Only You

Written by: Buck Ram
Recorded: 6 August; September 1974
Producer: Richard Perry

Released: 11 November 1974 (US), 15 November 1974 (UK)

Available on:
Goodnight Vienna

Personnel

Ringo Starr: vocals, drums
John Lennon: acoustic guitar
Jesse Ed David, Steve Cropper: electric guitar
Klaus Voormann: bass guitar
Billy Preston: electric piano
Harry Nilsson: vocals

Ringo Starr recorded a version of The Platters’ ‘Only You (And You Alone)’ for his fourth solo album Goodnight Vienna.

The song was written by Buck Ram, and first recorded by The Platters in 1954. The following year it was re-recorded and became a hit single, topping the US R&B chart for seven weeks, and reaching number five on the Billboard Top 100.

This version of the Platters song is good and my voice is good because it was too high for me so I went into this strange falsetto. And it was like, ‘Wow, it works!’

Starr covered the song at Lennon’s suggestion. The recording features Starr’s vocals and other instrumentation over Lennon’s studio demo.

Ringo was short one song, and John says, ‘Well, I’ve been saving this one for myself, but I think you, you could do this one. It’d be a good song for you to do.’ And it was great watching it ’cause there’s Ringo and Jim Keltner playing drums, and John did the lead vocal, which Ringo later overdubbed.

At the end of the 6 August 1974 recording session, Starr, Lennon, May Pang, and Nancy Lee Andrews drank at The Fiddler in Los Angeles, where Starr repeatedly played ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World’ by Charlie Rich on the jukebox.

The release

‘Only You (And You Alone)’, with the album track ‘Call Me’ on the b-side, was the lead single from Goodnight Vienna.

It was released in the USA on 11 November 1974, one week before the album. In the US it came out on the same day, 15 November.

The single topped the US Billboard Easy Listening chart and reached number six on the Hot 100. In the UK it was less successful, peaking at number 28 on the singles chart.

A commercial for Goodnight Vienna was shot at the Capitol Records tower in Hollywood, in which Starr was abducted by a flying saucer. The finished advertisement featured a voiceover dialogue by Starr and Lennon.

Immediately after shooting was complete for the advert, a promotional film for ‘Only You’ was made. Directed by Stanley Dorfman, it also featured the flying saucer on the Capitol tower, plus Starr miming to the song alongside Harry Nilsson, who was reasing the music paper Radio & Records.

The video for ‘Only You’ is great. It’s just Harry Nilsson and me on top of the Capitol building. We just went on the roof and filmed it. Harry was in his bathrobe and no one thought anything about it.

The ‘Only You’ clip was shown on the BBC’s Top Of The Pops on 19 December 1974, its only outing in the UK.

John Lennon’s demo recording of ‘Only You’, with his guide vocals, was released in November 1998 in the John Lennon Anthology box set, and the highlights collection Wonsaponatime.

The tape containing Lennon’s guide vocals were nearly lost. The multi-track tapes were discovered by producer Richard Perry just two days before John Lennon Anthology was due to have been mastered, and Yoko Ono oversaw the creation of a new mix just hours before the deadline.