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If I Ruled the World

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"If I Ruled the World"
Single by Tony Bennett
from the album If I Ruled the World: Songs for the Jet Set
B-side"Take the Moment"
ReleasedJanuary 25, 1965
Recorded1964
GenreEasy listening
Length3:00
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Leslie Bricusse, Cyril Ornadel
Producer(s)Ernie Altschuler
Tony Bennett singles chronology
"Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)"
(1964)
"If I Ruled the World"
(1965)
"Fly Me to the Moon"
(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

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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

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Other recordings

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It has been performed by other singers, notably:

  • 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]
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References

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  1. ^ Lister, David, Pop ballads bite back in lyrical fashion, The Independent, 28 May 1994
  2. ^ "officialcharts.com". officialcharts.com. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 31.
  4. ^ BBC – Proms – 26 August 2010
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