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One of Us (Joan Osborne song)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = One of Us
| cover = JoanOsbourneOneOfUsCDSingleCover.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Joan Osborne
| album = Relish
| B-side = * "Dracula Moon"
* "Crazy Baby" (live)
| released =
| recorded =
| studio = * The Crawlspace (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
* : Big Blue (Katonah, New York), PIE (Glen Cove, NY)
| venue =
| genre =
| length = * 5:21
* 4:15 (edit)
| label = * Blue Gorilla
* Mercury
| writer = Eric Bazilian
| producer = Rick Chertoff
| next_title = St. Teresa
| next_year = 1996
| misc =
}}
"'One of Us'" is a song by American singer Joan Osborne for her debut studio album, 'Relish' (1995). Written by Eric Bazilian of the Hooters and produced by Rick Chertoff, the song was released on November 21, 1995, as Osborne's debut single and lead single from 'Relish', and it became a hit in November of that year, peaking at number four on the US 'Billboard' Hot 100 and earning three Grammy nominations.
"One of Us" was also a hit around the world, topping the charts in Australia, Belgium, Canada, and Sweden, reaching number six on the UK Singles Chart, and becoming a top-20 hit in at least 12 other countries. The song went on to serve as the opening theme for the American television series 'Joan of Arcadia'.
Background
Regarding Eric Bazilian's experience with "One of Us", he said, "I wrote that song one night the quickest song I ever wrote to impress a girl. Which worked, because we're married and have two kids. But we were in the middle of writing Joan's album, which was a group effort with Rick Chertoff and Joan and Rob and I, and I did a demo of 'One of Us,' this wacky little demo which I ended up putting as a hidden track on the CD of my first solo record, and I played [it] for them. And it really hadn't even occurred to me that it was something that Joan might do, but Rick, in his wisdom, asked Joan if she thought she could sing it. And I think it was better that he asked it that way rather than 'Do you want to sing it?' Because the answer to that might not have been yes. But she definitely said she could sing it, and we did a little live demo of a guitar and her singing it. And when I got into my car and popped the cassette in, I started practicing the Grammy speech that I should've gotten to give." For the lead and solo, Bazilian used his 1954 Gibson Gold Top Les Paul for the studio recording.https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/60587-mr-wittman-q-about-quot-one-us-quot.html
Lyrics
The song deals with various aspects of belief in an anthropomorphic God by asking questions inviting the listener to consider how one might relate to such a God: for example "Would you call [God's name] to his face?" or "Would you want to see [God's face] if seeing meant that you would have to believe in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets?"
The album version starts off with the first four lines of a recording titled "The Aeroplane Ride", made on October 27, 1937, by American folklorist Alan Lomax and his wife Elizabeth for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress, with Mrs. Nell Hampton of Salyersville, Kentucky, singing a variation of the 1928 John S. McConnell hymn "Heavenly Aeroplane"."The aeroplane ride / Nell Hampton [sound recording]" Traditional Music and Spoken Word Catalog
from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.afc.afc9999005.6163/default.html]A sample of the recording "The Airplane Ride" by Nell Hampton from the album "The Gospel Ship" (New World Records)[http://www.newworldrecords.org/media/file338EF.mp3]
Critical reception
Roch Parisien from AllMusic called the song "a simple, direct statement of faith, honest and unadorned, one framed in a near-perfect chorus and delectable Neil Young-ish guitar riff". Alan Jones from 'Music Week' wrote, "Joan Osborne has come up with a delicious debut single One of Us an electrically charged and retro-styled song with an intimate vocal. The track addresses the question "What if God was one of us?, just a slob like one of us" placing him on the bus and taking phone calls from The Pope, doing so with humour, energy and a great tune, in a taut clutter-free production. A real find." In 2007, the song was ranked at number 54 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '90s" and number ten on the network's "40 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the '90s".
Music video
The accompanying music video for "One of Us" was directed by Mark Seliger and Fred Woodward, and was mainly shot on Coney Island, with various attractions like rollercoasters, ferris wheels and the New York Aquarium shown, interchanged with the vintage-looking shots in sepia and Osborne singing in front of the camera.
Track listings
* 'US and Australian CD and cassette single'
# "One of Us" (album version) 5:21
# "Dracula Moon" 6:21
* 'European CD single and UK cassette single'
# "One of Us" (edit) 4:16
# "One of Us" (album version) 5:21
* 'UK CD single'
# "One of Us" (edit) 4:16
# "Dracula Moon" 6:21
# "One of Us" 5:21
# "Crazy Baby" (live from Fox Theatre) 8:06
Personnel
* Joan Osborne lead vocals
* Eric Bazilian guitars, backing vocals, electric piano
* Mark Egan bass
* Rob Hyman drums, Mellotron, backing vocals
* William Wittman engineering, mixing
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"|+Year-end chart performance for "One of Us"
!Chart (1996)
!Position
|-
!scope="row"|Australia (ARIA)
|6
|-
!scope="row"|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)
|8
|-
!scope="row"|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)
|16
|-
!scope="row"|Canada Top Singles ('RPM')
|16
|-
!scope="row"|Canada Adult Contemporary ('RPM')
|50
|-
!scope="row"|Canada Rock/Alternative ('RPM')
|46
|-
!scope="row"|Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)
|26
|-
!scope="row"|France (SNEP)
|55
|-
!scope="row"|Germany (Official German Charts)
|67
|-
!scope="row"|Iceland (slenski Listinn Topp 40)
|9
|-
!scope="row"|Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
|69
|-
!scope="row"|Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)
|31
|-
!scope="row"|UK Singles (OCC)
|63
|-
!scope="row"|US 'Billboard' Hot 100
|30
|}
Certifications
Release history
Cover versions and parodies
* In 1996, Prince covered this song from on his album 'Emancipation' with backing vocals from his wife Mayte Garcia.
* Bob Rivers wrote the parody "What If God Smoked Cannabis?" in 1997[http://www.bobrivers.com/index.php/what-if-god-smoked-cannabis/ What if God Smoked Cannabis? | The Bob Rivers Show] (often incorrectly attributed to "Weird Al" Yankovic[http://free.house.cx/~eil/etc/notal_list.html The Not Al Page] ). A less well-known parody with the same title but different lyrics was produced in 1995 by Cincinnati radio station WEBN.[https://soundcloud.com/jaygilbert-1/what-if-god What If God ... by JayGilbert | Jay Gilbert | Free Listening on SoundCloud]
* The 1999 film 'Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me' features a scene where Dr. Evil performs the song on piano, accompanied by his clone Mini-Me.
* In the 2001 film 'Vanilla Sky', the character David Aames (Tom Cruise) sings the song while lying down on bed before having an operation.
* The song is covered on the 'Glee' episode "Grilled Cheesus", by the actors Jenna Ushkowitz, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer, and Dianna Agron.
* German singer/songwriter Stefan Stoppok published his version of the song in 2000, with him performing together with bass player Reggie Worthy.
* Lavie Tidhar referenced the song's chorus in his 2020 book 'By Force Alone' that reimagines the Arthurian legend. Merlin ponders how he might be remembered: "...will they see him as he truly was, just a guy like all of us, just a stranger on a crumbling truss, trying to make his way home?"
See also
* List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1990s
* List of 'RPM' Rock/Alternative number-one singles (Canada)
* List of Swedish number-one hits
* Ultratop 50 number-one hits of 1996
References
Buy One of Us (Joan Osborne song) now from Amazon
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