"One" is a song written and recorded by Harry Nilsson and made famous by Three Dog Night whose recording reached number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 and number four in Canada. The song 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 of the song. In 1968, Al Kooper released the song on his debut album I Stand Alone. In 1969, the song was recorded by Australian pop singerJohnny Farnham, reaching number four on the Go-Set National Top 40 Chart.
Three Dog Night version
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 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.
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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 . Mann's version also appears in the 1999 filmMagnolia and on the film's soundtrack.
The song was recorded by the rock band Filter for the soundtrack to the 1998 filmThe X-Files: Fight the Future. There is also a scene in the movie where Mulder says to a bartender, "You know, one is the loneliest number."
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 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".
In Disney's , 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. 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.
