"Old and Wise" is a 1982 song by

the Alan Parsons Project The Alan Parsons Project was a British rock band active between 1975 and 1990, whose core membership consisted of producer, audio engineer, musician and composer Alan Parsons and singer, songwriter and pianist Eric Woolfson. They were accompan ...

from the album ''Eye in the Sky''. The song reached number 21 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' AC chart in early 1983 and number 74 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

; the first of the band's singles to chart in that country.

Lead vocal

The lead vocal on the original release of "Old and Wise" was performed by former

Zombies A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in wh ...

vocalist

Colin Blunstone Colin Edward Michael Blunstone (born 24 June 1945) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. In a career spanning more than 60 years, Blunstone came to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the English rock band the Zombies, wh ...

. Blunstone made several appearances on Alan Parsons Project albums, but "Old and Wise" was the only single with Blunstone as lead singer to gain airplay. Blunstone later re-recorded the song for his own two-disc Best Of album, titled ''Old and Wise'', released in 2003. However, an early (demo?) version (without orchestration or the saxophone solo) features

Eric Woolfson Eric Norman Woolfson (18 March 1945 – 2 December 2009) was a Scottish songwriter, lyricist, vocalist, executive producer, pianist, and co-creator of The Alan Parsons Project. Together with Parsons they sold over 50 million albums worldwide. ...

singing lead. It was included as one of the bonus tracks on the 2007 remastered edition of ''Eye in the Sky''.

Cover versions

* Herman van Veen

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

the song on his 1992 album ''You Take My Breath Away (Herman van Veen sings Pop Classics)''. *

Viktoria Tolstoy Louise Viktoria Tolstoy (born 29 July 1974) is a Swedish jazz singer of Russian ancestry. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and the daughter of Erik Kjellberg. Tolstoy was a regular studio guest in season one o ...

on her 2006 album ''Pictures of Me''. *British pensioners group

The Zimmers The Zimmers are an English band formed in 2007 and are thought to have the oldest members of any group in the world. The oldest member, Buster Martin, claimed to have been born in 1906, although some sources indicate he was born in 1913. Martin ...

recorded a cover of the song in 2008, with vocals by Peter Oakley. *Israeli musician Sagi Rei on album Diamond, Jade & Pearls. * Jadis included a cover on their 2001 compilation album Medium Rare.

Sampling

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

"Old and Wise" on "Keisha's Song (Her Pain)", from his album ''

Section.80 ''Section.80'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released on July 2, 2011, by Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). In the years leading up to its release, Lamar previously produced various mixtapes under the moniker K ...

''. *

B.o.B Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. (born November 15, 1988), known professionally as B.o.B, is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Decatur, Georgia, Simmons was signed to Jim Jonsin's Rebel Rock Entertainment imprint in 2006. Two years late ...

sampled "Old and Wise" on "Campaign", from his mixtape ''Fuck Em We Ball''. *

Pryda Eric Sheridan Prydz (, ; born 19 July 1976), also known by his many aliases including Pryda () and Cirez D (), is a Swedish DJ and music producer. He rose to fame with his 2004 hit single " Call on Me", and saw continued chart success with " Pr ...

sampled vocals from "Old and Wise" on the song "Shadows" from his album ''Eric Prydz Presents Pryda''. *

Fat Jon Jon Marshall (born September 8, 1975), better known by his stage name Fat Jon the Ample Soul Physician, is an American hip hop producer and rapper from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a member of the American hip-hop group Five Deez. He is also one h ...

sampled the song in "Everywhere" (track 4) of ''

Lightweight Heavy ''LIghtweight Heavy'' is 2004 studio album by Fat Jon the Ample Soul Physician. It peaked at number 6 on CMJ's RPM chart. Critical reception Matt Whalley of AllMusic gave the album 4.5 stars out of 5 and called it "a downtempo album with a uniq ...

''. *

Styles P David R. Styles (born November 28, 1974), better known by his stage name Styles P (also known mononymously as Styles), is an American rapper, best known as a member of hip hop group the Lox, alongside childhood friends Sheek Louch and Jadakiss ...

sampled the song on "Shadows", from the 2010 album '' The Green Ghost Project''. * Daft Punk sampled two micro vocal samples for their single " Face to Face" from the 2001 album ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old And Wise Songs about old age 1982 singles 1982 songs 1980s ballads The Alan Parsons Project songs Arista Records singles Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Alan Parsons Songs written by Alan Parsons Songs written by Eric Woolfson