This article is about the Eric Clapton song. For other uses, see Change the World (disambiguation).

"Change the World" is a song written by Tommy Sims

Tommy Sims

Tommy Sims is a renowned bassist, songwriter, record producer and bandleader.-Music career:From 1987 to 1989 he was the bassist of the popular Christian rock band White Heart which he left to become a studio musician and producer. During 1992-1993, he played bass on the Bruce Springsteen and the...

, Gordon Kennedy

Gordon Kennedy (musician)

Gordon Kennedy is a multi Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer, world-class guitarist and visionary at the forefront of Nashville’s music community....

 and Wayne Kirkpatrick

Wayne Kirkpatrick

Wayne Kirkpatrick is an American singer/songwriter and musician born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana but now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet High School in 1979....

 which was recorded by Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

 with backing by Babyface for the soundtrack of the 1996 film Phenomenon

Phenomenon (film)

Phenomenon is a 1996 romantic fantasy-drama film written by Gerald Di Pego, directed by Jon Turteltaub, and starring John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, and Robert Duvall....

. The song won Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

s for Record of the Year

Grammy Award for Record of the Year

The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....

, Song of the Year

Grammy Award for Song of the Year

The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...

 (for the songwriters), as well as Best Male Pop Vocal performance

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was awarded between 1966 and 2011...

. The song was chosen by the RIAA as one of the Songs of the Century

Songs of the Century

The "Songs of the Century" list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America , the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic Inc. that aims to "promote a better understanding of America’s musical and cultural heritage" in American schools...

, ranked at #270.

The single peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart in the summer of 1996. It also spent 13 weeks at #1 on the adult contemporary chart

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks

The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

 and remained on that chart for over a year and a half (80 weeks), a feat which was extraordinarily rare at the time. Since then, however, certain songs have remained on the AC chart for extended periods of time, prompting the eventual creation af an Adult Contemporary recurrent chart for songs that have stayed on the chart for many weeks and fallen below a certain threshold.

Although "Change the World" is better known as an unplugged acoustic track, a rare electric performance of the song was featured on Babyface's 1997 live album Babyface MTV Unplugged NYC, with Clapton on co-lead vocals, playing his namesake signature Fender Stratocaster

Eric Clapton Stratocaster

The Eric Clapton Stratocaster is the signature model electric guitar of English guitarist Eric Clapton, and was the first signature model guitar ever released by Fender.-Background:...

 guitar. There was also another electric cover of this track, released the following year, with Nathan East

Nathan East

Nathan Harrell East is a jazz, R&B and rock bass player and vocalist. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of California, San Diego...

 on electric bass.

In the song, the performer expresses his desire to communicate his love to an unnamed woman. This love, he fears, will go unrequited without a drastic change in his life.

Previous to the release of Clapton's hit version, the song was recorded by country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 superstar Wynonna Judd

Wynonna Judd

Wynonna Ellen Judd is an American country music singer. Her solo albums and singles are all credited to the singular name Wynonna. Wynonna first rose to fame in the 1980s alongside her mother, Naomi, in the country music duo The Judds...

 for her album Revelations

Revelations (Wynonna Judd album)

Revelations is the title of the third studio album released by American country music artist Wynonna Judd. Her first album since Tell Me Why three years previous, it was released in 1996 on MCA Records in association with Curb Records...

, released in February 1996. Wynonna, however, did not release her version as a single despite the popularity of Clapton's.

In their 15th single "Wings of Words", J-pop

J-pop

, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...

 group CHEMISTRY

Chemistry (band)

is a Japanese Pop/R&B duo, composed of and . They were the winners of the Asayan audition in 2000 organized by Sony Music Entertainment Japan....

 did their rendition of the song.

European CD Single

1. "Change the World" (LP Version) (3:57)
2. "Danny Boy" (Non-LP Track) (4:14)
3. "Change the World" (Instrumental) (3:57)

Charts

> > > > > > > > > > > > >

Chart (1996)	Peak position
Canadian Top Singles (RPM RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... )	1
Canadian Adult Contemporary (RPM RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... )	1

End of year chart (1996)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	19
End of year chart (1997)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	67

Cover versions

In 1997, saxophonist Alto Reed

Alto Reed

Alto Reed , is an American long-time saxophonist with Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. His most recognizable performances included the introduction to "Turn the Page", and the saxophone solo in "Old Time Rock and Roll"...

 covered the song from his debut album "Cool Breeze."

The group Fourte! from the Philippines also covered this song on their TV guest spots. In 2002, saxophonist Gerald Albright

Gerald Albright

Gerald Albright is an American jazz saxophonist.Albright has sold over 1,000,000 albums in the U.S. alone. His self-produced music features him on bass guitar, keyboards, flutes, drum programming, and background vocals.- Biography :...

 covered the song off the album "Groovology."

In 2004 the song was covered by British musical theatre icon, Elaine Paige

Elaine Paige

Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...

 as part of the new recordings on her "best of" album, entitled Centre Stage.

Remixed eurodance

Eurodance

Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...

 versions of the song have appeared on the Dancemania

Dancemania

Dancemania is a series of remix compilation albums by i-DANCE. The series deals primarily with dance music, especially eurodance. Despite its tracks have been made by various musicians from all over the world mainly from the European continent, the albums have been released exclusively in Japan.The...

series albums, including the 2000 compilation Dancemania SPEED 4

Dancemania Speed

Dancemania Speed is a sub-series of Toshiba EMI's Dancemania compilation series. This series features faster, further remixed versions of recordings from previously released Dancemania albums or faster remixed covers of various famous songs...

where an uptempo eurodance remix of the song by CJ Crew

CJ Crew

CJ Crew are a dance music DJ duo, consisting of Chris Bucknall and John Briely. Other aliases include Big Vin & Hugh Jardon, Chi K Monkey, Chi K Munki, Connie and the Plainsman, Demanche Noir, Muff and the Munchers, Nancy and the Boys, The Orff Ki Ensemble, Pyan Issim, Pynck Hobo, Terry and the...

and Blueman is listed.