"What A Wonderful World" was written by Bob Thiele, George David Weiss, and George Douglas, but first recorded and popularized by Louis Armstrong. The Lips performed this cover to close the In A Priest Driven Ambulance album. Aside from "Plastic Jesus," it is the only cover song to appear on a proper Lips studio album. The Louis Armstrong version has also been commonly played on the PA directly before or after the Lips' live shows throughout their history.

Wayne's quote from Staring At Sound:

"They [some of the underground indie rock audience and press] thought we were really saying, 'It's an evil, shitty world,' and in some ways, I think that's why Jonathan liked it. But I just took it as this great song. I found myself thinking, 'This really is a simple, perfect sentiment,' and the way that the melodies and the chords all work to propel the singing, it really is perfect. I don't know why we stumbled on it as something you would associate with the Flaming Lips, but I guess by doing it, it became that. We were struggling with it - I still don't know what the chords are - but when Dave Fridmann was recording us, he said, 'You know, you aren't doing that right, there are some big holes in the ship, but that's what makes it unique and beautiful.' Other guys wouldn't have done that, they'd have tried to make us fix it, but that's one of Dave's strengths."