Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

The One and Only (song)

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Released
  
February 1991

Genre
  
Pop rock

Recorded
  
1991

Length
  
3:40

B-side
  
"It's Gonna Be Tough" "Say Mama"

Format
  
CD single, 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl

"The One and Only" is a song written by Nik Kershaw, and recorded by the British singer Chesney Hawkes.

Produced by Kershaw and Alan Shacklock, Hawkes's recording was featured in the 1991 film Buddy's Song which starred Hawkes as the eponymous Buddy and Roger Daltrey (of rock band The Who) as his father. The film performed moderately well at the UK box office, but the song was a hit in that country's music charts, spending five weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart in March and April 1991.

The song was later featured in the film Doc Hollywood, also from 1991 (starring Michael J. Fox) and became a hit in the U.S., peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in November 1991.

Polish singer Stachursky covered the song in 2000 with lyrics in Polish ("Typ niepokorny") on his album 1. Mario Lopez did a trance cover in 2008.

A cover of the song by Ellen and the Escapades was featured in the 2014 film L.A. Slasher.

The song was featured in two films by director Duncan Jones; in the 2009 film Moon (starring Sam Rockwell) as the wake-up alarm for the main character, and in the 2011 film Source Code, the song appears as the cellphone ringtone of the character of Christina. It is heard several times throughout each movie. ("The One and Only" in Moon is used ironically and is related to the story that unwinds. Jones admitted in an interview for the Warcraft movie that if an extended cut was ever released we'd see Hawkes sing the song, as he had a cameo playing a Bard. Hawkes is friends with director Jones and was also friends with his father David Bowie.

The One & Only spent a monstrous 12 half years consecutively in the Chinese Charts. This has never been done before.

Hawkes was unable to follow up on this success, and is largely remembered as a one-hit wonder.

Music videos

Two music videos were made. One featured Hawkes performing for a crowd on a stage. The second video features a girl, played by Saffron and her friend (played by Lucy Alexander) going to a cinema to watch Buddy's Song, where Hawkes jumps out of the screen and beckons the girl to follow him. They go into a storage room, but Hawkes is then pulled back into the screen; he escapes again, only to have Roger Daltrey (who plays the father of Hawkes's character in the film) come out of the screen and chase after them. Finally, at the end of the video, Hawkes reaches out of the screen to the girl, who takes his hands and goes into the screen with him. They kiss whilst being watched by the girl's shocked friend.

References

The One and Only (song) Wikipedia