Wonderful

"Wonderful"
Single by Stone Temple Pilots
from the album Shangri-La Dee Da
Recorded:	2000
Released:	June 19, 2001
Length:	3:47
Live debut:	June 9, 2001
Writer:	Scott Weiland, Robert DeLeo
Producer:	Brendan O'Brien
Label:	Atlantic Records
Shangri-La Dee Da tracklist
Dumb Love Days Of The Week Coma Hollywood Bitch Wonderful Black Again Hello It's Late Too Cool Queenie Regeneration Bi-Polar Bear Transmissions From A Lonely Room A Song For Sleeping Long Way Home

"Wonderful" is the fifth track on the album Shangri-La Dee Da by Stone Temple Pilots.

Background

Album Version

Scott Weiland (MTV 04 May 2001): "Of all the ballads that we've ever put out, this is probably my favorite, more so than 'Creep,' more so than 'Big Empty,' more so than 'Lady Picture Show.' It's probably the most well-written song that we've ever done. It's also a love song for my wife. Sometimes when I'm lying in bed with Mary in the morning, and she's still sleeping, I wonder, 'What would she do if I died? What would I do if she died?' It's a what-if song."

Scott Weiland (MTV 01 June 2001): "Robert and I wrote it while we were on tour. We were in the dressing room, and it started off [with] just my voice and Robert playing acoustic guitar. Over the next couple months, we did different recordings of it onto DAT in arena dressing rooms and bathrooms, because they're really big and [have] lots of reverb. My initial thought was to take it in kind of a Nick Drake direction. But as we started doing demos, it kind of felt like, "Well, it's such a great song that it could make a real imprint on pop music and we might be doing it a disservice to just have it completely stripped down." We decided to play with a few different arrangements. There were some battles back and forth [with O'Brien], because this is one of those songs that we knew was real important. We've always walked a fine line between experimenting with different instrumentation and acoustic music ... to punk rock and everything in between. Of all the ballads that we've ever put out, this is probably my favorite. More so than "Creep," "Big Empty" [or] "Lady Picture Show." It's probably the most well-written song that we've ever done. It's also a love song for my wife."

Family Values Version

During the Sacramento show on the Family Values Tour, Scott Weiland announced that "Linkin Park and STP are putting a song together and it should be out fairly soon." For years it has been thought that "Wonderful" was performed live with Chester Bennington for a radio station in the middle of the Family Values Tour. A few lucky winners of a contest supposedly had the chance to watch the performance.

It was later confirmed by the band's management this was not true: "Wonderful was never actually recorded live with him, just in a studio (the fan noise you hear on the Family Values CD was added in later)." Besides being completely recorded in the studio, the song was recorded after the Family Values Tour, possibly in 2002 since that's when Scott first started to sing "Aaaahhh-Ahhh" over the solo.

"Wonderful" was set to be the album's first single and would be sent to U.S. radio outlets for airplay consideration in March 2002, but instead, Elektra opted to send a sampler featuring various album tracks to U.S. radios.

Chester says "Wonderful" is his favorite song off Shangri-La Dee Da and, overall, one of his favorite Stone Temple Pilots songs.

Music Video

A video treatment was developed for the Family Values version of "Wonderful" and included live footage from the tour along with shots of Linkin Park.

Since the single was cancelled, the video was never released.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Studio

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Wonderful	Shangri-La Dee Da	3:47	2000	June 19, 2001
Wonderful	The Family Values Tour 2001 The Family Values Tour 2001 Sampler	4:15	2001	May 7, 2002	Features vocals by Chester Bennington. Studio recording with fan noise added in.
Wonderful	Wonderful	4:22	2001	May 7, 2002	Extra crowd noise before the song. Fades at the end.
Wonderful (Instrumental)	Wicked Synch Sampler	3:48	2000	May 1, 2008	Official instrumental version.

Live

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Wonderful	Thank You			November 11, 2003	Bootleg Footage (audience recording). DVD only.

Personnel

Shangri-La Dee Da

Stone Temple Pilots

• Scott Weiland – vocals
• Dean DeLeo – guitars
• Robert DeLeo – bass, percussion, guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards
• Eric Kretz – drums, keyboards

Production

• Brendan O'Brien – producer, mixing
• Nick DiDia – recording engineer
• Doug Grean – engineer
• Billy Bowers – engineer
• Karl Egsieker – recording, mixing
• Ryan Williams – mixing
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Erin Haley, Cheryl Mondello – production coordinators
• Gregory Sylvester – art direction
• Chapman Baehler – art direction, photography

The Family Values 2001 Tour

Stone Temple Pilots

• Dean DeLeo – Guitar
• Robert DeLeo – Bass, Backing vocals
• Eric Kretz – Drums, Percussion
• Scott Weiland – Lead vocals

Additional Musicians

• Chester Bennington – Vocals

Production

• Recorded by Le Mobil
• Guy Charbonneau - Engineer
• Jeff Kwatinetz, Korn - Executive Producer
• Josh Abraham - Producer

Lyrics

Album Version

If I were to die this mornin'
Would you tell me things that you wouldn't have
Would you be my navigator
Would you take me to a place we could hide

As I'm fallin' out
I wonder what I lost
Must be movin' on
Know I'll be waitin' here alone

I wanna ask you to forgive me
I haven't been the best with all that I had
Wish I'd only laid beside you
I think I spread myself a little too thin

As I'm fallin' out
I wonder what I lost
Must be movin' on
Know I'll be waitin' here alone

You're the everything
That led me to believe
Hold on, hold on
You're the wonder in everything
That's wonderful

And as I'm fadin' out
I don't feel anything at all
Think I'm movin' on
Know you'll be safe but not alone

You're the everything
That led me to believe
Hold on, hold on
You're the wonder in everything
That's wonderful
That's wonderful

Know you'll be safe but not alone

Family Values Version

If I were to die this mornin'
Would you tell me things that you wouldn't have
Would you be my navigator
Would you take me to a place we could hide

As I'm fallin' out
I wonder what I lost
Must be movin' on
Know you'll be safe but not alone

I wanna ask you to forgive me
I haven't been the best with all that I had
Wish I'd only laid beside you
I think I've spread myself a little too thin

As I'm fallin' out
I wonder what I lost
Must be movin' on
Know you'll be safe but not alone

You're the everything
That led me to believe
Hold on, hold on
You're the wonder in everything
That's wonderful

And as I'm fadin' out
I don't feel anything at all
Must be movin' on
Know you'll be safe but not alone

You're the everything
That led me to believe
Hold on, hold on
You're the wonder in everything
That's wonderful
That's wonderful

Know you'll be safe but not alone