One (Harry Nilsson song)

"One Is the Loneliest Number" redirects here. For the novel, see Tom Clancy's Net Force Explorers: One is the Loneliest Number.

"One"
Single by Harry Nilsson
from the album Aerial Ballet
B-side	"Sister Marie"
Released	1968
Recorded	1967
Genre	Chamber pop
Label	RCA Records
Songwriter(s)	Harry Nilsson
Producer(s)	Rick Jarrard
Harry Nilsson singles chronology
"Good Old Desk" (1967) "One" (1968) "Everybody's Talkin'" (1968)

"One" is a song by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson from his 1968 album Aerial Ballet. It is known for its opening line "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do". Nilsson wrote the song after calling someone and getting a busy signal. He stayed on the line listening to the "beep, beep, beep, beep..." tone, writing the song. The busy signal became the opening notes.

A better-known cover version, recorded by Three Dog Night, reached number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 and number four in Canada. In 1969, the song was also recorded by Australian pop singer Johnny Farnham, reaching number four on the Go-Set National Top 40 Chart.

Three Dog Night version

"One"
File:One - Three Dog Night.jpg
Single by Three Dog Night
from the album Three Dog Night
B-side	"Chest Fever"
Released	April 1969
Recorded	1968
Genre	Pop rock, hard rock
Length	3:06 (album) 2:55 (single)
Label	Dunhill
Songwriter(s)	Harry Nilsson
Producer(s)	Gabriel Mekler
Three Dog Night singles chronology
"Try a Little Tenderness" (1969) "One" (1969) "Easy to Be Hard" (1969)

Three Dog Night played "One" in the key of F minor, and it was released as the second single from Three Dog Night's eponymous first album. It became their first of seven gold records over the next five years.

The original issue of the single version fades out about ten seconds before the final notes heard on the album version. Upon reissues by ABC Records, the label reverted to the album version which is heard on radio today.

The song reached number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at number two on the Cash Box Top 100. It also reached number four in Canada.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1969)	Peak position
Australia (Go-Set)	39
Canada RPM Top Singles	4
New Zealand (Listener)	16
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	5
U.S. Cash Box Top 100	2

Year-end charts

Chart (1969)	Rank
Canada	20
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	11
U.S. Cash Box	16

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)	Gold	1,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Other versions

• John Farnham, released "One" as a double-sided single with "Mr. Whippy" in 1969, reaching number four in Australia.
• Mike Melvoin released an instrumental arrangement of "One" on his 1970 album The Plastic Cow Goes Moooooog.
• The New Seekers released a version on the 1971 album Beautiful People.
• In 1992, it was recorded by the band Chainsaw Kittens on the single for the song "High in High School".
• The song was recorded by Aimee Mann for the 1995 Nilsson tribute album For the Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson. Mann's version also appears in the 1999 film Magnolia and on the film's soundtrack.
• The song was recorded by the rock band Filter for the soundtrack to the 1998 film The X-Files: Fight the Future. There is also a scene in the movie where Mulder says to a bartender (played by an uncredited Glenne Headly), "You know, one is the loneliest number."
• Dokken included the song on their 1999 album Erase the Slate.
• The Beta Band closed their 2001 album Hot Shots II with "Won", a hip-hop track built around extensive samples of Nilsson's song.
• Alva Noto and Blixa Bargeld, working together for their ANBB project, included a version of this song on their 2010 album Mimikry.
• Mastodon recorded an arrangement of the song for the Army of Two trailer.
• Electric Six recorded a cover version of the song for use in the trailer for Army of Two, but their version was rejected in favor of the Mastodon version. It was subsequently included on their 2015 compilation album Mimicry and Memories.

In media

• In 1990, in the episode "Mistaken Identity" of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, this song's lyrics intro was sung by Bob the Prisoner.
• In 1995, the song was sung briefly on The Drew Carey Show at the Warsaw Pub between both Carey and his boss, Mr. Bell, in the first-season episode "Nature Abhors a Vacuum".
• The 1999 film Magnolia, by Paul Thomas Anderson, uses this song (sung by Aimee Mann) for its intro.
• The eleventh episode of Spider-Man Unlimited is titled "One is the Loneliest Number".
• In Disney's Recess: School's Out (2001), the song is played when the main character T.J. misses his friends after they leave for their individual summer camps.
• This song was used in a 2002 episode of the animated comedy series Family Guy called "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows".
• This song was quoted by Robert Barone in an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond.
• The song was sung by Nathan Lane and was featured on the soundtrack of Stuart Little 2 in 2002.
• In 2004, the song appears in the third episode of House ("Occam's Razor"). Dr. House references the song's opening line during a discussion with his team, and the song later plays over the episode's last scene.
• Also in 2004, the song is briefly sung by Donkey in the film Shrek 2.
• The Muppets and Jimmy Fallon performed an impromptu rendition of the song on the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon while rehearsing for the 2009 Christmas performance.
• In 2013, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic created a video using "One" to promote their US Open final match.
• In 2013, Lisa Simpson sang the song at the beginning of episode 536 of The Simpsons, dated November 24, 2013.
• In 2014, the Three Dog Night cover of the song appeared in the teaser trailer for season five of the American crime drama Boardwalk Empire.
• In October 2016, an original version recorded by Harry Nilsson was used in Masters of Sex TV series (season four, called "Coats or Keys").
• Also in October 2016, the Harry version was used in The Blacklist TV series (episode 6, season four, called "The Thrushes").
• The Three Dog Night version appeared in the 2016 video game Mafia 3.
• In February 2017, the song was featured in The Lego Batman Movie.
• In February 2019, the song played over the first scene of the seventh episode of The Umbrella Academy ("The Day That Was").
• The song is featured in the trailer of Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

External links

• Review of "One" on allmusic.com