Whole Wide World (song)
| "Whole Wide World" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 1977 UK issue | ||||
| Single by Wreckless Eric | ||||
| from the album Wreckless Eric | ||||
| B-side | "Semaphore Signals" | |||
| Released | 25 August 1977 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1977 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:02 | |||
| Label | Stiff | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Eric Goulden | |||
| Producer(s) | ||||
| Wreckless Eric singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Whole Wide World" is a song written by English rock singer-songwriter Wreckless Eric, who wrote the song in May 1974,[1] and recorded it in 1977, whilst an original member of the Stiff Records label. Additional musicians on the record were Nick Lowe on guitar and bass, and Steve Goulding on drums.
The song was never a chart hit single for Eric, though it subsequently became his most well-known recording. The only charted versions of "Whole Wide World" are a cover by the Australian band Mental As Anything, who took it to No. 53 on the Australian singles chart in 1995, and another by American alternative rock band Cage the Elephant, who took it to No. 11 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in 2017.
Structure
The song is a simple one for beginner guitar[2] players to learn. Instead of the three chords of most pop songs, it contains only two chords: E and A. The verses are in a steady 4/4 time with the only difference being a more spirited strum during the chorus[3] and a catchy single bar of 2/4 during its last line.
Sung by Wreckless Eric
- 1977 on the compilation album A Bunch of Stiff Records
- 1978 on the self-titled Wreckless Eric album, track 6
- 1979 on That Summer film soundtrack
- 1979 on the compilation album The Whole Wide World, 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[4]
- 2002 on the Me Without You soundtrack, track 14[5]
- 2006 on Stranger than Fiction soundtrack, track 3[6]
- 2006 on "Whole Wide World 4 England" single, track 1[7]
- Wreckless Eric singing "Whole Wide World" live[8]
Covers by other artists
- 1977: Elvis Costello live
- 1978: Italian female pop singer Anna Oxa, on her album Oxanna. Italian translation, titled "Un cielo a metà"
- 1978: Finnish rock band Eppu Normaali had the song translated to Finnish ("Nuori Poika", meaning Young Boy) as a B-side of their single "Jee Jee"
- 1978: Australian band Kevin McLaughlin and the Murrumbidgee Orchestra, B-side to the single "Thunder on the Mountains"
- 1987: The Monkees on their Pool It! reunion album[9]
- 1988: Dogs on their A Million Ways of Killing Time album, and on their live album Fast & Tight (2001)
- 1991: Black, B-side to the single "Fly Up to the Moon"
- 1991: Die Toten Hosen on Learning English, Lesson One; vocals by Eric Goulden
- 1993: Paul Westerberg during a tour promoting his first solo album, 14 Songs
- 1995: Mental As Anything on their album Liar Liar Pants on Fire and as a single
- 1998: The Prissteens on their album Scandal, Controversy & Romance
- 1998: Jesse Hartman's Laptop on a single[10]
- 2003: The Super Friendz often played this song live during their reunion tour in 2003.
- 2006: Will Ferrell in the movie Stranger than Fiction[11]
- 2006: Gemma Hayes live at Vicar St, Dublin[12]
- 2007: Amy Rigby live in UK concerts[11]
- 2007: The Proclaimers on the Life with You album[13]
- 2009: The Bad Shepherds on the Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Methera! album
- 2009: Bahamas on his album Pink Strat
- 2012: The Wallflowers, Japanese bonus track on their album Glad All Over
- 2013: Sallie Ford on the Summer EP[14]
- 2013: The Vaccines often play this in concert
- 2013: Mikal Cronin covers this song live
- 2013: The Wedding Present, B-side to the single "Two Bridges"
- 2014: Meursault on their album The Organ Grinder's Monkey
- 2015: Pangs on debut single b/w "Already Dead"[15]
- 2015: Torres for Session Acoustique OÜI FM
- 2017: Cage the Elephant covered the song for their album Unpeeled
- 2018: Berhana released a cover of this song as a single. [16]
In films
- Stranger than Fiction (2006)
- Me Without You (2001)
- Different for Girls (1996)
References
Specific references:
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-12-05. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ↑ "Best Acoustic Guitar Guitars For Beginners - 2016 Edition". Bestbeginnerguitartoday.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
- ↑ Play guitar with Will Ferrell Rich Copley (critic for the Lexington Herald-Leader), Copious Notes, 2006-11-08
- ↑ "Wreckless Eric - Greatest Stiffs". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
- ↑ Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric Allmusic, accessed 2008-08-13
- ↑ "Various Artists - Music From The Motion Picture Stranger Than Fiction". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
- ↑ "Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World 4 England". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
- ↑ Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World on YouTube haroldturkeypants, 2006-07-13
- ↑ Whole Wide World - The Monkees on YouTube marrrthew, posted 2007-11-11
- ↑ "Disco". Laptopic.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
- 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ↑ Gemma Hayes - Whole Wide World video on YouTube dublin1996, YouTube, posted 2006-08-12
- ↑
- ↑ "Whole Wide World | Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside". Salliefordandthesoundoutside.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
- ↑ "Listen: Pangs - Whole Wide World". PileRats.com. Retrieved 2015-09-18.
- ↑ "berhana". SoundCloud. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
General references:
- Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 611. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
External links
- Whole Wide World YouTube
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