[6] One source claims the song was first offered to Tony Bennett, who turned it down,[7] although Louis Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi disputes this.

", a big hit for Armstrong when he was with Kapp Records, so when Newton heard the slow pace of "What a Wonderful World", he tried to stop the session.

[9] A second problem arose with the taping session: nearby freight train whistles interrupted the music twice, forcing the orchestra to start over.

[13] An episode of The Muppet Show produced in 1977 and broadcast early in 1978 featured Rowlf the Dog singing the song to a puppy.

When the ABC television sitcom Family Matters premiered in 1989, Armstrong's version of "What a Wonderful World" was used as the show's theme song.

[14] In 2001, rappers Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and the Alchemist released "The Forest," a song that begins with three lines of lyric adapted from "What a Wonderful World", altered to become "an invitation to get high" on marijuana.

The suit was thrown out after Judge Gerard E. Lynch determined that the altered lyric was a parody, transforming the uplifting original message to a new one with a darker nature.

In 2007, Georgian-British singer-songwriter Katie Melua recorded a version of "What a Wonderful World" with American singer and guitarist Eva Cassidy, who had died in 1996.

Recorded by Melua singing over the original Cassidy track, the duet was released in late 2007 as a charity single for the British Red Cross.

It became the first UK number-one single to be available through only one retailer, with 97 percent of its weekly 56,114 sales coming from the physical CD format sold at Tesco.

The cover was also successful in Sweden, reaching number 19 in November 2008, and became a minor hit in the Wallonia region of Belgium.