“One” 1968, Harry Nilsson, from Aerial Ballet.

Harry Nilsson, consummate rock poet,

Wrote “One” before covered by Three Dog Night.

Nilsson’s somber version barely noted,

His lyrical poetry lost from sight.

Three Dog Night’s passionate “One” topped charts yet,

Nilsson’s words bleed lonely with all its bite.  

"One"

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one

No is the saddest experience you'll ever know
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know
Because one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever know

It's just no good anymore since you went away
Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday

Because one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever know
One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

One is the loneliest number, much, much worse than two
One is the number divided by two
One
One is the loneliest number

Like many listeners, I was blown away by Three Dog Night's

dramatic hit song, “One,” with its intense lead vocal by Chuck

Negron.  I learned that the composer of “One” is Harry Nilsson,

and to my surprise found that Nilsson’s version is more in keeping

with the lonely theme.  I also found that Three Dog Night’s cover

omits some of the original lyrics.  I have cited Nilsson’s lyrics and

provided Nilsson’s video version.  I think you will enjoy this view

of the famous song, “One.”

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one

The ear-catching first line, “one is the loneliest number that

you’ll ever do,” is a puzzle; the word “number” has several

meanings, formal and informal: numeral, quantity, song,

person and clothing.  In slang, it could refer to a joint of marijuana

or the penis.  Nilsson wrote the song when he dialed a telephone

number and received a busy signal. He stayed on the line listening

to the busy signal as he wrote “One.”  The beeping tone became the

opening notes and background beat of the song.  The “loneliest

number that you’ll ever do” lends itself to another meaning, deeper

than simply listening to a busy signal.  “Two can be as bad as one;

it’s the loneliest number since the number one” is paradoxical.

Nilsson seems to be making a statement that “two” can also feel

just as lonely as “one.”

No is the saddest experience you'll ever know
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know
Because one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever know

Being rebuffed, refused, told no is “the saddest experience

you’ll ever know.” The statement is affirmed in the following

line: “Yes, it’s the saddest experience you’ll ever know.” The

next two lines reinforce the opening line of one being the

“loneliest number that you’ll ever do,"  the “loneliest number that

you’ll ever know.”

It's just no good anymore since you went away
Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday

Life is “just no good anymore” now that he is alone.  He

passes time “just making rhymes of yesterday,” thinking

of the past and writing about his memories.

One is the loneliest number, much, much worse than two
One is the number divided by two
One
One is the loneliest number

The end of the song laments that “one” is “much, much worse

than two.”  The next paradoxical line, “one is the number

divided by two,” is Nilsson’s most clever line. It does not appear

in the famous Three Dog Night cover.  When a couple comes

together, the twosome becomes "one."  When they break up, each

becomes a single, the result being “one,” taking us back to

“one is the loneliest number.”

Harry Nilsson composed a masterpiece in his song, “One.”  It has depth

of meaning that I had certainly missed until I looked at the original

words line by line.