One of Us (Joan Osborne song)

"One of Us"
Song

"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 hit the top 40 in November of the same year. With this song, Osborne received one of many Grammy nominations in 1995, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, but failed to win.

Around January 1996, "One of Us" hit the top 10. Finally 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 Donohue, President of the Catholic League, took issue with the song. In light of the time and money he had donated to Planned Parenthood, Donahue claimed the song was agenda-driven and danced "awfully close to the line of Catholic baiting".

Apperances And Uses

• The song was used (performed by Osborne) in the soundtracks of the films Vanilla Sky (2001) and Bruce Almighty (2003).
• 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", this is the song 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.
• Osbourne self-parodied the song titled Cannabis, Although it was written by Weird Al Yankovich.

Covers

• One year after the release of the song, Prince covered the song for his 'Emancipation' LP.
• In 1999, Mike Myers (as the character Dr. Evil) sang the song in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
• In 2003, the CBS television series Joan of Arcadia featured "One of Us" as its theme song, with the opening credits featuring a version re-recorded by Osborne specifically for the show.
• 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.
• "One of Us" was parodied by Bob Rivers as "What If God Smoked Cannabis?"
• A R&B style cover of the song was used in the movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005).
• An elderly couple known as The Shapiros sang "One of Us" on an episode of Ellen.
• Martyn Joseph sings a version of this song.
• Gregorian covered the song in their 2007 album Masters of Chant Chapter VI.

External links

• Rock on the Net link