B-side "Siam Sam" Recorded 1975 Length 3:54 | Released August 1976 Genre Soft rock Label Asylum | |
"Still the One" is a song written by Johanna Hall and John Hall, and recorded by the soft rock group Orleans on their album Waking and Dreaming, released in 1976, which made it to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Contents
Country singer Bill Anderson recorded and released a successful cover version, peaking at No. 11 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart in 1977.
Song lyrics
The lyrics of the song are of a man describing his feelings for a woman with whom he has a long lasting and, of course, intimate relationship ("You're still the one, I want to talk to in bed; Still the one that turns my head") and all the reasons why she is "Still the One" for whom he has feelings.
Background
Orleans bass player Lance Hoppen recalls that Johanna Hall wrote the lyrics for "Still the One" after a friend "asked her why somebody couldn't write a song about staying together, as opposed to breaking up"; Johanna Hall wrote the lyrics on an envelope which she then handed to John Hall who Hoppen says "created the music in about fifteen minutes". Johanna Hall's recollection is that the realization that there was a dearth of songs about long-term relationships came to her while she was doing laundry, and that she handed John Hall a napkin on which she'd written the song's lyric. John Hall would recall that "Still the One" was not an automatic choice for lead single from Waking and Dreaming saying rather that "we had several songs that were candidates. We were too close to it to see. Fortunately, our producer, Chuck Plotkin, had a strong feeling about the song."
In popular culture
The American Broadcasting Company used a variant of this song to promote their 1977 and 1979 seasons. Several variant of this song were also used in Nine Network in Australia until 2006.
In 2004, the Bush campaign played the song at campaign events until Orleans co-founder (and future Democratic congressman and Bush critic) John Hall commented publicly that the campaign had never received permission to use the song. The campaign later dropped the song from its playlist. Hall expressed similar criticisms when John McCain used the song in his 2008 presidential campaign.