Talk:I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)

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A fact from I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 12 November 2010 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Steely Dan singer Donald Fagen's only Billboard Top 40 hit as a solo artist was "I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)", a song inspired by the International Geophysical Year of July 1957 – December 1958?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2010/November.

Wikipedia

Suggest page or name change[edit]

The full title of this song in the United States is "I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year)," as is shown by this reference. The parenthetical subtitle "What a Beautiful World" might have been used in England, but not in the U.S. As this is an American album by an American artist, I suggest the title be moved to the U.S. title. ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 21:28, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (see references section) has it as "I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World)", which is why I created the page with that title (lowercasing the "A"). Allmusic is a great source, but I think the Billboard books have to trump it in the reliability department. See also the L.A. Times coverage of its Grammy nomination reprinted in the Ottawa Citizen here. I have seen the other title used, though, so I just created a redirect for it. 28bytes (talk) 21:44, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

One title must be more common than the other. The album cover simply says "I.G.Y." A compromise would be to remove the parenthetical subtitle altogether, if some more definitive answer cannot be found. ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 21:50, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Personally I consider Billboard definitive, but probably the most definitive title would be whatever's on the single label itself. If those agree that's probably the title we should use, although other input is certainly welcome. 28bytes (talk) 21:58, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This image, from a promotional single, shows no subtitle. But, a promotional copy might not be considered definitive. This Japanese single shows no subtitle, either. While this Japanese single shows the ("What a Wonderful World") subtitle. ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 22:12, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I thought I had the actual (American, non-promotional) single around here someplace, but I can't seem to find it. FWIW an eBay search shows the record label itself with "I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)" but the sleeve with just "I.G.Y.", so that's not much help. 28bytes (talk) 22:36, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It seems a mess to me. We have three equally valid answers, but we need one title for the article, one that is supportable. So, what to do? ---RepublicanJacobite_{The'FortyFive'} 22:41, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I wouldn't object to you opening a move request so we can solicit broader input. I think the "right" page for it is "I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)", since that's what Billboard says, but I can see arguments for the other possibilities as well. The problem with "I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year)" is that the "regular" version of the single doesn't seem to have ever actually had that title, and the problem with "I.G.Y." is the same, although that's mitigated by the fact that the song is listed on the album and some promotional singles that way. Another option would be to just create redirects and note in the article that the song is known several different variations of the title. 28bytes (talk) 22:52, 23 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have a copy of the original vinyl LP (The Nightfly). On the inner sleeve, the lyrics are printed, and this song is titled "I. G. Y. (International Geophysical Year)" there. All other references on the album (outer sleeve, label) say only "I. G. Y.". User:bjimba —Preceding undated comment added 16:47, 23 March 2011 (UTC).[reply]

I found a picture of the U.S. single that does show the title as "I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)". http://www.monoandstereo.com/2011/12/donald-fagen-igy.html --Metropolitan90 (talk) 06:21, 6 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]
- The above link is broken, but see https://www.waxpend.com/items/10093 instead (image 3). As Ashley indicates below, the back of the sleeve (image 2) does use "(International Geophysical Year)" as a subtitle, but in my opinion, the label on the disc itself takes precedence over the sleeve. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 03:44, 1 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps discogs.com didn't exist in 2011. To confuse matters the standard US 7" single has "I.G.Y." on the cover, both "I.G.Y." and "I.G.Y. (International Geophysical Year)" on the rear of the sleeve, and "I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World)" on the single's label. The album opts for options one and two. My opinion is that the correct answer is "I.G.Y." but the sentimental answer is "Beautiful World", which is how this article will stay forevermore. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 21:37, 31 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Characterization as "sarcastic", "ironic" and critical of the time period in last edit seems to lack supporting evidence.[edit]

The editor cites a single subjective song review in support of this latest edit. I cannot find a source which definitively states this was Donald Fagen's intent.

Fagen's intent[edit]

Fagen's intent — Preceding unsigned comment added by 23.251.71.101 (talk) 03:16, 11 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]