Wonderful World
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Wonderful World is a 1960 song by Sam Cooke that was written by him, Herb Alpert, and Lou Adler .
history
Wonderful World was recorded on March 2, 1959 and released as a single on April 14, 1960. On the B-side is the piece Along the Navajo Trail . The song is sometimes confused with the Louis Armstrong song What a Wonderful World because of its title .
The text is about a young man declaring that he has no idea about history, biology, etc., but that he loves the sung. Although he knows that he will not manage to become a better student, he wants to try, because then he might have a better chance of winning her love for himself. If she loved him too, this would be a wonderful world.
In the USA, Wonderful World reached number 12 on the singles chart. In the R&B charts, the title came in at number 2.
The song first appeared on an album after RCA bought the rights to the Keen recordings, on The Wonderful World from 1957 to 1962 . The song has been used in films such as I think I'll kick a horse , Breathless , The Only Witness, and Hitch .
In 1986 the song was re-released with great success after being popularized again by a Levi's jeans advertisement. Although the version was sung by Tony Jackson in the commercial, the original was able to occupy number two in the charts in Germany for a week and was charted for a total of 23 weeks. In 2004 the song reached number 373 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 best songs of all time .
Cover versions
The title has been covered by Otis Redding , Bryan Ferry , Johnny Nash , Saragossa Band , Terence Trent D'Arby , Tony Jackson, The Flying Pickets and Roger Whittaker , among others .
The most successful cover version comes from Herman's Hermits , who reached number 4 in the US charts with their single and reached number 7 in the UK.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charts DE Charts UK Charts US .
- ↑ US catalog number Keen 2112. It was the last hit for Cooke on the Keen label , shortly before that his first single had already been released on his new label RCA Records .
- ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 132.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top 40 R&B and Hip-Hop Hits. 1942-2004. New York, NY: Billboard Books, 2006, p. 121.
- ^ Tilch, KD: Rock LPs 1955-1970. Vol. 1: AE . 3rd ext. Hamburg: Taurus Press, 1990, p. 342.
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/apr/14/levi-jeans-501-relaunch-1986
- ↑ US catalog number MGM 13354.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 273.
- ^ Nugent, Stephen / Fowler, Anne / Fowler, Pete: Chart Log of American / British Top 20 Hits, 1955-1974 . In: Gillett, Charlie / Frith, Simon (eds.): Rock File 4 . Frogmore, St. Albans: Panther Books, 1976, p. 192.