Wishing Well (Terence Trent D'Arby song)

{{short description|1987 song by Terence Trent D'Arby}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Wishing Well

| cover = Wishing Well song.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Terence Trent D'Arby

| album = Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby

| B-side = Elevators & Hearts

| released = June 8, 1987 (UK){{cite magazine |title=New Singles |magazine=Music Week |date=6 June 1987 |page=43}}
January 1988 (US){{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/greatrockdiscogr00stro/page/200/mode/2up?q=terence+trent|title=Great Rock Discography|date=1995 |pages=200|isbn=978-0-86241-541-9 |last1=Strong |first1=Martin Charles |publisher=Canongate Press }}

| recorded = 1987

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = {{hlist|Soul|pop|funk}}

| length = 3:33

| label = CBS

| writer = {{hlist|Terence Trent D'Arby|Sean Oliver}}

| producer = {{hlist|Terence Trent D'Arby|Martyn Ware}}

| prev_title = If You Let Me Stay

| prev_year = 1987

| next_title = Dance Little Sister

| next_year = 1987

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|ynIHsHYaig0|"Wishing Well"}}}}

}}

"Wishing Well" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Terence Trent D'Arby. The second single from the 1987 album Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, the song reached number one on both the Soul Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 on {{Start date|1988|5|7}}.{{cite book |title=Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=145}} "Wishing Well" was certified "Gold", indicating sales of 500,000, by the Recording Industry Association of America in October 1991. Written by D'Arby and Sean Oliver, D'Arby said "Wishing Well" was written "when I was in a half-asleep, half-awake state of mind", and that he "liked the feel of the words".{{cite book |year=2003 |last=Bronson |first=Fred |title=The Billboard Book of Number One Hits |page=697 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PgGqNrqfrsoC |isbn=978-0-8230-7677-2 |publisher=Random House LLC}} Martyn Ware of Heaven 17 paired with D'Arby in production of the song, which was released on CBS Records.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/wishing-well-mt0001856258|title=Wishing Well|last=Hogan|first=Ed|publisher=AllMusic}} Once released, "Wishing Well", along with D'Arby's debut single "If You Let Me Stay", went into "heavy rotation" on MTV.{{cite journal|title=In the Ring with Terence Trent D'Arby|last=Corcoran|first=Michael|pages=45–46|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAcetOZSUdcC|date=June 1988|volume=4|number=3|journal=Spin|publisher=Spin Media LLC|issn=0886-3032}} D'Arby performed the song live at the 30th Annual Grammy Awards, where he lost the Grammy Award for Best New Artist to Jody Watley. When the single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, it had charted for 17 weeks, the longest progress to number one in the US charts since Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" in 1983.{{cite news|title='Wishing Well' Finally Pays Off|last=DeKnock|first=Jan|date=May 6, 1988|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|publisher=Tribune Company|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1988/05/06/wishing-well-finally-pays-off/}}

Ben Greenman of The New Yorker credits "Wishing Well", along with other D'Arby songs, with "[bringing] soul music into the eighties".{{cite magazine|magazine=The New Yorker|publisher=Condé Nast Publications|url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/06/where-have-you-gone-terence-trent-darby.html|title=What Ever Happened to Terence Trent D'Arby?|last=Greenman|first=Ben|date=June 4, 2013}} Writing about D'Arby for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the song "sparse funk", and noted how "Wishing Well" was his first major hit in the United States.{{cite book|title=All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul|page=177|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o552g5xRRiwC|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-0-87930-744-8}} Kathi Whalen of The Washington Post credited the song's chart success to D'Arby's combination of "'60s soul and pop on top", and called "Wishing Well" "bouncy".{{cite news|title=Terence Trent D'Arby|last=Whalen|first=Kathi|newspaper=The Washington Post|publisher=Nash Holdings LLC|date=December 21, 1989|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/12/21/terence-trent-darby/4090ab3e-0852-4096-8224-9ac4b1926515/}}