"Wonderful Land" is an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

piece written by

Jerry Lordan Jerry Lordan (born Jeremiah Patrick Lordan, 30 April 1934 – 24 July 1995) was an English songwriter, composer and singer. He achieved 3 hit singles on the UK Singles Chart before focusing purely on songwriting. Amongst his songwriting c ...

and first recorded and released as a single by

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

in February 1962. It stayed at number one for eight weeks on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, a feat only

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

(in 1960), the Shadows and

the Archies ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

(in 1969) managed in the whole of the 1960s.

Background and release

Lordan had previously written the hugely successful " Apache", which the Shadows had recorded. On writing the song, Lordan said "I got the first phrase and it took me six months to get to the middle. I knew it had to have a second part and I couldn't think of anything". The basic track was recorded on 12 May 1961, with tom-tom overdub and extra drumming recorded on 6 July. However, there was something missing with the song and the Shadows kept it unreleased. Whilst the group were on tour, producer and musician

Norrie Paramor Norman William Paramor (15 May 1914 – 9 September 1979), known professionally as Norrie Paramor, was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff R ...

added

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

s and strings on 18 January 1962.

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

came up with the title, "Wonderful Land", referring to America, but Lordan did not like it and "wish d ecould have come up with something better". It was the last single to be recorded by drummer

Tony Meehan Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan (2 March 1943 – 28 November 2005), professionally known as Tony Meehan, was a founder member of the British group the Drifters, with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which would evolve into the Shadows. ...

for the group. By the time of the song's release, he had left the group and been replaced by Brian Bennett who co-wrote the B-side "Stars Fell on Stockton" with the rest of the group. The group was in a period of transition and whilst the song was at number one,

Jet Harris Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus ...

left to be replaced by Brian Locking.

Track listings

7": Columbia / DB 4790 # "Wonderful Land" – 2:02 # "Stars Fell on Stockton" – 2:17

Personnel

– electric lead guitar *

Bruce Welch Bruce Welch (born 2 November 1941 as Bruce Cripps) is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, singer and businessman best known as a founding member of the Shadows. Biography Welch's parents (Stan Cripps and Grace Welch) moved him to 15 B ...

– acoustic rhythm guitar *

– electric bass guitar *

– drums, tom-tom overdub * Norrie Paramor Orchestra –

s, strings

Charts

Cover versions

"Wonderful Land" has been covered by a number of artists including

Mike Oldfield Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

and

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi () (born 19 February 1948) is a British musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. I ...

. Iommi's version appears on '' Twang!: A Tribute to Hank Marvin & the Shadows''.

Mike Oldfield version

English musician

covered "Wonderful Land" on his 1980

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

album, '' QE2''. Oldfield's version was also released as a single and as the B-side for his "

Sheba Sheba (; he, ''Šəḇāʾ''; ar, سبأ ''Sabaʾ''; Ge'ez: ሳባ ''Saba'') is a kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the Quran. Sheba features in Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions, particularly the Ethiopian Orth ...

" single; in some countries, "Wonderful Land" was the A-side. The Shadows later covered one of Oldfield's songs, "

Moonlight Shadow "Moonlight Shadow" is a song written and performed by English multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield, released as a single in May 1983 by Virgin Records, and included on his eighth album, ''Crises'', of the same year. The vocals were performed by ...

". The video for "Wonderful Land" again shows Oldfield playing various instruments, including a violin, which he has claimed not to be able to play very well. The video is available on the ''Elements - The Best of Mike Oldfield'' video.

Charts

Hank Marvin and Mark Knopfler version

Two guitarists,

(of

) and

(of Dire Straits) recorded a version of "Wonderful Land" on the 1993 album ''Heartbeat'', produced by

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, he has cont ...

References

{{Authority control 1962 singles 1980 singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Jerry Lordan The Shadows songs 1960s instrumentals 1962 songs Columbia Graphophone Company singles Virgin Records singles Song recordings produced by Norrie Paramor