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==Background==
Lou Adler and Herb Alpert composed the song with the theme that neither knowledge nor education can dictate feelings, but that love "could make the world a wonderful place".{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|p=279}} Adler did not take the song very seriously but Cooke appeared to be taken with it. "He’d say, ‘What about that song, you know?’ And then he'd start on it again," recalled Adler.{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|p=279}} Cooke wanted to steer the song toward the subject of schooling, revised the song and decided to cut it at a recording session on March 2, 1959, five days after completing his [[Billie Holiday]] tribute album, ''[[Tribute to the Lady]]''.{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|p=279}} The
4 June 2023}}</ref> Campbell was also listed on the record labels for two other Cooke hits: "[[Only Sixteen]]" and "[[Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha]]". The session's main goal was to record three songs Cooke had composed. There was no arranger or orchestra and the personnel consisted of Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, bassist [[Adolphus Alsbrook]], teenage drummer Ronnie Selico and a quartet of singers that Cooke biographer Peter Guralnick believes may have been the [[Pilgrim Travelers]] – J.W. Alexander, [[Lou Rawls]], and [[George McCurn]] (nicknamed Oopie).{{sfn|Guralnick|2005|p=279}}
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In 2004, the song was placed 373rd in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's [[List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|500 Greatest Songs of All Time]].
The song was inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]] in 2014.<ref>https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award#w</ref>
==Later versions==
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*[[Herman's Hermits]] had a major hit in the mid-1960s with an uptempo version of the song (omitting one verse) which reached number one in Canada,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rpmimages.3345.ca/pdfs/Vol+3%2C+No.+19+-+Week+of+July+5th%2C+1965.pdf| title=RPM Top Magazine - July 5, 1965 - Page 9}}</ref> number four in the US, and number seven in the UK. The Hermits' version was, according to singer [[Peter Noone]] and guitarist [[Keith Hopwood]], done as a tribute to Cooke upon his death. In an interview with Hugh Brown prior to a 2020 concert in Edinburgh, Noone recalled that [[Jimmy Page]], later founder of [[Led Zeppelin]], played guitar on the track and was paid £12.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuojinVBizc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/iuojinVBizc |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=PETER NOONE & HERMAN'S HERMITS - A LIFE IN MUSIC|date=April 4, 2020 |access-date=April 26, 2021|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> ''[[Cash Box]]'' described it as having "an infectious, rhythmic blues-tinged warm-hearted style".<ref name=cb>{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=May 22, 1965 |page=12 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1965/CB-1965-05-22.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}}</ref>
*[[Otis Redding]] recorded a version of the song on his 1965 album ''[[Otis Blue]]''.
*[[Johnny Nash]] recorded a version for his [[eponymous]] 1977 album ''What a Wonderful World''.
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:The last line repeats, and the song fades out at this point.
*[[David Bromberg]] recorded a bluesy version with slightly altered lyrics for his 1975 album ''[[Midnight on the Water (David Bromberg album)|Midnight on the Water]]''.
*[[Don McLean]] recorded a version of the song for his 1986 album ''[[For the Memories]]''.
*Hong Kong singer [[Sandy Lam]] released a cover of the song in 1997.
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==In popular culture==
The song is used in the 1978 film ''[[National Lampoon's Animal House|Animal House]]'' in the well-known lunchroom scene where Bluto ([[John Belushi]]) gathers food in preparation for a food fight.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZN4r8p6KbU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/DZN4r8p6KbU |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Bluto's a Zit - Animal House (5/10) Movie CLIP (1978) HD|date=June 16, 2011 |access-date=April 26, 2021|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The song was also included in the 1983 film ''[[Breathless (1983 film)|Breathless]]''. The original Sam Cooke version of the song comprised the title soundtrack of the 2005 film ''[[Hitch (film)|Hitch]]''.
After a Greg Chapman cover of the song was featured prominently in the 1985 film ''[[Witness (1985 film)|Witness]]'' in a scene where [[Harrison Ford]] dances with [[Kelly McGillis]], "Wonderful World" gained further exposure. Particularly in the United Kingdom, where a copy of the song, produced by [[Karl Jenkins]] and [[Mike Ratledge]] and with vocals sung by [[Barbadian people|Barbadian]] Tony Jackson, a backing singer for [[Paul Young]], appeared in "Bath", a well-remembered, Roger Lyons-directed 1985 advertisement for [[Levi Strauss & Co.|Levi's 501]] jeans.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Bryan Appleyard|author-link=Bryan Appleyard|title=Spectrum: I Sold It Through the Grapevine / Pop Music in Advertising|journal=[[The Times]]|date=August 22, 1986}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Sam Ingleby|title=Karl Jenkins: Fanfare for the Common Man|journal=[[The Independent]]|date=May 17, 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ronroker.com/Latestreleases.htm |title=Latest Releases |publisher=Ron Roker |access-date=June 28, 2014 |archive-date=November 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127073157/http://ronroker.com/Latestreleases.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> As a result, the Sam Cooke version of the song became a hit in the UK, reaching No.2 and selling a certified 250,000 copies. In a 2005 poll by the UK's [[Channel Four]] the song was voted the 19th-greatest song ever to feature in a commercial.<ref>{{cite web|title=Coke theme is top of the pops|work=[[The Manchester Evening News]] |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/163/163787_coke_theme_is_top_of_the_pops.html|date=July 1, 2005|access-date=April 30, 2013}}</ref>
Cooke's version is also featured at the very beginning of the movie [[Hitch (film)]].
The song is featured in the [[Mafia III]]'s Official Soundtrack, published on October 7, 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mafia 3's Excellent Soundtrack Revealed, Contains These 100-Plus Songs|url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mafia-3s-excellent-soundtrack-revealed-contains-th/1100-6442877/|website=GameSpot|language=en-US|access-date=May 6, 2020}}</ref>
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