[3] In November 2008, the Tea for the Tillerman CD was re-issued in a deluxe version which included the original demo of "Wild World".

[4][5][6] In her 1971 essay "But Now I'm Gonna Move," critic Ellen Willis described a method of revealing male bias in lyrics in which the listener imagines the genders reversed: By this test, a diatribe like 'Under My Thumb' is not nearly so sexist in its implications as, for example, Cat Stevens's gentle, sympathetic 'Wild World'; Jagger's fantasy of sweet revenge could easily be female—in fact, it has a female counterpart, Nancy Sinatra's 'Boots' — but it's hard to imagine a woman sadly warning her ex-lover that he's too innocent for the big bad world out there.

In 1987, Jonathan King accused Pet Shop Boys of plagiarising the melody of "Wild World" for their UK No.

King also released his own cover version of "Wild World" as a single, using a similar musical arrangement to "It's a Sin", in an effort to demonstrate his claims.

This single flopped, while Pet Shop Boys sued King, eventually winning out-of-court damages, which they donated to charity.

Wang's version was also featured in American web television series The Good Fight Season 1, 2017.

John Tague from NME wrote, "Priest, who has always leaned towards the commercial side of reggae anyway, revives the Cat Stevens song and strips it of any trace of reggaedom.

In 1993, American rock band Mr. Big released a cover of "Wild World" on their third album, Bump Ahead (1993).

He added, "Pleasing lead vocals and tightly knit harmonies weave around cowboy-like acoustic strumming and nimble-but-subtle electric doodling.

[43] Troy J. Augusto from Cash Box commented, "Back to ballad-land again with a credible cover of the Cat Stevens classic.

"[44] Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report called it a "soulful, sensitive approach with a slight rock edge."

"[45] Another Gavin Report editor, Kent Zimmerman, complimented its "decidedly wooden, unplugged flavor".

[46] Alan Jones from Music Week said it is "rendered in the low key intimate rock ballad style recently deployed by the likes of Metallica, Extreme and Little Angels.