5/15/2023 0 Comments Sam cooke wonderful world![]() In the second verse, Cooke goes on about some more subjects he proclaims to be ignorant of - geography, trigonometry, algebra, what a slide rule is for - and then proclaiming all of that higher math ignorance, tops it with another killer variation on the chorus.Īt the end, the background singers just keep repeating all of the various school subjects while Sam soars above them with series of “cha-cha-chas” showing off his once-in-a-million year voice before joining them for one last chorus. Alexander and George McCurn - come in at the end line: “history,” “biology,” adding both heft and beauty to the song. One of the things that Cooke gleaned from his gospel days was an ability to effectively deploy backing vocals, and “Wonderful World” is a master class in how to do it, as the backing vocalists - Lou Rawls, Cooke’s business partner J.W. The irony here, of course, was that Cooke was actually a voracious reader That’s such a perfect lyric, isn’t it? “Wonderful World” was originally written by Lou Adler & Herb Alpert, but Cooke revised the lyrics to all be the contrast between his character’s lack of formal learning and the one thing that character does know: all he needs is their love. So we pick up the story at the very dawn of the 1960s, and one of his simplest, prettiest songs, “Wonderful World,” which is basically just long-time Cooke guitarist Clif White’s quietly jangling acoustic and drummer Ronnie Selico’s quietly jumpy snare beat. Yeah, there were a lot of big band overarrangements throughout his career, but as the 1960s got rolling, he saw the writing on the wall and his music was getting tougher. He didn’t just leave gospel for pop, he dove head first into the pop ocean and came out with a pirate’s booty, and after his first single, 1957’s “You Send Me,” went to #1 on the pop charts, money essentially ceased to be an issue, and not just for Sam, but for his inner circle.Īnd the amazing thing is that absolutely none of that driven quality ever came out in his best songs, which were often deceptively simple, and - the ones I love, anyways - pretty sparse. And not just in his music, but also his business, as he not only wrote and recorded his own songs, he also wrote and released songs for other artists. ![]() Writer(s): SAM COOKE, HERB ALPERT, LOU ADLERLyrics powered by just finished reading Peter Guralnick’s 2005 biography on Sam Cooke, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, and one of my main takeaways was just how driven Cooke was. ![]() Don′t know much about history Don't know much biology Don′t know much about a science book Don't know much about the French I took But I do know that I love you And I know that if you love me too What a wonderful world this would be Don't know much about geography Don′t know much trigonometry Don′t know much about algebra Don't know what a slide rule is for But I do know one and one is two And if this one could be with you What a wonderful world this would be Now, I don′t claim to be an A student But I'm trying to be For maybe by being an A student, baby I can win your love for me Don′t know much about history Don't know much biology Don′t know much about a science book Don't know much about the French I took But I do know that I love you And I know that if you love me too What a wonderful world this would be La-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta (history) Hmm-mmm (biology) Well, la-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta (science book) Mmm-mmm-mmm (French I took), yeah But I do know that I love you And I know that if you love me too What a wonderful world this would be ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |