Released May 1955 Recorded April 26, 1955 Length 2:36 | Format 7" vinyl Genre Doo-wop | |
B-side "Bark, Battle and Ball" | ||
"Only You (And You Alone)" (often shortened to "Only You") is a pop song composed by Buck Ram. It was recorded most successfully by The Platters, with lead vocals by Tony Williams, in 1955.
Contents
The Platters' version
The Platters first recorded the song for Federal Records on May 20, 1954, but the recording was not released. In 1955, after moving to Mercury Records, the band re-recorded the song (on April 26) and it scored a major hit when it was released in May. In November that year, Federal Records released the original recording as a single (B-side - "You Made Me Cry") which sold poorly. Platters bass singer Herb Reed later recalled how the group hit upon its successful version: "We tried it so many times, and it was terrible. One time we were rehearsing in the car ... and the car jerked. Tony went 'O-oHHHH-nly you.' We laughed at first, but when he sang that song—that was the sign we had hit on something." According to Buck Ram, Tony Williams' voice "broke" in rehearsal, but they decided to keep this effect in the recording. This was the only Platter's recording on which songwriter and manager Ram played the piano.
The song held strong in the number-one position on the U.S. R & B charts for seven weeks, and hit number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It remained there for 30 weeks, beating out a rival cover version by a white band called The Hilltoppers. When the Platters track, "The Great Pretender" (which eventually surpassed the success of "Only You"), was released in the UK as Europe's first introduction to The Platters, "Only You" was included on the flipside. In the 1956 film Rock Around the Clock, The Platters participated with both songs "Only You" and "The Great Pretender".
Ringo Starr version
In 1974, Ringo Starr covered this song (b/w "Call Me") for his album Goodnight Vienna at the suggestion of John Lennon. This version was released as a single on 11 November in the US, and it became a number six hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one on the easy listening chart in early 1975. It was released in UK on 15 November. Lennon plays acoustic guitar on the track, and recorded a guide vocal which was kept by producer Richard Perry. Ringo did the spoken recitation on the repeat of the first half of the song. Ringo's version was in a 2/44 compared to the Platters version of the song.6 Harry Nilsson sings harmony vocals and appears with Starr in the amusing music video filmed on top of the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles. Lennon's vocal version appears on his Anthology box set, in 1998.
Other notable covers
Use in media
The song is included on the soundtracks of the films American Graffiti, The Delinquents, and Mr. Destiny.
The song plays on a radio accidentally left on all night by Clark Kent (Jeff East) in film Superman: The Movie. However, between the crackle of the radio and the sound created by the green crystal hidden in the Kents' barn, the song is barely discernible.
The song is in the 1991 film Hot Shots! starring Charlie Sheen. The song features in the 1994 Michael Hui film Tie ban shao (Teppanyaki).
The song is also featured in the 1993 Mike Myers cult classic So I Married An Axe Murderer. Partly sung in French by Nancy Travis during the wedding ceremony scene.
The song was featured heavily in advertising for Network Q during the early 1990s, with the song changed to 'Only Q'
In the 1995 comedy Sgt. Bilko, Country music artist Travis Tritt sings it on the stage. Tritt's version was included on his 1995 album Greatest Hits: From the Beginning.
This song was adapted into Cantonese and Mandarin in the Hong Kong movie A Chinese Odyssey. In the song, Longevity Monk tries to convince the character Joker, who he thinks is the Sun Wukong, to protect him on his travels and put on the Monkey King's golden crown. Instead, Joker beats Longevity Monk over the head with a rod.
Lonestar recorded a cover version for the soundtrack to the film Where the Heart Is.
This song also appears in the 2009 Japanese film Zero Focus.
Filipino actor/singer Sam Milby sang a rock-version of the song which served as the theme song for the Filipino-dubbed airing of the Korean drama series Only You and later served as the theme song to the Philippine adaptation of the series, starring Milby and airing on ABS-CBN in the Philippines and The Filipino Channel worldwide.
The Platters' version appears at the close of an episode in season 3 (2005) of "Cold Case".