Landing the #67 spot in our Favorite Songs Of 1967 countdown is one of the most beloved standards of the last century, Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World.
But it wasn't always that way for Armstrong's last major single.
Written with Armstrong in mind but first offered to Tony Bennett by songwriters Bob Theile and George David Weiss, it became the elder jazz statesman's to record after Bennett turned it down.
Released in October 1967, the song was at first ignored in the United States. Hated by the head of Armstrong's American label ABC, the track received no promotion, and sold less than 1000 units in its initial run.
But in the UK it was a monster smash, making Armstrong, at 66 years in 1967, the oldest performer at the time to ever top the British charts. So popular was the song in the UK that not only did it quickly rise to number 1 in the British weekies, but it held on to become the top selling UK single in all of 1968 as well.
Then, over the years, after a never ending string of television and film soundtrack plugs, the song gradually solidified its standing as the revered classic it's viewed as today.
But it wasn't always that way for Armstrong's last major single.
Written with Armstrong in mind but first offered to Tony Bennett by songwriters Bob Theile and George David Weiss, it became the elder jazz statesman's to record after Bennett turned it down.
Released in October 1967, the song was at first ignored in the United States. Hated by the head of Armstrong's American label ABC, the track received no promotion, and sold less than 1000 units in its initial run.
But in the UK it was a monster smash, making Armstrong, at 66 years in 1967, the oldest performer at the time to ever top the British charts. So popular was the song in the UK that not only did it quickly rise to number 1 in the British weekies, but it held on to become the top selling UK single in all of 1968 as well.
Then, over the years, after a never ending string of television and film soundtrack plugs, the song gradually solidified its standing as the revered classic it's viewed as today.
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