The History of ‘One’ from Harry Nilsson To Belinda Carlisle

Belinda Carlisle is the latest artist to record Harry Nilsson’s classic song ‘One’ but while the song has been a US hit for Three Dog Night, an Australian hit for John Farnham and in pop culture covered for ‘The X-Files’ and ‘Magnolia’, the original Harry Nilsson version failed to make the Top 100.

Harry Nilsson wrote “One” during the late-1960s as a compact, aching meditation on loneliness, and the song’s famous opening piano motif was literally inspired by a telephone busy signal. Nilsson himself said the little repetitive “beep, beep, beep…” of an engaged line stuck in his head when a call wouldn’t connect; he used that pulse as the rhythmic backbone and built a spare lyric around the idea that “one is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do.” That domestic, almost comic origin (a busy tone) helped produce a line that reads like an aphorism and a melody that sounded instantly familiar.

Nilsson recorded “One” for his third album, Aerial Ballet, released in 1968. His version is plaintive and understated, piano-forward and reflective, and while it became one of the best-known songs in his catalogue despite not making the charts for him. Others took the song into the pop mainstream.

Harry Nilsson – One

Australian’s first heard the song via John Farnham when he was still called Johnny Farnham. Farnham’s version reached number 4 in Australia in 1969.

John Farnham – One (1969)

America discovered the song with the Three Dog Night cover of 1969. Their version reached number five on the Billboard chart in 1969. Because of the Three Dog Night mainstream pop success Americans associated the song with them over Harry.

Three Dog Night – One (1969)

In the early 1990s the song turned up on alternative/indie releases (Chainsaw Kittens included it on a 1992 EP), showing that “One” could be refracted through louder, rawer guitar bands while preserving its lyrical core.

Chainsaw Kittens (1992)

Filter, the alt/industrial band led by Richard Patrick, (brother of Terminator metal man Robert Patrick), recorded a high-energy, distorted cover for The X-Files soundtrack (1998). Their version was a radical stylistic reinterpretation that demonstrated the song’s adaptability: from Nilsson’s piano ballad to radio pop to industrial rock. The Filter cover reached new audiences through soundtrack licensing.

Filter – One (1998)

Aimee Mann recorded a restrained, melancholic cover that initially appeared on the 1995 Nilsson tribute For the Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson and later became the opening cue for Paul Thomas Anderson’s film Magnolia (1999). Mann’s version reintroduced the song to a ’90s audience and associated it with contemporary film storytelling; it’s often credited with re-framing “One” as a modern singer-songwriter standard.

Aimee Mann – One (1995 and 1999)

The 2025 Belinda Carlisle version is from her ‘Once Upon A Time In California’. Belinda says, “This collection of songs is the best representation of what I loved back then that I could think of – listening to it brings back so many memories of a time and a California that doesn’t really exist anymore. That’s not meant to sound like a bad thing, it’s just different – there was an innocence and energy back then that was unique and magical. Things I doubt will ever be felt in quite the same way again. Here’s to the California of my dreams.”

Belinda Carlisle – One (2025)

“ONCE UPON A TIME IN CALIFORNIA” TRACK LISTING:

1. Anyone Who Had A Heart
2. If You Could Read My Mind
3. One
4. Never My Love
5. The Air That I Breathe
6. Time In A Bottle
7. Superstar
8. Everybody’s Talkin’
9. Get Together
10. Reflections Of My Life

Belinda ‘Once Upon A Time In California’ will be released on 29 August 2025.

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Tagged as: 60s, Aimee Mann, Belinda Carlisle, Filter, Harry Nilsson, John Farnham, One pop, Three Dog Night, USA