"Wonderful World" is a song written by Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett and first recorded and released by British singer

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 ...

Recording and release

"Wonderful World" was recorded by Richard as a potential song for the

Eurovision Song Contest 1968 The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's first victory at the with the song " Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw. Despite havi ...

. It was first performed on 5 March 1968 on '' A Song for Europe'', the UK national selection television programme for the Contest. The song came third in the vote, losing out to "

Congratulations Congratulations may refer to: Film and television *'' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'', 2005 television programme to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary Music Albums * ''Congratulations'' (album), an album by ...

" and "High 'n' Dry". "Congratulations" backed with "High 'n' Dry" was then released as a single in March 1968. "Wonderful World" was first released in May 1968 on the EP ''Congratulations: Cliff Sings 6 Songs for Europe'', which included all six shortlisted songs sung by Richard for the Eurovision national selection process. "Wonderful World" was only released as a single in Belgium and Japan. It was first released in Belgium in August 1968 with the B-side "

I'll Love You Forever Today "I'll Love You Forever Today" is a song by British singer Cliff Richard released as a single in June 1968. It peaked at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart. Release and reception "I'll Love You Forever" was written for the film ''Two a Penny'' b ...

", which had been released as a single in the UK. It was released in Japan several months later with the B-side "Little Rag Doll", written by Mike Leander, and which was also recorded as a potential Eurovision song. "Wonderful World" was also released as the B-side to the French release of "I'll Love You Forever Tomorrow". Richard also recorded a German-language version in October 1968, also titled "Wonderful World" (the song features the lyrics "Wonderful World", but the rest are in German). It was released in March 1969 as the B-side to "Zärtliche Sekunden", the German-language version of " Don't Forget to Catch Me".

Track listing

7": Columbia / DCB 121 (Belgium) # "Wonderful World" – 2:35 # "

" – 3:02 7": Odeon / OR-2110 (Japan) # "Wonderful World" – 2:35 # "Little Rag Doll" – 2:15

Personnel

– vocals * John Paul Jones – bass guitar * Bernard Ebbinghouse Orchestra – all other instrumentation *

Mike Sammes Singers Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

– backing vocals

Charts

Elvis Presley version

"Wonderful World" was recorded by Elvis Presley in March 1968 for the film ''

Live a Little, Love a Little ''Live a Little, Love a Little'' is a 1968 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley. It was directed by Norman Taurog, who had directed several previous Presley films. This was to be Taurog's final film, as he went blind shortly after p ...

'', in which Presley also stars and which was released in October 1968. It was not released as a single and no soundtrack album or EP was released to promote the film. However, Presley's version of "Wonderful World" was released at the beginning of October (several weeks before the film's release) on the budget compilation album '' Singer Presents Elvis Singing Flaming Star and Others'', which was a promotional release only available at certain stores. This album was given a full release in March 1969 under the title ''Elvis Sings Flaming Star''. "Wonderful World" became the first song by British writers to be recorded by Presley. However, the lyrics on Presley's version are completely different to the original version as Fletcher and Flett were ask to rewrite them for the film. After Presley recorded the song, Fletcher and Flett were ask to write another song for Presley. They wrote "The Fair's Moving On", which was released as the B-side to "

Clean Up Your Own Backyard "Clean Up Your Own Backyard" is a 1969 song recorded by Elvis Presley and released as a single. The song was featured in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film '' The Trouble with Girls (and How to Get into It)''. Background Written by Mac Davis and Billy S ...

References

{{Elvis Presley 1968 singles 1968 songs Elvis Presley songs Songs written by Guy Fletcher (songwriter) Songs written by Doug Flett Cliff Richard songs Columbia Graphophone Company singles Song recordings produced by Norrie Paramor