She's the One (World Party song)

"She's the One" is a song by British rock band World Party. It was written and produced by Karl Wallinger for World Party's fourth studio album, Egyptology (1997). The song won an Ivor Novello Award in 1997.[1] It was featured in the 1997 movie, The Matchmaker, and the 1998 movie, The Big Hit. World Party performed the song live on British TV show, Later... with Jools Holland in 1998. Robbie Williams recorded a cover of the song in 1998, which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart.

"She's the One"
Song by World Party
from the album Egyptology
Released1997
Recorded1996/97
GenreAlternative rock, Britpop
Length4:56
LabelThe Enclave
Songwriter(s)Karl Wallinger
Producer(s)Karl Wallinger

Robbie Williams version
"She's the One"
Single by Robbie Williams
from the album I've Been Expecting You
A-side"It's Only Us"
Released8 November 1999
Recorded
  • 1998 ("She's the One")
  • 1999 ("It's Only Us")
GenrePop rock
Length
  • 4:18 ("She's the One")
  • 2:51 ("It's Only Us")
LabelChrysalis
Songwriter(s)Karl Wallinger
Producer(s)
Robbie Williams singles chronology
"Strong"
(1999)		 "She's the One" / "It's Only Us"
(1999)		 "Win Some Lose Some"
(1999)
Music video
"She's the One" on YouTube

In 1998, "She's the One" was covered by Robbie Williams. In most countries, the song was released alone, but in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, it was released as a double A-side single with "It's Only Us". It was the fourth single from his second studio album, I've Been Expecting You (1998) and was also included on his first compilation album, The Ego Has Landed (1999). The song became Williams' second number-one single in the United Kingdom.

The song went on to win a number of awards around the world, including a 2000 Brit Awards for British Single of the Year and British Video of the Year in 2000, and it also won a Capital Radio Award for Best Single.

Controversy

The song's producers, Guy Chambers and Steve Power, used the drummer and bassist of World Party's touring band (neither of whom played on the World Party version) to perform the backing track for Williams, resulting in a very similar-sounding cover. World Party's frontman and songwriter Karl Wallinger was not made aware that a cover was going to be released using his own band. When the song became a hit, and after experiencing a near-fatal brain aneurysm, Wallinger stated that he experienced "ongoing bitterness", going on to say that "the song had a much better time than me, popping off to the Brits while I was at home eating crackers dipped in water".[2]

When introducing the song in live performances, Williams often claims that it is one of the best songs he's ever written, despite not actually having written the song.[3] This culminated in a telephone outburst from the song's actual writer, Wallinger, to Chambers, stating "Your fucking friend Robbie Williams. Tell him from me that he's a cunt".[4] Williams has never publicly acknowledged that "She's the One" is a cover of a World Party track[5] although 20 years later, in a 2019 commercial for his album The Christmas Present,[6] Williams states that he wrote the song for Amazon Alexa. The device subsequently states that Williams did not write She's the One, to which Robbie admits "no, I didn't".

Sasha Swift and Alex Thomas of Titles Mean Nothing suggest that Williams' cover of "She's the One" went on "boost and elevate" Williams' post-Take That career, but had Williams acknowledged that his single was a cover of a World Party song, this would have substantially boosted the career of Wallinger too.[7]

Chart performance

"She's the One"/"It's Only Us" became Williams' second number-one solo single in the United Kingdom, shipping over 490,000 copies[8] and eventually receiving a Platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry. The double A-side also reached the top three in New Zealand. "She's the One" by itself reached number one in Greece, number four in Ireland, number five in Denmark, and number eight in Iceland and Italy.

Music video

In the video Williams is a coach to an ice skating couple - portrayed by Pamela O'Connor and Jonathon O'Dougherty - but when the male skater gets injured during practice, Williams takes his place for the final and gets the highest scores. The video ends with Williams and the female skater celebrating with the male skater, who had been watching from the sidelines. In the video, Williams performs a backflip, and the couple obtain a score of 6.1 from the British judge, whereas at the time a score of 6.0 was the maximum. Philip Woods, a 10-year-old figure skater from Chelmsford, played the young Williams in a flashback. The UK version of the video features commentary by Barry Davies.

