Released May 22, 2000 Recorded 2000 | Format CD Label Capitol, EMI | |
Genre Alternative rock, post-grunge Length 4:41 (Album Version)
4:32 (Edit) | ||
"Wonderful" is a song by the band Everclear, released as the first single from their 2000 album Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile, reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. To date this song remains to be the band's only Top 40 hit on the Hot 100.
Contents
Meaning
The song tells the story of a divorce as perceived by a child. Each verse of the song corresponds to a different stage of the divorce. The first verse describes the child hearing their parents fight as they try to block it out, remembering what it was like before their parents began to fight. The second verse describes the child going to school and pretending to their friends that everything is all right at home, despite what is heard in the first verse. The bridge describes the child lashing out at their parents, not wanting to comprehend that their parents have begun to grow apart and date other people.
Music video
The music video follows two children's stories interlaced with the band singing. The children are shown happy initially but as time passes their parents fight and eventually break up. At school the kids act normal, mirroring the song. The video ends with kids jumping and happy while the band plays, sometimes in the middle of the kids. The two kids the video is about are split into two people, with each one going a different directions assumingly toward each divorced parent. The kids leave school with a smile.
Appearances in other media
The song has been featured in several TV series including the Scrubs episode "My Fifteen Minutes", the Cold Case episode Dog Day Afternoons, the Jericho episode "Why We Fight", the Daria episode "Sappy Anniversary", and the episode "Wonderful" from Mysterious Ways. It has also been featured in the movies Pay It Forward, 40 Days and 40 Nights, and Saving Silverman. It is also a track on Now That's What I Call Music! 5.
CD Single
- "Wonderful"
- "Father of Mine" (remix)
- "I'm On Your Time"