Released 7 March 2005 Genre Pop rock | Format CD single | |
Recorded 2004 Los Angeles, California Length 3:42 (Album version)
3:17 (Radio edit) Label Atlantic, Custard Records, RCA Label Group | ||
"Wisemen" is a pop rock song written by British singer James Blunt, Jimmy Hogarth and Sacha Skarbek for Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam. The song was produced by Tom Rothrock and Jimmy Hogarth. The song was released as the second single in the first quarter of 2005 and reached the top fifty in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 44. Following the success of "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", "Wisemen" was re-released in the spring of 2006, number 21 in New Zealand, and at number 23 in the UK. The song was met with positive reviews.
Contents
Music videos
The first music video, released in tandem with the first UK release of the single, has Blunt and his band performing in the Café de Paris. The only occupants of the café are three middle-aged men, supposedly businessmen, who are accompanied by a young woman. The woman stands and begins to dance in the middle of the room but is ignored by the men. Three masked men, supposedly the wisemen, then enter and kidnap Blunt, putting him into a car and driving to the shore where he is imprisoned in a hastily constructed shack by the seaside, in reference to the lyric, "Those three wisemen, they've got a semi by the sea." The masks were constructed from moulds cast from Blunt's own face. The second version, which was released in tandem with the UK re-release of the single, has Blunt burning his personal papers and passport in a forest before slowly internally combusting. This video has been released to the US market. During a guest-hosting slot on the BBC2 program "Never Mind The Buzzcocks", James was asked what the line meant and said that "Semi" referred to a "semi-automatic rifle".
Release
The initial release was available on three physical formats. The CD single includes an exclusive live performance of "No Bravery". The DVD includes the original video for "Wisemen", exclusive "Making-Of" footage and a live audio recording of "Out of My Mind". The 7" Vinyl includes a live performance of "Billy". The re-release was also available on three physical formats, containing a similar track listing. CD1 includes a live performance of "Out of My Mind", taken from the initial DVD single; CD2 includes the live performances of "No Bravery" and "Out of My Mind", plus the video for "Wisemen"; and the limited edition one-sided 7" Vinyl features "Wisemen" only. The song was also included on the Australian compilation album NOW Winter 2006.
Track listings
- "Wisemen" - 3:45
- "No Bravery" (Live) - 3:24
- "Wisemen" (Audio) - 3:45
- "Wisemen" (Video) - 3:50
- "High" (Video) - 3:45
- "Wisemen" (The Making of the Video) - 3:00
- "Wisemen" - 3:45
- "Billy" (Live) - 4:12
- "Wisemen" - 3:45
- "Out of My Mind" (Live at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC) - 3:22
- "Wisemen" - 3:45
- "No Bravery" (Live) - 3:16
- "Out of My Mind" (Live at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC) - 3:00
- "Wisemen" - 3:45
Chart performance
On 7 March 2005, "Wisemen" was released in the United Kingdom. The song became Blunt's first single not to chart within the top 40 on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number forty-four. It was re-released in the UK the following March and became his fourth top 40 single when it peaked at number 23 on the singles chart, and spent a total of six weeks in the top 75. It reached number eleven in Australia and became his third single to reach the top 20. In Canada, the song became an airplay hit, reaching number three on the BDS Airplay chart.