“One of Us”
Single by Joan Osborne from the album Relish
Released	1995
Genre	Pop rock
Length	5:21 (album version) 4:16 (single edit)
Label	Blue Gorilla Records/Mercury Records
Writer(s)	Eric Bazilian
Producer	Rick Chertoff
Music sample
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"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 title of the song comes from the refrain, "What if God was one of us?"

Released in March 1995 on the album Relish (produced by Rick Chertoff), it became a top 40 hit in November of the same year. The song received a Grammy nomination in 1995 for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

In January 1996, "One of Us" hit the top 10. In March 1996, "One of Us" climbed to No. 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 No. 4.

Tracklist

French CD Single

1. "One of Us" (Edit) (4:16)
2. "One of Us" (Album Version) (5:21)

Controversy

In 1996, William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League, took issue with the song. In light of the time and money Osborne had donated to Planned Parenthood, Donahue claimed the song was agenda-driven and danced "awfully close to the line of Catholic baiting".^[1]

Cover versions

• One year after the release of the song, Prince covered the song for his Emancipation album.
• Brad Roberts of the Crash Test Dummies recorded a cover of the song for his 2001 solo album Crash Test Dude.
• Dance covers of the song have been recorded by various artists, including Outta Control, Nasara, and Pariz.
• A R&B style cover of the song by Cheryl Pepsi Riley was featured in the movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005).
• Martyn Joseph recorded a version of this song.
• Gregorian covered the song in their 2007 album Masters of Chant Chapter VI.
• Counterparts, a University of Pennsylvania (songwriter Bazilian's alma mater) a cappella group, recorded a cover of the song featuring then member John Legend as the soloist.^{citation needed}

Appearances in other media

• The theme song for the CBS television series Joan of Arcadia is a version of "One of Us" re-recorded by Osborne specifically for the show.
• The song, as performed by Osborne, appears in the soundtracks of the films Vanilla Sky (2001), Bruce Almighty (2003) and "Dear God" (1996).
• The album version of the song opens with four lines of the gospel song "Heaven's Airplane"; this is not featured in the released single.
• The song is featured at the end of an episode of the NBC television show Homicide: Life on the Street.
• In the Cold Case episode "Rampage", the song is played during the final scene.
• In an episode of Jackass, Chris Pontius dresses as a devil in a segment called "Satan vs. God." He plays the song in the background at the end of the segment.
• In the 1999 film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, the character Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) sings the song, and claims to have written it himself (after having time-traveled back to 1969).

Parodies

• Bob Rivers parodied the song as "What If God Smoked Cannabis?"; the parody lyrics were later sung by Osborne.^{citation needed}

Charts

References

External links

• Rock on the Net link