Louis Armstrong performed “What A Wonderful World” live at BBC Studios on July 2, 1968, a performance that was later broadcast as part of BBC TV’s “Show Of The Week – Louis Armstrong” on September 22, 1968. This session is featured on the Louis in London album, released by Verve Records on July 12, 2024, which includes this previously unreleased track alongside five other songs from the concert. The performance was captured just weeks after Armstrong’s original studio recording of the song hit #1 on the UK charts and became the UK’s biggest-selling single of 1968.
To mark the track’s recent 5x Platinum certification by the RIAA (indicating over 5 million US sales), Verve Records released the official high-definition performance video in June 2024. Armstrong, who was battling health issues at the time, regarded this BBC session as one of his finest, famously labeling a tape copy “For The Fans” before his death in 1971.
What A Wonderful World Lyrics
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed days, the dark sacred nights
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, saying, “How do you do?”
They’re really saying, “I love you”
I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more
Than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world
