If I Ruled the World

For the Sammy Davis Jr. album, see If I Ruled the World (album). For the Kurtis Blow song, see America (Kurtis Blow album). For the song by Nas featuring Lauryn Hill, see If I Ruled the World (Imagine That). For the UK game show, see If I Ruled the World (game show).

"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).

"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"
Released	January 25, 1965
Recorded	1964
Genre	Easy listening
Length	3:00
Label	Columbia
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)

Background

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

• The song is usually associated with Sir Harry Secombe, who got the song to No 18 in the UK charts in 1963. ^[2]
• Tony Bennett originally recorded the song in 1965, and had a number 34 hit with it on the U.S. pop singles charts and number 8 on the Middle-Road Singles chart.^[3] In a duet with Celine Dion, he returned to the song on his Grammy-winning 2006 album Duets: An American Classic.

Other recordings

It has been performed by other singers, notably:

• Regina Belle
• James Brown
• Sammy Davis Jr.
• Robert Goulet
• Tom Jones
• The Supremes
• Nancy Wilson
• Stevie Wonder

• 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]

In popular culture

• The song was featured in the 2003 film Bruce Almighty, in a scene with Bennett himself singing the song at a scene in a piano-bar .
• The song is featured in the 2005 film, War of the Worlds by Steven Spielberg.
• This song was featured in the Vodafone TV commercials in the UK during the Spring and Summer of 2009.
• This song is featured in the 2014 South Korean film, Night Flight, directed by Lee Song Hee-il (2014)
• The politician-spoofing BBC panel TV show If I Ruled the World is named after the song.
• Andy Hallett, the actor best known for playing the part of Lorne ('The Host') in the television series Angel, sang the song in that series' final episode.
• A cover of the song arranged by Jamie Stevens of Elephant Music underscored the 2023 trailer for the third season of The Morning Show.