Only You

"Only You" is a ballad written by musician Vince Clarke. He wrote it while with Depeche Mode, and offered it to them when he was leaving. They declined, and Clarke recorded it after forming the duo Yazoo with Alison Moyet. It was an instant success, hitting number two in the UK, and charting in the U.S. (number sixty-seven, Billboard Hot 100), a feat only attained by one other Yazoo single (coincidentally, that single was "Situation," the original UK B-side of "Only You"). "Only You" also made the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart at number thirty-eight.

A remix of "Only You" made the UK Top 40 again in 1999, while reaching number sixteen on the U.S. Billboard magazine Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The music video for the new version was created using the Houdini 3D animation software package.[1]

Clarke had gone through a divorce around the time that he wrote the song, the song may reflect his mood at the time.

Clarke's melody in the song "has a sweetly yearning quality, elegantly arranged by Clarke and producer E.C. Radcliffe in a fashion that links several different monophonic synths together to give the tune more depth and melodic substance" according to Allmusic [1]. Moyet's vocals, they say, is a "perfectly understated vocal performance, soulful yet dignified in the manner of '70s soul star Ann Peebles, of Clarke's gentle and romantic lyrics."

Although not a Christmas song, it has become a popular song to play at that time of year. This is probably due to the association with the Flying Pickets version, which was a Christmas hit.

An a cappella version by The Flying Pickets was even more successful than the original on the UK Singles Chart by becoming the Christmas number one in 1983. It spent five weeks at the top. This made "Only You" the first a cappella chart-topper in the UK. The Flying Pickets version went on to become a number one hit on the German Singles Chart in 1984 and charted in Canada as well, though it saw no chart action in the United States.