Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Wonderful Tonight

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B-side
  
"Peaches and Diesel"

Format
  
45 Record

Genre
  
Soft rock

Released
  
1977

Recorded
  
May 1977

Length
  
3:43

"Wonderful Tonight" is a ballad written by Eric Clapton. It was included on Clapton's 1977 album Slowhand. Clapton wrote the song about Pattie Boyd. The female vocal harmonies on the song are provided by Marcella Detroit (then Marcy Levy) and Yvonne Elliman.

Contents

Background

On 7 September 1976, Clapton wrote "Wonderful Tonight" for Boyd while waiting for her to get ready to attend Paul and Linda McCartney's annual Buddy Holly party. Of "Wonderful Tonight", Boyd would say: "For years it tore at me. To have inspired Eric, and George before him, to write such music was so flattering. 'Wonderful Tonight' was the most poignant reminder of all that was good in our relationship, and when things went wrong it was torture to hear it." The song is mentioned in her autobiographical book Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me.

Performance

In 1988, Clapton appeared in the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert as a guest guitarist for Dire Straits. The group became his backing musicians for a surprise performance of "Wonderful Tonight" during their set. The song was featured in the film Captain Phillips and in the Friends season 6 episode "The One With the Proposal Part 2" (18 May 2000) where Monica and Chandler dance to it at the end of the episode after getting engaged. The song was also featured on Ricky Gervais's radio show, where producer Karl Pilkington argued that the lyrics suggested that it came from the point of view of a disabled man in a wheelchair. Both Gervais and co-host Stephen Merchant dismissed Pilkington's claims as conjecture. Clapton performed an extended version of "Wonderful Tonight" between 1987 and 2003, featuring Katie Kissoon and Tracy Ackerman on backing vocals and David Sancious on saxophone. Clapton and Steve Winwood performed an acoustic version of the song during their 2011 tour in Japan.

Damage version

"Wonderful Tonight" was covered by British R&B/pop group Damage in 1997, and was released as the fifth single from the band's debut studio album, Forever. The single peaked at #3 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's most successful single to date, also peaking high in several other territories, which was a first for the band. The song is prominently performed by Richards, with little vocal input from any other members of the band. The music video features the band performing the song in a recording studio with cut scenes of a girl preparing to go on a night out. The b-side, "I'm Ready", launched the career of Craig David, being the first song he had ever written to be released by himself or another artist.

Track listing

  • CD1
    1. "Wonderful Tonight" – 4:01
    2. "I'm Ready" (Bromfield/Richards/Simpson/Jones/Harriott/Craig David, produced by Mark Lewis)
    3. "Wonderful Tonight" (Ethnic Boyz Mix)
  • CD2
    1. "Wonderful Tonight" (Acoustic Mix)
    2. "Just My Imagination" (Whitfield/Strong, produced by Howard Francis)
    3. "Love II Love" (Acoustic Mix)
  • Cassette
    1. "Wonderful Tonight" – 4:01
    2. "I'm Ready"
    Chart performance

    David Kersh version

    "Wonderful Tonight" was covered by country singer David Kersh in 1998. His version went to #29 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

    Chart performance

    Other cover versions

  • The song was covered by country music singer Butch Baker, whose rendition reached #66 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1989.
  • Also in 1989, a Spanish cover was recorded by Argentinian singer JAF.
  • The song was frequently covered by 1990's Minneapolis Alt-Country band Steve's Piece.
  • A cover version by an unknown artist is used on the 2004 DVD release of BBC sketch show Big Train featuring a horse, replacing the original version from the broadcast edit due to rights issues.
  • Filipino musician and entrepreneur Ramon "RJ" Jacinto covered the song for his 2000 album, The Ultimate RJ Bistro Collection. It also later appeared on his 2005 compilation album, Rock 'n Roll Classics.
  • Country artist Don Williams covered the song and it appeared on his 2004 album, My Heart to You.
  • Michael Bublé covered the song on his album, Call Me Irresponsible in 2007.
  • R&B singer Babyface covered the song on his album Playlist in 2007.
  • Mandopop singer-songwriter Khalil Fong covered the song on his 2009 album, Timeless.
  • On the 20th anniversary edition of WWE's Monday Night Raw, The Rock performed a parody version of the song during a "Rock Concert" segment, poking fun at Vickie Guerrero.
  • In 2009, Olly Murs performed a cover of the song when he was in the bottom two with John & Edward on the 6th series of The X Factor.
  • In November 2013, actor Jeremy Irons performed the first verse of the song, accompanying himself on guitar, on the Canadian talk show George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight.

    • References

    Wonderful Tonight Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA