"All by Myself" is a song by American singer-songwriterEric Carmen, released byArista in December 1975 as the first single from Carmen's debut album,Eric Carmen (1975). The verse is based on the second movement (Adagio sostenuto) ofSergei Rachmaninoff's 1900–1901Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18. The chorus was taken from the song "Let's Pretend", which Carmen wrote and recorded with his band theRaspberries in 1972.[5] The slide guitar solo was performed by studio guitaristHugh McCracken.[6]
According to Eric Carmen, he first wrote the solo part of the song, writing four bars at a time, eventually completing the interlude after two months.[7] He needed to put this into a song, and after listening toSergei Rachmaninoff's2nd piano concerto, a piece famously used to underscore the 1945 British filmBrief Encounter, he adapted the melody of its second movement to write the verse.[7] Rachmaninoff's music was in thepublic domain in the United States at that time, so Carmen thought no copyright existed on it, but it was still protected outside the U.S. subsequent to the release of the album. He was later contacted by the Rachmaninoff estate and informed that it was protected.[8] An agreement was reached in which the estate would receive 12 percent of the royalties from "All by Myself" as well as from "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", which was based on the third movement from Rachmaninoff'sSymphony No. 2.[9][10]
Carmen stated that he also incorporated part of another melody into this song. The melody of the chorus was taken from his previous 1973 hit with theRaspberries, "Let's Pretend".[7]
Carmen performed "All by Myself" and his follow-up hit, "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", onThe Midnight Special television program on July 23, 1976 (season 4, episode 37). The show was hosted byThe Spinners.[11]
Thepower ballad[12] was the firstsingle from Carmen'sfirst solo LP after leaving thepower pop group the Raspberries and was released in December 1975.Billboard described the song as "a superbrock ballad...faithfully capturing most of the good time feel in rock."[13]Cash Box said that Carmen "captures the vocal power of at least two of the threeBee Gees and seems also to have tapped the lyric capabilities of aPaul McCartney."[14]Record World said that Carmen "croons over a backdrop of cascading strings on this self-penned delight from his recent album."[15]
It reached number two on theBillboard Hot 100; both "Love Machine" byThe Miracles and "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" byThe Four Seasons, kept the song from number one.[16] "All by Myself" did reach number one on theCash Box Top 100 Singles and number three in Canada. The single sold more than one million copies in the United States and was certified gold by theRIAA in April 1976.[17] "All by Myself" was Carmen's first of eight US Top 40 hits. In the UK, however, this was his only Top 40 success, peaking at number 12 on theUK Singles Chart. The song would be featured in "The One Where Eddie Moves In", a 1996season 2 episode of the popular television seriesFriends during a scene ofChandler Bing (Matthew Perry) andJoey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) being depressed after Joey moves out.
The most notable cover version of "All by Myself" was recorded by Canadian singerCeline Dion in 1996. It was the fourth (or third, depending on the country) hit single from her fourth English-language studio album,Falling into You (1996).[38] Produced byDavid Foster atCompass Point Studios in theBahamas, it was released on December 9, 1996, in the United Kingdom and on March 11, 1997, in the United States. Selected editions of the album and the single include a Spanish version of the song titled "Sola Otra Vez".[39]
The single became one of Dion's biggest hits in the United States, reaching number one on theHot Adult Contemporary Tracks (for three weeks) and theLatin Pop Airplay (two weeks). It peaked at number four on theBillboard Hot 100 (number seven on theBillboard Hot 100 Airplay and number five on theHot 100 Singles Sales). It was also a top 10 hit in France, United Kingdom, Wallonia in Belgium and on theIrish Singles Chart. In Canada, "All by Myself" was released as a promotional single only, hitting number one on theAdult Contemporary Chart. "All by Myself" was certified gold in the US (500,000) and in the UK (400,000) and silver in France (125,000).
