Back in 1974 in cold rainy Hull, England then teenaged Eric Goulden, better known as Wreckless Eric, wrote what may be the ultimate Blue Mind song (other than Alexi Murdoch's Blue Mind). The song's called (I'd Go) The Whole Wide World and laments the crummy weather while dreaming about warm tropical blue seas and romance. Additional musicians on the record were Nick Lowe on guitar and bass, and Steve Goulding on drums
It goes like this:
When I was a young boy
My mama said to me
There's only one girl in the world for you
And she probably lives in Tahiti
I'd go the whole wide world
I'd go the whole wide world
Just to find her
Or maybe she's in the Bahamas
Where the Carribean sea is blue
Weeping in a tropical moonlit night
Because nobody's told her 'bout you
I'd go the whole wide world
I'd go the whole wide world
Just to find her
I'd go the whole wide world
I'd go the whole wide world
Find out where they hide her
Why am I hanging around in the rain out here
Trying to pick up a girl
Why are my eyes filling up with these lonely tears
When there're girls all over the world
Is she lying on a tropical beach somewhere
Underneath the tropical sun
Pining away in a heatwave there
Hoping that I won't be long
I should be lying on that sun-soaked beach with her
Caressing her warm brown skin
And then in a year or maybe not quite
We'll be sharing the same next of kin
I'd go the whole wide world
I'd go the whole wide world
Just to find her
I'd go the whole wide world
I'd go the whole wide world
Find out where they hide her
A 1980 performance by Eric:
Elvis Costello, The Monkees, Will Ferrell, Amy Rigby, The Proclaimers, The Bad Shepherds,The Wallflowers, and The Vaccines among others have covered the song. Here's a cover I like by The Bad Shepherds:
