Wonderful World (Sam Cooke song)

"Wonderful World"
One of side-A labels of the 1960 US single
Single by Sam Cooke
from the album The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke
B-side	"Along the Navajo Trail"
Released	April 14, 1960 (1960-04-14)
Recorded	March 2, 1959
Studio	Radio Recorders, Hollywood
Genre	Rhythm and blues, soul
Length	2:09
Label	Keen, A&M, Dunhill
Songwriter(s)	Lou Adler, Herb Alpert, Sam Cooke
Producer(s)	Sam Cooke
Sam Cooke singles chronology
"You Understand Me" (1960) "Wonderful World" (1960) "With You" (1960)
Music video
"What A Wonderful World" (lyric video) on YouTube

"Wonderful World" (occasionally referred to as "(What A) Wonderful World") is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Released on April 14, 1960, by Keen Records, it had been recorded during an impromptu session the previous year in March 1959, at Sam Cooke's last recording session at Keen. He signed with RCA Victor in 1960 and "Wonderful World", then unreleased, was issued as a single in competition. The song was mainly composed by songwriting team Lou Adler and Herb Alpert, but Cooke revised the lyrics to mention the subject of education more.

"Wonderful World" ended up doing substantially better on the charts than several of his early RCA singles, becoming his biggest hit single since "You Send Me" (1957). The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number two on Billboard's Hot R&B Sides chart.

Herman's Hermits charted with their recording of the song in 1965, reaching number one in Canada,^[1] number four in the United States, and number seven in the United Kingdom, respectively. A remake by Art Garfunkel with James Taylor and Paul Simon charted at number 17 in 1978. The Sam Cooke version was featured in the 1978 film Animal House and gained greater recognition in the UK upon a 1986 re-release when it peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, going gold (it had peaked at number 27 on the UK singles chart on first release in 1960). Its 1986 success was attributed to sound-alike versions featured in the film Witness (1985) and a Levi's 501 television commercial.