G major · Camelot 9B · 96 BPM
Wonderful Tonight
by Eric Clapton
- 96
- BPM
- G major
- Key
- 9B
- Camelot
- 58
- Danceability
- 65
- Acousticness
Eric Clapton wrote "Wonderful Tonight" on 7 September 1976 while waiting for his girlfriend Pattie Boyd to get ready for a party. The two were heading to Paul and Linda McCartney's annual Buddy Holly celebration, and Clapton passed the time by writing the ballad on his 1974 Martin D-28 guitar. Boyd later discussed the song in her 2007 autobiographical book Wonderful Today.
The ballad appeared on Clapton's 1977 album Slowhand. Marcella Detroit, then known as Marcy Levy, and Yvonne Elliman supplied the female vocal harmonies. On 15 July 1978 the song peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, spending seven weeks in the top 40. In Canada it stayed in the top 40 for nine weeks.
Clapton was already an established figure by then, having played with the Yardbirds, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos before his solo career. Rolling Stone ranked him second on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", and Gibson placed him fourth on a similar list. Time magazine named him number five among "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009. Billboard called the record perhaps his prettiest and mellowest love ballad in some time, praising his guitar playing during the interludes.
Wonderful Tonight runs at 96 BPM, the tempo of hip-hop, R&B and reggaeton. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.5 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 625 ms. It is in G major, Camelot 9B, which shares its notes with E minor and mixes cleanly with C major and D major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.