"You Only Live Once" is song by American rock band the Strokes. It is the opening track on their third studio album, '' First Impressions of Earth'' (2005). The song was written by

Julian Casablancas Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American singer, musician and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of Rock music, rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since the ...

with production from David Kahne and Gordon Raphael. It was released as the third and final single from the album on September 6, 2006 by RCA and

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

. They have performed this song on several programs, including '' The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' and '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. A cover of

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

's " Mercy Mercy Me" was recorded as a B-side and features

Eddie Vedder Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and one of four guitarists of the rock band Pearl Jam. He also appeared as a guest vocalist i ...

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

sharing vocals with Casablancas, while

Josh Homme Joshua Michael Homme ( ; born May 17, 1973) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the founder, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he form ...

(of Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures and Eagles of Death Metal) plays drums alongside Fabrizio Moretti. When the song was released as a single, the Strokes launched Operation You Only Live Once prompting all of their fans to call and request the single on radio stations. Their goal was to try to get out the word of the new single as fast as possible, by spreading the song by word of mouth. The Strokes' Myspace page asked all users to put the song in their profile in an attempt to spread the single among the online community.

Demo version: "I'll Try Anything Once"

An early demo version of the song, titled "I'll Try Anything Once", is included as one of the B-sides on the " Heart in a Cage" single. It features Nick Valensi playing electric piano while Casablancas sings. Some of these lyrics were also present when the Strokes played the song for the BBC's Radio 1 Session, which aired on March 8, 2006. The soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's 2010 film '' Somewhere'' included "I'll Try Anything Once". The song also featured prominently in the film's trailer. This version of the song also featured at the end of the 4th episode in series 4 of ITV's '' Secret Diary Of A Call Girl''.

Reception

Released on July 24, 2006, the single hit No. 35 on the ''Billboard''

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart. It was listed at No. 16 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2006. In 2020, '' The Independent'' and ''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, A liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves a ...

'' ranked the song number eight and number seven, respectively, on their lists of the 20 greatest Strokes songs.

Music video

The initial music video for the single was directed by Samuel Bayer, who had previously helmed the " Heart in a Cage" video, and features the band performing in an enclosed room as tobacco tar fills the room, implying that the room is their lungs. Julian Casablancas commented on the video saying, "People tell us all the time we're gonna die from smoking, but you only live once." The video can be seen as a reference to the Rolling Stones' video of It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It), in which the band can be seen playing in a tent which eventually fills with bubbles. The video was set to premiere in the UK on May 24, 2006, but was delayed, due to last-minute edits, until June 21, 2006. Yahoo! premiered the video in the U.S. on June 27. An alternate music video for the song, which was directed by Warren Fu, was premiered on the social media site

imeem The online service imeem was a social media website where users interacted with each other by streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos. It operated from 2003 until 2009 when it was shut down after being acquired by MySpace. The c ...

on May 29, 2007. It contains the very end of "Ize of the World" and it works as an homage to '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' and as a video protest against war, hunger, and consumerism.

Track listing

UK, EU 7"

#"You Only Live Once" – 3:06 #"

Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" is the second single from Marvin Gaye's 1971 album, '' What's Going On''. Following the breakthrough of the title track's success, the song, written solely by Gaye, became regarded as one of popular music's most poi ...

" (feat.

) – 2:38

Charts

Certification

References

External links

* *
Alternate video for You Only Live Once
{{Authority control The Strokes songs 2006 singles Music videos directed by Samuel Bayer Songs written by Julian Casablancas 2005 songs Song recordings produced by David Kahne Music videos directed by Warren Fu