The recording of the successful and world-famous ballad “What A Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong, written by Bob Till, was made at night, and Armstrong’s publisher Larry Newton thought the song was not worth recording. The recording took place on September 28, 1967, and Newton first drove everyone out of the recording studio. How did it end?
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Rarely will anyone know that “What A Wonderful World” is a coincidence, because the then president of ABC-Paramount Records, Larry Newton, was categorically opposed to the recording of this song – he just didn’t like it …
At that time, the company had a collaboration with composer Bob Tile – there were several songs recorded by this record company, and “What A Wonderful World” was not the first. The original idea was to record something with strings or a symphony orchestra accompaniment, as it was 1967, the end of Armstrong’s career, and the company was looking for new means of expression to “present” the artist. Armstrong also had quite serious health problems, as he is known to have passed away a few years later, in 1971.
On the late night of September 28, 1967, around noon, Armstrong entered the studio after the concert – by chance Larry Newton himself was present, who categorically opposed the recording of this song and said that there would be no recording, although the recording was already planned – the orchestra was already in place. Newton literally broke into the operator’s room, demanded that everything be turned off, and banged everyone out of the studio.
Eventually, Larry Newton himself was kicked out of the recording studio, and Armstrong recorded the song in a few hours.
The most interesting thing has just followed: the song has been a huge success – initially in the UK and Europe, where it won high places charts. Newton was so furious that he still continued to ignore its success and did not want to allow the song to be published in America. And only gradually, when it was already clear that the success of the song was absolutely clear, he gave in, but it was absolutely against his will.
His main objection was who should write ballads with strings, because before that “Hello, Dolly” had been a great success, and Newton thought that we should continue to go in this direction. There were also personal antipathies towards the song’s author Bob Tīle.
Today, “What A Wonderful World” is one of Armstrong’s most famous recordings that still plays and still makes money.
This fact is a good proof of how sometimes business thinking is wrong … Newton absolutely did not see the potential of this song.
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