"Wisemen" is a song written by British singer

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...

Jimmy Hogarth Jimmy Hogarth (born 1974, Orkney Islands, Scotland) is a London-based producer and songwriter, whose production and writing credits include, Amy Winehouse, Sia, Tom Grennan, Paolo Nutini, Duffy, Corinne Bailey Rae, Ren Harvieu, Estelle, Tina ...

and

Sacha Skarbek Sacha Skarbek is a British songwriter and producer. He is best known for co-writing James Blunt's hit singles "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover" as well as Miley Cyrus' hit song "Wrecking Ball". Skarbek has worked with artists such as A ...

for Blunt's 2004 debut album ''

Back to Bedlam ''Back to Bedlam'' is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter James Blunt, released on 11 October 2004 through Atlantic Records. It is named after the famous psychiatric institution of Bethlem Royal Hospital, which is commonly ...

''. The song was produced by

Tom Rothrock Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

and Jimmy Hogarth. The song was released as the second single in the first quarter of 2005 and reached the top 50 in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 44. Following the success of "

You're Beautiful "You're Beautiful" is a song by English singer-songwriter James Blunt. It was written by Blunt, Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album, ''Back to Bedlam'' (2004). It was released as the third single of the album in 2005. In t ...

" and "

Goodbye My Lover "Goodbye My Lover" is a song by the English singer-songwriter James Blunt, written by Blunt and British songwriter Sacha Skarbek, for Blunt's debut album, '' Back to Bedlam'' (2004). The song was produced by Tom Rothrock and Jimmy Hogarth ...

", "Wisemen" was re-released in the spring of 2006, number 21 in New Zealand, and at number 23 in the UK. The song was met with positive reviews.

Music videos

The first music video, released in tandem with the first UK release of the single, has Blunt and his band performing in the

Café de Paris Café de Paris may refer to: Establishments *Café de Paris (London), a London nightclub * Café de Paris, Chicago, a Chicago nightclub * Café de Paris (restaurant), Geneva * Café de Paris (Rome), a bar in Rome, Italy * Café de Paris (Cubzac-les ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The only occupants of the café are three middle-aged men, supposedly businessmen, who are accompanied by a young woman. The woman stands and begins to dance in the middle of the room but is ignored by the men. Three masked men, supposedly the wisemen, then enter and kidnap Blunt, putting him into a car and driving to the shore where he is imprisoned in a hastily constructed shack by the seaside, in reference to the lyric, "Those three wisemen, they've got a semi by the sea." The masks were constructed from moulds cast from Blunt's own face. The first music video was filmed in December 2004 and directed by Mark Davis. The second version, which was released in tandem with the UK re-release of the single, has Blunt burning his personal papers and passport in a forest before slowly internally combusting. This video has been released to the US market. During a guest-hosting slot on the BBC2 programme "

Never Mind The Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hoste ...

", Blunt was asked what the line meant and said that "Semi" referred to a "semi-automatic rifle". The second music video was filmed on 3 February 2006 and directed by Paul Minor.

Release

"Wisemen" was first released on 7 March 2005 on three physical formats. The CD single includes an exclusive live performance of "No Bravery". The DVD includes the original video for "Wisemen", exclusive "Making Of" footage and a live audio recording of "Out of My Mind". The 7-inch vinyl includes a live performance of "Billy". The re-release, issued on 13 March 2006, was also available on three physical formats, containing a similar track listing. CD1 includes a live performance of "Out of My Mind", taken from the initial DVD single; CD2 includes the live performances of "No Bravery" and "Out of My Mind", plus the video for "Wisemen"; and the limited edition one-sided 7-inch vinyl features "Wisemen" only. In Australia, the single was released on 17 April 2006.

Chart performance

During its original release, "Wisemen" became Blunt's first single not to chart within the top 40 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, peaking at number 44. Following its UK re-release, the song became his fourth top-40 single when it peaked at number 23 on the same chart, spending a total of six weeks in the top 75. It reached number 11 in Australia and became his third single to reach the top 20. In Canada, the song became an

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

hit, reaching number three on the BDS Airplay chart.

Track listings

2005

CD # "Wisemen" - 3:45 # "No Bravery" (Live) - 3:24 DVD # "Wisemen" (Audio) - 3:45 # "Wisemen" (Video) - 3:50 # "High" (Video) - 3:45 # "Wisemen" (The Making of the Video) - 3:00 7-inch vinyl # "Wisemen" - 3:45 # "Billy" (Live) - 4:12

2006

CD1 # "Wisemen" - 3:45 # "Out of My Mind" (Live at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC) - 3:22 CD2 # "Wisemen" - 3:45 # "No Bravery" (Live) - 3:16 # "Out of My Mind" (Live at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC) - 3:00 7-inch vinyl # "Wisemen" - 3:45

Personnel

– lead vocals,

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

, organ,

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

– acoustic guitar, keyboards * John Nau –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...

– Rhodes piano * John Goodwin – electric guitar *

Amanda Ghost Amanda Louisa Gosein-Cameron (born 10 July 1974), known professionally as Amanda Ghost, is a British music executive, songwriter, singer, and former president of Epic Records (2009–10). Career Born in North London to a Gibraltarian mother an ...

– backing vocals * Sasha Krivtsov – bass guitar * Charlie Paxton – drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2004 songs 2005 singles 2006 singles James Blunt songs Songs written by James Blunt Songs written by Jimmy Hogarth Songs written by Sacha Skarbek Custard Records singles Atlantic Records singles Songs about bullying Song recordings produced by Tom Rothrock