The Only One

Album: Picture This (1982)

Songfacts®:

  • A track from Huey Lewis & the News second album, "The Only One" was written by Lewis, sax player Johnny Colla and drummer Bill Gibson. In a 1982 interview with Creem, Lewis explained: "That's a true story about a kid we grew up with in junior high in Mill Valley. He was the coolest guy in our junior high school. And then I went away to school and four years later he was a wino. And a few years later I read he was an alcoholic and he wandered out onto the freeway and got hit by a car and died. It was a sad thing. I think he came from a broken home and he had to grow up real fast. And he peaked too soon. I don't know. The song essentially asks that question."

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