"Only One You" is a song written by Michael Garvin and Bucky Jones, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

T. G. Sheppard William Neal Browder (born July 20, 1944) is an American country music singer, known professionally as T. G. Sheppard. He had 14 number-one hits on the US country charts between 1974 and 1986, including eight consecutive number ones between 19 ...

. It was released in November 1981 as the first single from the album '' Finally!''. The song was his ninth No. 1 hit on the Billboard

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart in February 1982, spending one week atop the chart as part of a 13-week run within the country chart's top 40.

Content

In contrast to some of his earlier hits—including "

I Loved 'Em Every One "Loved 'Em Every One" is a song written by Phil Sampson, and recorded by American country music artist T. G. Sheppard. It was released in March 1981 as the first single from the album '' I Love 'Em All''. The song was Sheppard's seventh number on ...

" -- "Only One You" pays tribute to monogamy and uniqueness of a single object of affection. Here, a man illustrates this uniqueness by referencing world landmarks such as the

Leaning Tower of Pisa The Leaning Tower of Pisa ( ), or simply the Tower of Pisa (), is the , or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable Foundation (engineering), foundation. The tower is on ...

and the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

, masterpieces such as da Vinci's

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, ...

, the cities

New York Town ''New York Town'' is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Fred MacMurray, Mary Martin, Akim Tamiroff and Robert Preston. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was written by Le ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

and one Finest Hour, before telling the woman "there's only one you."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1981 singles 1981 songs T. G. Sheppard songs Song recordings produced by Buddy Killen Warner Records singles Curb Records singles Songs written by Michael Garvin Songs written by Bucky Jones Songs about Paris Songs about New York City {{1981-country-song-stub