"Wonderful to Be Young" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

and released as a single by

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

and

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

in September 1962, from their album '' Wonderful to Be Young''.

Background and release

For release in North America, Paramount Pictures decided to retitle and re-edit the film '' The Young Ones'', in which Richard stars. A new opening sequence was commissioned as well as a new title song. With the film retitled ''Wonderful to Be Young!'', songwriting duo Bacharach and David wrote the title track and it was recorded by Cliff Richard and the Shadows at

EMI Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music ...

, (later renamed Abbey Road Studios) and features piano by Max Harris and female backing vocals by

the Mike Sammes Singers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. "Wonderful to Be Young" was only released as a single in the US and Canada, with the B-side "Got a Funny Feeling", written by the Shadows'

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

and

Bruce Welch Bruce Welch (born 2 November 1941 as Bruce Cripps) is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, singer and businessman best known as a founding member of the Shadows. Biography Welch's parents (Stan Cripps and Grace Welch) moved him to 15 B ...

, which was previously released as the B-side to " When the Girl in Your Arms Is the Girl in Your Heart". The original version of "Wonderful to Be Young" has never been released in the UK; however, a remixed version was released on the 1964 EP ''A Forever Kind of Love'', retitled "It's a Wonderful Life", and several different versions have been released since.

Track listing

# "Wonderful to Be Young" – 2:39 # "Got a Funny Feeling" – 2:54

Personnel

– vocals *

– lead guitar *

– rhythm guitar * Brian Locking – bass guitar *

Tony Meehan Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan (2 March 1943 – 28 November 2005), professionally known as Tony Meehan, was a founder member of the British group the Drifters, with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which would evolve into the Shadows. ...

– drums * Max Harris – piano *

The Mike Sammes Singers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

– backing vocals

Chart position

References

{{Cliff Richard singles Cliff Richard songs 1962 singles Songs with music by Burt Bacharach Songs with lyrics by Hal David Songs written for films Columbia Graphophone Company singles Song recordings produced by Norrie Paramor 1962 songs