"The Wilhelm Scream" is a song by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 musician James Blake

James Blake (musician)

James Blake is a British electronic music producer and singer-songwriter from London, UK. On 6 January 2011, Blake was announced as runner-up in BBC's Sound of 2011 poll...

, released on his self-titled debut album

James Blake (album)

James Blake is the debut studio album by London-based dubstep producer James Blake. It was released in both the United Kingdom and the United States on his own label, ATLAS, supported by A&M Records, on 4 February 2011...

. It is a cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the song "Where to Turn" by James Litherland

James Litherland

James Litherland is an English singer and guitarist. He was born in Salford, England. He is the father of singer/producer James Blake.-Discography:With Colosseum*Those Who Are About To Die Salute You – 1968*Valentyne Suite – 1969...

, Blake's father. The single was released in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 on 3 March 2011, and debuted on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 at number 136.
The cover version was retitled after the Wilhelm scream

Wilhelm scream

The Wilhelm scream is a film and television stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the film Distant Drums. The effect gained new popularity after it was used in Star Wars and many other blockbuster films as well as television programs and video games...

, a sound effect used in numerous movies. The Single was used during the end credits of HBO TV series Entourage

Entourage (TV series)

Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

 season 8 episode 3.

Critical reception

Mayer Nissim of Digital Spy

Digital Spy

Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....

Blog gave the song a positive review stating:

Named after a movie sound effect, 'The Wilhelm Scream' is apparently a reworking of James's dad Jamie Litherland's twangy number 'Where To Turn'. Here though, Blake takes the sort of carefree liberties with the source material that Jamie xx did with Gil Scott Heron on last month's fantastic We're New Here LP. As Blake's voice veers between an almost robotic coldness and grasping attempts at connection, the stripped-out backing plays around with space as much as it does notes. They key stuff happens from about two minutes in, as layers build in crashing waves of ambient terror until you find your teeth grinding and eyes welling up... before it all drops out again.

Track listing

Charts

> >

Chart (2011)	Peak Position
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... )	136

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...	3 March 2011	Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...	Polydor Records Polydor Records Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...