One of Us (song)
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| "One of Us" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Joan Osborne | ||
| from the album Relish | ||
| Released | 1995 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 5:21 (Album Version) | |
| Label | Blue Gorilla Records/Mercury Records | |
| Writer(s) | Eric Bazilian | |
| Producer(s) | Chris Mickle | |
"One of Us" is a song written by Eric Bazilian (of The Hooters) and originally released by Joan Osborne.
The song deals with various aspects of belief in God by asking questions inviting the listener to consider how they might relate to God, such as "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?" The name of the song comes from the question contained in the refrain, "What if God was one of us?"
Released in March 1995 on the album Relish (produced by Rick Chertoff), it hit the top 40 in November of the same year. With this song, Osborne received one of many Grammy nominations in 1995, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, but failed to win. One year later Prince covered the song for his 'Emancipation' LP.
Around January 1996, "One of Us" hit the top 10. Finally in March of 1996 "One of Us" climbed to #1 on Rock On The Net's ARC Weekly Top 40 and stayed there for 2 weeks. Its peak chart position on the Billboard Hot 100 was #4.
Contents |
[edit] Tracklist
[edit] French CD Single
- "One of Us" (Edit) (4:16)
- "One of Us" (Album Version) (5:21)
[edit] Trivia
- The song was used (performed by Osborne) in the soundtracks of the films Vanilla Sky (2001) and Bruce Almighty (2003). Mike Myers (as the character Dr. Evil) also sang it in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and claimed he wrote it.
- "One of Us" was used as the theme song to CBS television series Joan of Arcadia (2003).
- "One of Us" was parodied by Bob Rivers as "What If God Smoked Cannabis?" Osborne recorded a cover of this version, much to the delight of her fans.
- The album version of the song begins with an Alan Lomax field recording sample of a song called "The Airplane Ride," a spiritual written circa 1920 by J. S. McConnell and sung by Nell Hampton. These are the lyrics:
oh, one of these nights at about twelve o'clock
this whole earth's gonna reel and rock...
Saints will tremble and cry for pain
for the Lord's a-gonna come in his heavenly airplane. - A R&B style cover of the song was used in the movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005).
- A popular internet parody of the song called "What If God had a MySpace?" was featured on Web Junk 20.
- An elderly couple known as "The Shapiros" sang "One of Us" on an episode of Ellen.
[edit] Controversy
In 1996, William Donohue took issue with singer Osborne over the song and questioned the point of the song when viewed in light of her own activism. "It is no wonder that Joan Osborne instructs her fans to donate their time and money to Planned Parenthood. It is of a piece with her politics and her prejudices. Her songs and videos offer a curious mix of both, the effect of which is to dance awfully close to the line of Catholic baiting. If even her admirers see something of the sacrilegious in her work, it is hard to maintain that Osborne doesn't have an agenda. It is our hope that she doesn't let her sentiments regarding Catholicism get in the way of whatever artistic abilities she has." [1]