Track listings

UK CD1

  1. "She's the One" (Wallinger) – 4:18
  2. "It's Only Us" – 2:51
  3. "Millennium" (Live at Slane Castle) – 4:39
  4. "She's the One" (enhanced video)

UK CD2

  1. "It's Only Us" – 2:51
  2. "She's the One" – 4:18
  3. "Coke & Tears" – 4:24
  4. "It's Only Us" (enhanced video)

Charts and certifications

Other versions

Andy Williams released a version of "She's the One" on his 2007 album, I Don't Remember Ever Growing Up. The song was also included on Eoghan Quigg's critically vilified 2009 album. German jazz and pop artist Marc Secara recorded the song with the Berlin Jazz Orchestra on the CD You're Everything, released in March 2008, It was arranged for big band by Steve Gray.[30]

On 10 October 2009, Olly Murs covered the song during the first live show of the sixth series of The X Factor. During the final of the following series, One Direction also performed a duet of the song with Williams. In the tenth series of the show, Nicholas McDonald performed the song as well. On 11 October 2014, Jake Quickenden sang it during the eleventh series.

Hong Kong girl band 2R released a single called "When He's the Only One in the World" in 2006 for their first greatest hit album. The song largely sampled the verse of "She's the One". In 2014 Scottish singer Todd Gordon recorded a version of the song whilst in South Korea for the album Love dot com.

References
  1. Cassidy, Andy (7 October 2012). "World Party: Interview with Karl Wallinger". pennymusic.co.uk. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  2. Karl Wallinger: The song that saved my bacon
  3. Karl Wallinger Vs. Robbie Williams: The Song That Saved My Bacon, 26:10
  4. Heath, Chris "Reveal: Robbie Williams", Reveal: Robbie Williams, 2017
  5. Karl Wallinger Vs. Robbie Williams: The Song That Saved My Bacon
  6. Robbie Williams - Ask Alexa (The Christmas Present)
  7. Karl Wallinger Vs. Robbie Williams: The Song That Saved My Bacon, 37:00
  8. Myers, Justin (14 November 2014). "Number 1 today in 1999: Robbie Williams – She's the One". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  9. "Austriancharts.at – Robbie Williams – She's the One" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  10. "Ultratop.be – Robbie Williams – She's the One" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  11. "Ultratop.be – Robbie Williams – She's the One" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  12. "Hitparada radia - 8/2000" (in Czech). IFPI CR. Archived from the original on 3 March 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  13. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16 no. 48. 27 November 1999. p. 11. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  14. "Robbie Williams: She's the One" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  15. "Lescharts.com – Robbie Williams – She's the One" (in French). Les classement single.
  16. "Offiziellecharts.de – Robbie Williams – She's the One". GfK Entertainment Charts.
  17. "Top National Sellers" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16 no. 52. 25 December 1999. p. 9. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  18. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 20 (4.11 – 11.11 1999)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 5 November 1999. p. 10. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  19. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – She's the One". Irish Singles Chart.
  20. "Italiancharts.com – Robbie Williams – She's the One". Top Digital Download.
  21. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 50, 1999" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40
  22. "Dutchcharts.nl – Robbie Williams – She's the One" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  23. "Charts.nz – Robbie Williams – She's the One / It's Only Us". Top 40 Singles.
  24. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  25. "Swedishcharts.com – Robbie Williams – She's the One". Singles Top 100.
  26. "Swisscharts.com – Robbie Williams – She's the One". Swiss Singles Chart.
  27. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  28. "Best Sellers of 1999: Singles Top 100". Music Week. London, England: United Business Media. 22 January 2000. p. 27.
  29. "British single certifications – Robbie Williams – She's The One/It's Only Us". British Phonographic Industry.
  30. "New Album Release 2008 – You're Everything! - Marc Secara".
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