"Whole Wide World" is a song by English rock singer-songwriter

Wreckless Eric Eric Goulden (born 18 May 1954), known as Wreckless Eric, is an English rock music, rock and New wave music, new wave singer-songwriter, best known for his 1977 single "Whole Wide World (song), Whole Wide World" on Stiff Records. More than two d ...

, who wrote the song in May 1974, and recorded it in 1977, whilst an original member of the

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London by Dave Robinson (music executive), Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the p ...

label. Additional musicians on the record were

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock, power pop and New wave music, new wave,Steve Goulding Steve Goulding (born 1954) is an English drummer, who has played as a member of Graham Parker and the Rumour, the Associates, Poi Dog Pondering, the Waco Brothers, Sally Timms and the Drifting Cowgirls and the Mekons. He also played the dru ...

on drums. The song was never a

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

for Eric, though it subsequently became his best-known recording. The only charted versions of "Whole Wide World" are a

cover 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 c ...

by the Australian band

Mental As Anything Mental As Anything was an Australian new wave and pop rock band that formed in Sydney in 1976. Its most popular line-up (which lasted from 1977 to 1999, and recorded all of its charting singles and albums) was Martin Plaza (birth name Martin ...

, who took it to No. 53 on the

Australian singles chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

in 1995, and another by American alternative rock band

Cage the Elephant Cage the Elephant is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 2006 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They moved to England and settled in London in 2008, shortly before their Cage the Elephant (album), self-titled first album was released. The ban ...

, who took it to No. 11 on the ''Billboard''

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

chart in 2017.

Sung by Wreckless Eric

*1977 on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

A Bunch of Stiff Records ''A Bunch of Stiff Records'', also known as ''A Bunch of Stiffs'', is a various artists album to promote some of the first acts to be signed by Stiff Records. It is subtitled ''Undertakers to the Industry – If They're Dead - We'll Sign 'Em''. ...

'' *1978 on the self-titled ''

'' album, track 6 *1979 on '' That Summer'' film soundtrack *1979 on the compilation album ''

The Whole Wide World ''The Whole Wide World'' is a 1996 American independent biographical film produced and directed by Dan Ireland in his directorial debut. It depicts the relationship between pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard (Vincent D'Onofrio) and schoolteac ...

'', track 1 *1980 on '' Big Smash!'' album, side 3, track 1 (double LP) or CD 2, track 1 (2-CD set) *2001 on ''Greatest Stiffs'' album, track 1 *2002 on the '' Me Without You'' soundtrack, track 14 Whole Wide World – Wreckless Eric''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'', accessed 13 August 2008 *2006 on '' Stranger than Fiction'' soundtrack, track 3 *2006 on "Whole Wide World 4 England" single, track 1

Covers by other artists

*1977:

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

and

the Attractions The Attractions were an English backing band for the English new wave musician Elvis Costello between 1977 and 1986, and again from 1994 to 1996. They consisted of Steve Nieve (keyboards), Bruce Thomas (bass guitar), and Pete Thomas (drums ...

on the Stiffs Live Tour. Wreckless Eric later said, "I wasn't a fan of Elvis Costello, particularly." *1978: Italian female pop singer

Anna Oxa Iliriana Hoxha (; born 28 April 1961), known professionally as Anna Oxa (), is an Italian singer of Albanian origins (from father side), actress and television presenter. She has received mainstream popularity and recognition within Italy due to ...

, on her album ''Oxanna''. Italian translation, titled "Un cielo a metà" *1978: Finnish rock band

Eppu Normaali Eppu Normaali is one of the most popular rock bands in Finland and one of the key representatives of genre called suomirock. The band formed in 1976 in Ylöjärvi, a small town near Tampere. The band is the best-selling music artist in Finland, ...

had the song translated to Finnish ("Nuori Poika", meaning Young Boy) as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of their single "Jee Jee" *1987:

The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

on their '' Pool It!'' reunion album *1988:

Dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers ...

on their ''A Million Ways of Killing Time'' album, and on their live album ''Short, Fast & Tight'' (2001) *1991:

Die Toten Hosen Die Toten Hosen are a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf. The name is taken from the German slang idiom ''tote Hose'' (literally "dead trousers"), which means "nothing happening"; "boring". The band has had an important success through th ...

on ''

Learning English, Lesson One ''Learning English, Lesson One'' or ''Learning English, Lesson 1'' (other punctuation variations possible) is a cover album by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen. The album includes covers of mostly British bands, which were big influences on t ...

''; vocals by Eric Goulden *1995:

on their album ''Liar Liar Pants on Fire'' and as a single *1996:

The Lightning Seeds The Lightning Seeds (also known as Lightning Seeds) are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1989 by Ian Broudie (vocals, guitar, producer), formerly of the bands Big in Japan (band), Big in Japan, Care (band), Care, and Ori ...

as the b-side of their single "Ready or Not". *2007:

The Proclaimers The Proclaimers are a Scottish Rock music, rock duo formed in 1983 by twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid (born 5 March 1962). They came to attention with their 1987 single "Letter from America (song), Letter from America", which reached No. 3 ...

on the '' Life with You'' album *2009:

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

on his album '' Pink Strat'' *2015:

Pangs "Pangs" is the eighth episode of season 4 of the television show ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. It was written by Jane Espenson, directed by Michael Lange, and first broadcast on November 23, 1999 on The WB. On Thanksgiving, Buffy encounters ...

on debut single b/w "Already Dead" *2017:

covered the song for their album '' Unpeeled'' *2018:

Berhana Amain Berhane, better known as Berhana, is an American singer-songwriter. History Amain Berhane was born near Atlanta, Georgia in an Ethiopian family. Growing up, he wrote songs and sang in church. He studied screenwriting at The New School in ...

as a single. *2020:

Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...

frontman

Billie Joe Armstrong Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician and actor. He is best known for being the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is als ...

covered the song for

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers. It was the first music store to sell music without digital rights manag ...

's Amazon Original series, then later re-posted the cover to Green Day's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel as part of his "No Fun Mondays" cover series. Wreckless Eric himself gave his approval of the cover in a statement, referring to Armstrong's rendition as "the most punk rock version ever."

References

Specific references: General references: *

External links

Whole Wide World
YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Whole Wide World 1974 songs 1977 debut singles 1970s ballads Wreckless Eric songs Song recordings produced by Glyn Johns Rock ballads British punk rock songs Die Toten Hosen songs Stiff Records singles