"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 of Australia, Canada, Flanders, 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.
Backgroundedit
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."[1] For the lead and solo, Bazilian used his 1954 Gibson Gold Top Les Paul for the studio recording.[2]
Lyricsedit
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".[3][4]
Critical receptionedit
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".[5] 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."[6] Paul Evans from Rolling Stone said it "imagines a God as hurt as any human".[7]
In 2007, the song was ranked at number 54 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '90s"[8] and number ten on the network's "40 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the '90s".
In 1996, Canadian dance music group Outta Control released their version[67] which charted on the dance charts of both Canada and the US, charting at numbers 9 and 36, respectively.
Also in 1996, Italian singer/songwriter and poly-instrumentalist Eugenio Finardi covered this song, translating the lyrics into Italian. The title was changed into "Uno di noi" (literal translation of "One of us") and was included in his album Occhi.[69]
In the 2001 film Vanilla Sky, the character David Aames (Tom Cruise) sings the song while lying down on bed before having an operation.[73] A snippet of it also plays as he murders Sofia Serrano (Penelope Cruz), believing she is Julie Gianni (Cameron Diaz).
^Will Harris (February 25, 2008). "Popdose Interview: Eric Bazilian of the Hooters".
^"One of Us". Gearslutz.com. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
^"The aeroplane ride / Nell Hampton [sound recording]" Traditional Music and Spoken Word Catalog
from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress [1]
^A sample of the recording "The Airplane Ride" by Nell Hampton from the album "The Gospel Ship" (New World Records)[2] Archived June 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
One of Us (US CD single liner notes). Joan Osborne. Blue Gorilla, Mercury Records. 1995. 422 852 368-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
One of Us (US cassette single sleeve). Joan Osborne. Blue Gorilla, Mercury Records. 1995. 422 852 368-4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
One of Us (Australian CD single liner notes). Joan Osborne. Blue Gorilla, Mercury Records. 1996. 852 368-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
One of Us (Australian cassette single sleeve). Joan Osborne. Blue Gorilla, Mercury Records. 1996. 852 368-4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^One of Us (European CD single liner notes). Joan Osborne. Blue Gorilla, Mercury Records. 1996. 852 438-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^One of Us (UK cassette single sleeve). Joan Osborne. Blue Gorilla, Mercury Records. 1996. JOMC 1, 852 438-4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^One of Us (UK CD single liner notes). Joan Osborne. Blue Gorilla, Mercury Records. 1996. JOACD 1, 852 439-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^"Music & Media 1996 in Review – Year End Sales Charts" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 13, no. 51/52. December 21, 1996. p. 12. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
^"Tops de L'année | Top Singles 1996" (in French). SNEP. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
^"Top 100 Single–Jahrescharts 1996" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
^"Árslistinn 1996". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). January 2, 1997. p. 25. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
^"Single top 100 over 1996" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
^"Årslista Singlar, 1996" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
^"Top 100 Singles 1996". Music Week. January 18, 1997. p. 25.
^"Najlepsze single na UK Top 40–1996 wg sprzedaży" (in Polish). Archived from the original on June 4, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
^"Billboard Top 100 – 1996". Archived from the original on November 10, 2006. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
^"Ultratop − Goud en Platina – singles 1996". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
^"IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. Retrieved October 24, 2018.