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Only You (And You Alone) by
The Platters is for me the most beautiful love song I have ever heard! There are many, MANY wonderful love ballads that I adore but
Only You is at the apex of them all.
The Platters first recorded the song for
Federal Records on May 20, 1954, but it was never released. They re-recorded the song on April 26, 1955, for
Mercury Records. It was released the following month in May and became a major hit. The song has been covered by many other recording artists (
link below).
For me,
Only You
was the first "serious" love song of the modern "pop music" era. By
serious I mean not only excellent musically in orchestration and
execution but with lyrics that conveyed the feeling of sincere
commitment, deep love and an intensity of emotion.
"Serious" love songs were standard in the 20's, 30's and 40's. Although, "serious" love songs were sung by
Patty Page,
Kay Starr,
Vic Damone, etc., well into the fifties, they were doing it in the style of the 40's with lush orchestrations.
The early fifties love songs were what I consider bubble gum or
puppy-love songs. Perhaps that's because they were mostly sung by young
kids with small combo backups. Then
Only You came along and reset the standard.
Only You was composed by
Buck Ram who is best known for his long association with
The Platters. He also wrote, produced and arranged for
the Penguins,
the Coasters,
the Drifters,
Ike and Tina Turner,
Ike Cole,
Duke Ellington,
Glenn Miller,
Ella Fitzgerald, and many others.
Only You (And You Alone) lyrics
Only you, can make this world seem right
Only you, can make the darkness bright
Only you, and you alone, can thrill me like you do
And fill my heart with love for only you
O-only you, can make this change in me
For it's true, you are my destiny
When you hold my hand, I understand the magic that you do
You're my dream come true, my one and only you
O-only you, can make this change in me
For it's true, you are my destiny
When you hold my hand, I understand the magic that you do
You're my dream come true, my one and only you
The "B" side of the record is an upbeat,
doo wop tune called
Bark, Battle and Ball (
link below). The vocal lead is by Zola Taylor. It's feeling, theme and tempo is completely opposite from that of
Only You.
The line up for
The Platters was headed by tenor
Tony Williams with David Lynch, Paul Robi, bass
Herb Reed, and
Zola Taylor. Reed
later recalled how the group hit upon its successful version: "We tried
it so many times, and it was terrible. One time we were rehearsing in
the car ... and the car jerked. Tony went 'O-oHHHH-nly you.' We laughed
at first, but when he sang that song—that was the sign we had hit on
something." According to
Buck Ram,
Tony Williams'
voice "broke" in rehearsal, but they decided to keep this effect in the
recording. This was the only Platters recording on which songwriter
and manager Ram played the piano.