During an interview onWatch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Dion revealed that the famous high note (F5) leading into the key change had not been planned but David Foster surprised her with it when she appeared for recording. When Dion asked why the surprise, Foster told her that if she couldn't sing it, other singers would, which prompted Dion to prove to Foster that she could sing it.[40]
Dion's cover received positive reviews from most music critics. Bill Lamb fromAbout.com placed it at number nine in their ranking of "Top 10 Celine Dion Songs".[41]Entertainment Weekly editorChuck Eddy said, "But only in her desolate cover of Eric Carmen's 'All by Myself' does she truly crash through the glass ceiling of passion".[42] Pip Ellwood-Hughes from Entertainment Focus called it "incredible" and "one of the best recorded vocals ever captured." He added that "listening to Dion reach the highs she does on that song is magical and it sends goosebumps down your spine look (sic) nothing else can."[43] Dave Sholin from theGavin Report commented, "Demand by both programmers and the public for this rendition of Eric Carmen's 1976 smash made it the obvious choice to be the third single lifted off Celine's multi-platinum andGrammy-nominated album,Falling into You".[44] Kevin Courtney fromIrish Times said, "It's probably a good thing that Celine is all by herself people in the room with her might have their eardrums shattered by her climactic, over the top delivery."[45]
A reviewer fromMusic Week gave it top score with five out of five, stating that "Dion does a great job with the Eric Carmen power ballad and this one could be in for a long run given its guaranteed appeal to once-a-year record buyers. A contender for the top spot."[46] The magazine's Alan Jones noted that "it's handled with consummate ease by Dion".[47]Yahoo editor Dan Leroy wrote, "Trying to out-emote Eric Carmen was almost crazy enough to work".[48]The New York Times editorStephen Holden stated that the cover, along with "Because You Loved Me", "are the strongest cuts on an album crammed with formulaic romantic bombast".[49] A reviewer fromPeople said Dion "knocks herself out trying to match the classic bombast that Eric Carmen dished out on 'All By Myself'."[50] Geoff Edgers fromSalon described it as a "dog-ear-shattering remake".[51] Christopher Smith from TalkAboutPopMusic wrote,
Only a few vocalists could possibly attempt to do justice to Eric Carmen's 1975 classic, but with her out-of-this-world voice, Celine is one of them and perhaps the only one big enough to lift the song's long and emotional chords at the end. Celine shatters glass and blows ear drums as she reaches that final "anymore". Bring on the orchestra, drums and guitar as they prove no match for Celine as she repeats the song's central line again and again "don't wanna be, all by myself". Earth shattering and epic are the words and it was hardly surprising that it wouldn't be released as a single in due course either.[52]
A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by British directorNigel Dick.[53] It contains fragments from Dion's photo session for theFalling into You album cover and some scenes from herLive à Paris concert. In between, there are alsosepia toned footage showing an apparently lonely and sad Dion. The video was later made available on Dion's officialYouTube channel in 2012 and had generated more than 63 million views as of October 2023.[54] A video of the Spanish version was added to the channel in 2021.[55]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
In 1982, "All by Myself" was covered byShirley Bassey, as part ofher album by the same name. She also released it as a single.
In 1994, "All by Myself" was covered by New Zealand singerMargaret Urlich. Her version reached number 100 in Australia in November 1994,[101] and number 26 in New Zealand in March 1995.[102]
In 2018, a cover byGhian Wright, renamed to "I'm All Alone (Belter Version)", was used in the science fiction television seriesThe Expanse, in the episode of season 3 "Delta-V".[103] The lyrics of the song were rewritten in the mix of English andBelter Creole, aconstructed language made for the TV series byNick Farmer, that was used in the show by Belters, the inhabitants of theasteroid belt andouter planets.[104][105] The lyrics were additionally adjusted to fit the in-universe setting[105] The full version of the song was later placed onThe Collector's Edition version of the TV series soundtrack, that was released on December 13, 2019.[103]
The firstDisney Channel original movieUnder Wraps (1997) featured the original Eric Carmen song as a major plot point. The character of Harold the Mummy (Bill Fagerbakke) becomes entranced with the song as it reminds him of his lover (Cristina Patterson).
The 1999 Australian-French filmMe Myself I directed byPip Karmel, contains cover of this song, performed by Maggie McKinney. The film contains this song in its opening scenes, with the protagonist Pamela Drury (Rachel Griffiths) taking a bubble bath and dissatisfied with her lonely life unknowingly or unintentionally wants to shoot herself in the head with a hair dryer.
In the pilot episode of the 2020 television seriesZoey's Extraordinary Playlist, "Zoey's Extraordinary Power", "All by Myself" is performed on a street by strangers and in fact this is the first song of the series' titular "Playlist".
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