What's That Song in 'Stranger Than Fiction'?

Posted on Jan 8th 2008 12:00PM by Kim Davis
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'(I'd Go the) Whole Wide World,' by Wreckless Eric

Oysters, chocolate, strawberries, champagne -- all effective aphrodisiacs. But add to that list an obscure punk love song, and the unmistakable air of a first kiss, and you've got yourself a dangerously romantic situation. As is the case in the 2006 film 'Stranger Than Fiction,' wherein a simple, sentimental tune by British punk musician Eric Goulden, better known as his more "Wreckless" self, does the trick in this magnetic scene between Maggie Gyllenhaal and Will Ferrell.

Ferrell's buttoned-up tax auditor, Harold, and Gyllenhaal's a bohemian bakery owner, Ana, are an unlikely couple. But, as director Marc Forster told EW, "when Harold sings [the song] for Ana, you really feel his longing and you know why he touches her heart ... it perfectly captures the emotion of that scene."

The song is scaled down, using only two chords, and like 2007's surprise hit, Plain White T's' 'Delilah,' Wreckless Eric's 'Whole Wide World' scores big with the chicks with its earnest, vulnerable lyrics and "I wrote this for you, baby" quality. The most successful song of his career, it has been covered by everyone from the Monkees and girlfriend, singer Amy Rigby, to the Proclaimers, who properly released their cover on the band's seventh studio album, 2007's 'Life With You.' And while there was a time that Goulden considered the song, which he wrote in 1974, "an albatross around my neck -- I thought it was the only song of mine that people wanted to hear," he enjoyed the bump in popularity from its inclusion in this scene. "I've had songs in some bad films before,'' he told EW, ''This is the first time it's been in anything worthwhile, so I'm just so proud of it."

After a long career, which began as one of the first members of London's punk rock label, Stiff Records, along with Ian Dury, Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, rumor has it that a tribute album is in the works, with bands including the Wedding Present and the Crimea covering some of Wreckless Eric's treasured tunes.

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Watch Will Ferrell and Dustin Hoffman on UnScripted

77 Unforgettable Movie Songs

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