What a Wonderful World

About This Song

“What a Wonderful World” was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1967. Armstrong’s recording was subsequently inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Composers Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world (Thiele as a producer and Weiss as a composer/performer). The song was intended as an antidote for the increasingly racially and politically charged climate of everyday life in the United States. The song has a hopeful, optimistic tone with regard to the future, with reference to babies being born into the world and having much to look forward to. The song was initially offered to Tony Bennett, who reluctantly turned it down. Stevan Pasero’s arrangement will bring a smile to an audience’s collective face. It starts off mellow, highlighting major #11th chords, followed by cascading arpeggios during the bridge, and ending with a chorus of tremolos.