Wonderful World, Beautiful People

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B-side"Hard Road to Travel"
ReleasedOctober 24, 1969 (1969-10-24)
Length3:11
"Wonderful World, Beautiful People"
Single by Jimmy Cliff
from the album Jimmy Cliff
B-side"Hard Road to Travel"
ReleasedOctober 24, 1969 (1969-10-24)
Length3:11
LabelTrojan TR 690
SongwriterJimmy Cliff
ProducerLeslie Kong
Jimmy Cliff singles chronology
"Waterfall"
(1968)
"Wonderful World, Beautiful People"
(1969)
"Vietnam"
(1970)

"Wonderful World, Beautiful People" is a single by Jimmy Cliff. Released in October 1969, it became a top-ten hit in the UK. It was a hit in other countries as well.

"Wonderful World, Beautiful People" was released by Trojan Records on October 24, 1969.[1]

The song was composed by Jimmy Cliff and produced by Leslie Kong. The song is about what the world could be. Politicians Harold Wilson , Richard Nixon, Georges Pompidou and Alexei Kosygin are mentioned in the song.[2] It was a first hit for the Trojan label. It was originally recorded in the West Indies. Jimmy Cliff wasn't satisfied with the orchestral backing so in order to get the strings right, he flew to New York in early October and spent three hours in a twelve track studio re-recording the orchestral parts.[3]

Charts

The single made its debut at no. 20 in the NME Top 30 for week ending November 1, 1969.[4] Having been in the NME Top 30 chart for four weeks, it peaked at no. 6 on the week ending November 22.[5][6] It peaked at no. 25 in the US.[7] In Canada the song reached No. 13.[8]

Performances

The song was performed for the first time in public at the Caribbean Music Festival which was held in Wembley in 1969.[9]

Other versions

References

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