MAJOR TO MINOR: What Does 'What a Wonderful World' Sound Like in a Minor Key?

As part of my ongoing series in which I take songs in a major (happy) key and transpose them to a minor (sad) key, here is my rendition of the classic tune, "What a Wonderful World."

[MallorcaOrcas]

Sounds like he's using "wonderful" sarcastically in this version.

[DefinetelyNotAnAlien]

Every single one of these sounds like a serial killer who's obsessively in love. I like it.

[FrostyMac]

Survivors of the apocalypse will listen to this as they reminisce about the world that they once inhabited.

[jerabina]

This song is like: "what a wonderful world" * screaming in pain *

[izzy]

When I listen to this I think of a dystopian future and there's this cynical guy in the rebellion singing this while busting some heads. It actually kinda fits.
"Oh look the roses are red and so are my blood-stained clothes. What a wonderful world!"

[SacredAbyss]

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 day and the dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Ooh
Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Your daddy's rich and your ma is good-lookin'
Ah Ooh
So hush little baby, Don't you cry
I hear babies cry, I-
I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Yeah, I think to myself
What a wonderful world

[starattler]

Sounds like a super villain theme, like a villain who was hurt by the normal world so they made it horrible for everyone else...

[thenondualisticmystic]

okay these vibes are legitimately creepy. Doesn't mean I don't like it though. These minor versions are so intense, which I love.

[enchaentaed]

A serial killer who’s slowly caressing the dead body of his first-love is singing to her softly, for he’s sorry that he did this to her. His fingers brush softly over the carvings in her thighs, and the pads of his fingertips slowly shut her eyes. One of his tears falls into her face. He wishes he could take it all back, but he can’t, for he can already see the flashes of red and blue from outside.

It only takes one bang for the police to know he had already ended his life along with the lives of all his victims.

[veronicac]

please do "Pure Imagination" in a minor key 😁

[FilmmakerIQ]

This is epic. Really really well done!

[martinisrael]

To be such involved into minors you got to be careful because you can be arrested someday.

[joegiordano]

Not gonna lie, I was thrown off when you began in a lower octave. Usually you are always very high octave singer, so it was a very nice change

[irishclockwork]

i think if he will do Mad World that the song would be super depressing and scary but cool at the same time

[a.krishna]

I know that minor key is supposed to be the "sad" key, but listening to your covers somehow makes me feel a lot of joy..always bringing a smile to my face XDDDD

[JusticeHearts]

u sound like a damn villain and it's amazing

[kvbeek]

Showed a friend, his first response was "The title is wrong. It's in F minor."

Drummers!

Regardless, great series and I really love your arrangement.

Edit: Apologies to those that missed the many-layered joke. The key, in fact, is F minor. My friend the drummer, who also holds a degree in music, purposely made the "drummers are dumb" joke. The title of the video used to include the ambiguous parenthetical "(A MINOR KEY VERSION)", which we were amused by.

Explaining jokes sucks, but I totally was too obscure. :) Whoops!

[ethanashby]

I think it would be cool to hear your rendition of "Happy Together -the Turtles" 😏

[gatedude]

What I see when I listen to this:

I see a word in the aftermath of a horrible plague. A man is alone, as far as he knows the sole survivor on Earth. After he is done burying all those he cared for, he lives on by himself in the slowly crumbling remains of human civilization.

Nature is reclaiming all that was taken from her, the world's beauty slowly returning. Yet, he spends a lot of time in tears remembering those he loved who are gone.

Time keeps passing. The cities of man become overgrown and begin to tumble, he passes his time raising animals as companionship and for survival. He returns each day to the small graveyard, sometimes weeping and sometimes simply staring silently at them.

Decades later, he is an old man. The animals he has raised for generations have grown closer together and cooperate. His last thought is that maybe something more can come from his efforts, that he can leave the world a slightly better place in spite of being the last man. Then he closes his eyes for the last time, hopeful that he will finally rejoin his loved ones on the other side.

[jenniferbaldwin]

i love how he puts emotions into the song where you can tell it's sad well that's what the minor key does but he can sing in which is outstanding and perfect for songs like these