There’s an interesting story behind the writing of this week’s tune:

“One is a song by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson from his 1968 album Aerial Ballet. It is known for its opening line “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do”. Nilsson wrote the song after calling someone and getting a busy signal. He stayed on the line listening to the “beep, beep, beep, beep…” tone, writing the song. The busy signal became the opening notes.”

Who knew that anything good could come from being on hold? It’s a typically quirky story about an eccentric singer songwriter who struggled with demons all his life.

Oddly enough, Nilsson’s two biggest radio hits were covers of Everybody’s Talkin’ and Without You. It’s odd because he wrote so many fine songs including One. Rumor has it that it’s the loneliest number.

We begin with the songwriter:

Everything Three Dog Night touched in their heyday turned to gold. One was one of many Top Ten hits they popped out in a decade at the top of the charts. That doesn’t sound lonely to me.

Aimee Mann recorded the Nilsson classic for the soundtrack of Paul Thomas Anderson’s film, Magnolia.

Finally, a rare FCH foray into heavy metal. One was cut by the hair band Dokken in 1999:

What would the Friday Cocktail Hour be without a jazz instrumental version of the week’s tune? This time, Mike Melvoin tickles the ivories. It’s unknown whether they tickled back. End of recycled joke.

That’s it for this week. It’s been raining all week in New Orleans, but we still haven’t had a named storm head our way. Let’s drink to that, y’all. It’s what Danny Barker, Dr. John, and Pete Fountain would want. Never argue with them.