Still the One

"Still the One"
Single by Orleans
from the album Waking and Dreaming
Released	August 1976
Genre	Soft rock
Length	3:54
Label	Asylum
Writer(s)	Johanna Hall, John Hall
Producer(s)	Chuck Plotkin

"Still the One" is a song written by Johanna Hall and John Hall, and recorded by the soft rock group Orleans on their album Waking and Dreaming, released in 1976, which made it to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Country singer Bill Anderson recorded and released a successful cover version, peaking at No. 11 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart in 1977.

Song lyrics

The lyrics of the song are of a man describing his feelings for a woman with whom he has a long lasting and, of course, intimate relationship ("You're still the one, I want to talk to in bed; Still the one that turns my head") and all the reasons why she is "Still the One" for whom he has feelings.

Background

Orleans bass player Lance Hoppen recalls that Johanna Hall wrote the lyrics for "Still the One" after a friend "asked her why somebody couldn't write a song about staying together, as opposed to breaking up"; Johanna Hall wrote the lyrics on an envelope which she then handed to John Hall who Hoppen says "created the music in about fifteen minutes".^[1] John Hall would recall that "Still the One" was not an automatic choice for lead single from Waking and Dreaming saying rather that "we had several songs that were candidates. We were too close to it to see. Fortunately, our producer, Chuck Plotkin, had a strong feeling about the song."^[2]

In popular culture

In 1977, "Still The One" was used as a jingle by ABC for the 1977-78 TV season^[3] and again in the 1979-80 TV season when the network was the highest rated in the country. The lyrics were sometimes adapted for local station promotional advertisements, sometimes awkwardly; e.g. "We're still having fun, Dayton Twenty-Two's the one." It was also used by the Nine Network in Australia^[4] until 2006 and often used American ABC network promos adapted for the Australian market.

In 1987 "Still the One" was played every time the Edmonton Oilers scored a goal in the NHL playoffs against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Oilers proceeded to win the Stanley Cup that year with a 4-3 score in a best-of-seven game series

In the 90's, the song was used in a U.S. television commercial for Burger King^[5] and at the same time was utilized as a jingle by Nutrisystem, prompting John Hall to comment in a 1996 interview: "It's the ying and yang thing. Gain some weight over here and lose it over here." Hall also stated in the interview that "Still the One" was generating "at least one call a week for [its] use commercially".^[2]

In 2004, the Bush campaign played the song at campaign events until Orleans co-founder (and future Democratic congressman and Bush critic) John Hall commented publicly that the campaign had never received permission to use the song. The campaign later dropped the song from its playlist. Hall expressed similar criticisms when John McCain used the song in his 2008 presidential campaign.^[6]

The song was played for senator Ted Kennedy when he made a surprise appearance at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

In 2009, the song was used in a TV commercial by Frontier Airlines.^[7]

In 2010, ESPN used the song in a TV commercial for the network.^[8]

References

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics