“She’s the One” by Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams’ “She’s the One” would logically be a love song. “The one” who is mentioned in the title is actually the lady who makes the singer feel edified. And although their relationship is not always peaches and cream, he is confident that their union will survive, presumably on the strength of their love.
But the sentiments expressed therein are not focused exclusively on how he feels about her. Rather he comes off as someone who is experienced in happiness, as in having genuinely possessed it and thus knowing how it actually feels. And said happiness is based primarily on the singer having a strong sense of freedom. And the insinuation is that this feeling was founded on the overall elation he is experiencing due to having “the one”.
That being said, a good deal of this song is presented in the past tense. That is in terms of the affection he has for this lady, as well as his aforementioned experiences with happiness, he relays these as if they had already occurred, not as if they are currently happening. But still, if “there’s somebody calling” on the singer in the present, it would indeed be her. Or another way of looking at it is that whereas their bond may not be as strong as it once was, still they have maintained a regular, in all likelihood romantic, relationship with each other.
Ivor Novello Recognition
The Ivor Novello Award is a prestigious accolade given annually via the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). And “She’s the One” netted its own statuette in 1997.
However, that was the original rendition by World Party, which was not a hit itself. But Robbie Williams’ cover, which Chrysalis Records released on 8 November 1999, was mega successful. For instance, it earned him a number one on both the UK and Scotland music charts. And this is in addition to the track charting in almost 15 additional countries. As if this wasn’t enough, it went on to be certified Platinum in the United Kingdom.
Controversy
Yet Robbie’s accomplishments were not without controversy. For one of the producers of his rendition, Guy Chambers, decided to use to the selfsame backup band that toured with World Party to lay down Williams’ instrumental. Moreover Chambers actually worked with World Party on the album this song was originally featured on. So basically, it resulted in a situation where Robbie’s cover of “She’s the One” sounding very much like World Party’s original.
And the salt thrown on the wound of the original composers was made even more painful by reports that Robbie Williams had gone on to state, in public, that he had penned this tune. Meanwhile it was actually written by World Party’s leader, Karl Wallinger, who wasn’t even aware of Guy Chambers’ decision to use his touring band. Indeed some of these selfsame musicians were involved in the original recording of the song.
However a silver lining, if you will, to the story is that Karl Wallinger suffered from both a faltering career and a brain aneurysm in 2000. However as he himself put it, Robbie Williams’ successful cover ‘saved him financially for a few years’, as it resulted in Wallinger receiving an ample flow of royalty checks.
In fact Robbie Williams’ version won two Brit Awards in 2000 (British Video of the Year and British Song of the Year), in addition to similar accolades from other organizations.
The directors of the music video, which depict Robbie as a figure skater, is a pair known collectively as Dom & Nic (Dominic Hawley and Nick Goffey). Williams was instructed on how to effectively navigate himself around the rink by British figure-skating champion Robin Cousins.
The other producer of Robbie Williams’ “She’s the One”, besides Guy Chambers, was Steve Power.
And the track was featured on Robbie’s second album, “I’ve Been Expecting You”.
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