"Wild World" is a song written and recorded by English singer-songwriter Cat Stevens. It first appeared on his fourth album, Tea for the Tillerman, recorded and released in 1970.
Song meaning
Stevens developed a relationship with actress Patti D'Arbanville and the two were a pair throughout a period of roughly two years. During that time, he wrote several songs about her, including "Wild World".
The song is in the form of the singer's words to his departing lover, inspired by the end of their romance. Stevens later recalled to Mojo: "It was one of those chord sequences that's very common in Spanish music. I turned it around and came up with that theme—which is a recurring theme in my work—which is to do with leaving, the sadness of leaving, and the anticipation of what lies beyond."
Released as a single in late 1970, it peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Wild World" has been credited as the song that gave Stevens' next album, Tea for the Tillerman, "enough kick" to get it played on FM radio; and Island Records' Chris Blackwell called it "the best album we've ever released".
In November 2008, the Tea for the Tillerman CD was re-issued in a deluxe version which included the original demo of "Wild World".
Interpretation
Some critics and music writers have deemed "Wild World" to be condescending and misogynistic. In her 1971 essay "But Now I'm Gonna Move," critic Ellen Willis described a method of revealing male bias in lyrics in which the listener imagines the genders reversed:
Personnel
Cat Stevens – classical guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, lead vocals
Alun Davies – acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Harvey Burns – drums, congas, tambourine
John Ryan – double bass
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Cover versions
The song has been covered by many artists, with many of the covers becoming hits of their own. Jimmy Cliff's version, released a few months after Stevens released the original version, reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart. Surprisingly, Stevens' version was not released as a single in the UK. Some of the subsequent covers have also been in the reggae style, such as Maxi Priest's version of the song. Recorded and released as a single in 1988, this version also did well on the charts, reaching No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
In 1987, Jonathan King accused Pet Shop Boys of plagiarising the melody of "Wild World" for their UK No. 1 single "It's a Sin". He made the claims in The Sun, for which he wrote a regular column during the 1980s. King also released his own cover version of "Wild World" as a single, using a similar musical arrangement to "It's a Sin", in an effort to demonstrate his claims. This single flopped, while Pet Shop Boys sued King, eventually winning out-of-court damages, which they donated to charity.
On 7 July 2007, the song was performed twice at the Live Earth concerts. James Blunt sang it at Wembley Stadium in London, England, while Stevens (by then known as Yusuf Islam) himself sang it in Hamburg, Germany.
In 2011, Taiwanese-American singer Joanna Wang released her own version on her album The Things We Do for Love. Wang's version was also featured in American web television series The Good Fight Season 1, 2017.
Notable covers
1970: Jimmy Cliff
1971: Claude François (Fleur sauvage) 1971: Barry Ryan 1971: Bette Midler 1971: José Feliciano 1971: The Gentrys 1971: The Ventures 1971: Franck Pourcel (Instrumental version) 1971: Sacha Distel 1987: Maxi Priest 1987: Jonathan King 1989: SNFU 1993: Mr. Big 1994: Wise Guys 2000: Pepê & Neném 2001: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes 2003: Skye Sweetnam (Billy S. – B-side) 2004: John Waite 2007: Skins cast, led by Mike Bailey 2007: James Blunt 2010: Ronan Keating (feat. Marvin Priest) 2012: Andy Allo 2013: Garth Brooks 2018: Bastille (feat. Kianja) 2018: Marion Raven (Live version for her acoustic tour in Norway) 2020: Mick McGuigan (live at home)
Maxi Priest version
In 1988, English reggae vocalist Maxi Priest recorded a cover of "Wild World", which was released in May 1988 by Atlantic Records as the third single from his third album, Maxi (1987). The song charted at No. 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In Europe it was very successful, peaking at No. 3 in Norway, No. 5 in Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK, No. 7 in the Netherlands, and No. 8 in Australia.