If I Ruled the World explained

If I Ruled the World
Type:	single
Artist:	Tony Bennett
B-Side:	Take the Moment
Released:	January 25, 1965
Recorded:	1964
Genre:	Easy listening
Label:	Columbia
Producer:	Ernie Altschuler
Prev Title:	Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)
Prev Year:	1964
Next Title:	Fly Me to the Moon
Next Year:	1965

"If I Ruled the World" is a popular song, composed by Leslie Bricusse and Cyril Ornadel, which was originally from the 1963 West End musical Pickwick (based on Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers).

Background

In the context of the stage musical, the song is sung by Samuel Pickwick, when he is mistaken for an election candidate and called on by the crowd to give his manifesto. Ornadel and Bricusse received the 1963 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.^[1]

First recordings

• The song is usually associated with Sir Harry Secombe, who got the song to No 18 in the UK charts in 1963. ^[2]
• Tony Bennett originally recorded the song in 1965, and had a number 34 hit with it on the U.S. pop singles charts and number 8 on the Middle-Road Singles chart.^[3] In a duet with Celine Dion, he returned to the song on his Grammy-winning 2006 album .

Other recordings

It has been performed by other singers, notably:

• Regina Belle
• James Brown
• Sammy Davis Jr.
• Robert Goulet
• Tom Jones
• The Supremes
• Nancy Wilson
• Stevie Wonder
• Jamie Cullum also recorded a version for his album The Pursuit, and performed it at the Late Night Prom, number Prom 55, of The Proms in London, with The Heritage Ensemble, on 26 August 2010; as shown on BBC Four the following night.^[4]

In popular culture

• The song was featured in the 2003 film Bruce Almighty, in a scene with Bennett himself singing the song at a scene in a piano-bar .
• The song is featured in the 2005 film, War of the Worlds by Steven Spielberg.
• This song was featured in the Vodafone TV commercials in the UK during the Spring and Summer of 2009.
• This song is featured in the 2014 South Korean film, Night Flight, directed by Lee Song Hee-il (2014)
• The politician-spoofing BBC panel TV show If I Ruled the World is named after the song.
• Andy Hallett, the actor best known for playing the part of Lorne ('The Host') in the television series Angel, sang the song in that series' final episode.
• A cover of the song arranged by Jamie Stevens of Elephant Music underscored the 2023 trailer for the third season of The Morning Show.

External links

• Cyril Ornadel
• Lyrics

Notes and References

1. Lister, David, Pop ballads bite back in lyrical fashion, The Independent, 28 May 1994
2. Web site: officialcharts.com. officialcharts.com. January 5, 2021.
3. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Joel Whitburn . 2002 . Record Research . 31.
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/eg96q9#prom55 BBC – Proms – 26 August 2010