‘Wondrous Place’: The Moody Magnificence Of Billy Fury
‘Wondrous Place’ may not be among Billy’s biggest hits, but it’s widely seen as one of his finest.
The catalog of Billy Fury is overflowing with original rock’n’roll and dramatic tearjerkers right out of the top drawer. From that discography, we zero in on a single that may not be among his biggest hits, but is widely seen as one of his finest.
“Wondrous Place” was written by Bill Giant, aka Harvey Zimmerman, and Jeff Lewis. As a duo, they would enjoy the distinction of having another of their songs, “Fountain Of Love,” recorded by Elvis Presley. The first rendition of “Wondrous Place” was by Jimmy Jones, the American singer best known for his “Handy Man” hit of early 1960. Splendid as it was, it didn’t become a hit, and it was on September 25 that year that Fury, some 18 months since his UK chart breakthrough, had his version of the song released by Decca.
Moody and atmospheric
Fury had scored his first Top 10 hit earlier that year with “Colette,” and in June he charted with what’s become one of the seminal British rock’n’roll albums, The Sound Of Fury. Now came the new single, which featured a typically moody and atmospheric vocal performance by Fury to a subtle and persuasive arrangement. It reached only No.25 in the UK, but spent nine weeks in the chart, six of which were in the Top 40.
Listen to uDiscover Music’s Billy Fury Best Of playlist.
Some 40 years later, a new generation got to know Fury’s version when it was featured in a TV car commercial for the Toyota Yaris. Later still, in 2008, it was recognized by the Last Shadow Puppets, the duo of Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane, when they cut it as the B-side of the Puppets’ first single “The Age Of The Understatement.”
Buy or stream “Wondrous Place” on the Billy Fury compilation His Wondrous Story — The Complete Collection.
