboard , accessed March 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada. (No longer available online.) Collections Canada, August 24, 1998, archived from the original on December 13, 2014 ; accessed on March 23, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Charlie Rich - Wonderful Tonight. Swiss hit parade , accessed on April 6, 2015 .
- ↑ Letra de la Cancion Maravillosa esta noche - JAF. Retrieved March 22, 2015 .
- ↑ We Will - Butch Baker at Allmusic (English)
- ^ Butch Baker - Chart history. Billboard , accessed March 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Kotch - Wonderful Tonight at Discogs
- ^ Günther Neefs - Wonderful Tonight. Swiss hit parade , accessed on April 6, 2015 .
- ↑ Ramon Jacinto cover of Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight. Who Sampled, accessed March 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Don Williams, Wonderful Tonight. Last.fm , accessed March 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Mike Leon Grosch - Wonderful Tonight. Swiss hit parade , accessed on April 6, 2015 .
- ↑ Call Me Irresponsible at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Playlist - Babyface at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Khalil Fong: Timeless 可 啦 思 刻. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 25, 2014 ; accessed on March 22, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Captain Phillips - Soundtrack in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ "Friends" The One With the Proposal Part 2 - Soundtrack in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ “Gent de paraula” Episode # 1.27 (TV Episode 2011) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Teddy's Short Story (2011) - Soundtracks in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ The Rock Plays Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight". (No longer available online.) College Humor, January 29, 2013, archived from the original on March 18, 2015 ; accessed on March 23, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Jeremy Irons singing Wonderful Tonight on YouTube
- ↑ a b c Ayano Miyahara: 12 月 23 日 か ら エ リ ッ ク · ク ラ プ ト ン の 最高 の バ ラ ー ド! In: Yomiuri Shimbun . 2003, p. 12 .
- ↑ Eric Clapton - Wonderful tonight (song) review. Review stream, accessed March 11, 2015 .
- ^ Anke Rüdiger: Clapton album 2000 . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . May 2000, p. 11 .
- ^ Andreas Güllner: Classic Review . In: Saxon newspaper . 2004, p. 15 .
- ↑ Stephan Dieckmann: acoustic pop as far as the eye can see! In: NRW Radio (internal) . 1992, p. 5 .
- ↑ Kony Grow: Looking Back . In: Guitar World . May, 2009.
- ↑ Eric Clapton - Chart history. Billboard , accessed March 11, 2015 .
- ↑ Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada. (No longer available online.) Collectionscanada, June 29, 1978, archived from the original on December 13, 2014 ; accessed on March 11, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight. New Zealand Charts, accessed March 11, 2015 .
- ↑ ERIC CLAPTON - Official Charts Company. Official Charts Company , accessed March 11, 2015 .
- ↑ Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight. Ultratop, accessed March 11, 2015 .
- ^ Gaon Chart. Gaon Chart , accessed April 3, 2015 (Listed as 96th place; previous 86th position, see arrow.).
- ^ RIAA - Gold & Platinum Searchable Database. Recording Industry Association of America , accessed March 23, 2015 .
- ↑ Certified Awards. British Phonographic Industry , accessed March 23, 2015 .
