Inside The Song #2

Still The One by Orleans

What can I say, I like happy up-tempo songs no matter how sugary and schmaltzy they are or how mind-numbingly overplayed they get. (I'm looking at you Walking On Sunshine!) Still The One was written by songwriter Johanna Hall after one of her friends threw down a challenge to write a song about staying together rather than the far more ubiquitous break-up tune. With music in place by her husband and writing partner John Hall, the song was recorded in 1976 by the soft rock hit-squad Orleans. The same group who one year earlier put the world to sleep with their mega hit Dance With Me.

Still The One was released on Orleans' fourth studio album Waking And Dreaming and the single eventually reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The following year country singer Bill Anderson covered it and the song topped out at #11 on the Hot Country Singles chart, proving conclusively that everybody except maybe Randy Bachman likes sugar.

Also in 1977 ABC, then the highest rated broadcaster in the country, used Still The One as its promotional jingle, firmly cementing its place in the brains of every Gen Xer who was ever baby-sat by a television.

Still The One is one of the few soft rock staples that doesn't immediately make you want to stick an icepick in your ears. It still crops up as advertising fodder from time to time, most recently in one of Applebees' 2020 television commercials, and it enjoys lots of air time on classic rock radio. Pop music never did have much in the way of bright, happy, stay together songs and in a post Taylor Swift world, Still The One maintains its status as a refreshing change of pace.

Still The One by Orleans

Still The One by Bill Anderson