After his band the Raspberries disbanded in 1974, co-founding singer and songwriter Eric Carmen‘s eponymous solo debut in 1975 delivered his first hit “All By Myself.” The melancholy ballad reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and later reentered the charts more than 20 years later when covered by Celine Dion in 1996.

A 1901 Piano Concerto and The Raspberries

A classically trained musician since childhood, Carmen composed “All By Myself” around a turn-of-the-century piano concerto and an older Raspberries song. “The song started with the solo,” said Carmen. “It started four bars at a time. Eventually, over a period of two months, that entire interlude had been written. Then my quest was to put this in the middle of an actual song. Then it was a matter of trying to figure out what kind of song and how could I do it.”

Initially, the music was inspired by Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18 from 1901. “I heard the melody which I used for the verse,” added Carmen. “Then I needed a chorus. I went back and listened to a song that I had written in 1973 called ‘Let’s Pretend’ for the Raspberries. I just took those notes and took it from there. I thought, ”Let’s Pretend’ was a nice melody.’ The song didn’t go quite as far as I thought it should have. I’ll go back and steal from myself for this.”

A “Miserable” Song

“All By Myself” circles around lost friendships and lovers, insecurities, and loneliness. “There’s not nearly as much fuel in being happy as there is in being miserable,” said Carmen of his pensive ballad. “Being miserable is a great catalyst for songwriting, for me anyway. I’m constantly amazed at the amount of wonderful work that Mozart did during periods when he was fairly happy. His music during those periods reflects the happiness.”

Carmen added, “On the other hand, I can’t imagine that Rachmaninoff was happy when he was writing the second symphony and second piano concerto. I don’t think the anguish and angst of those melodies comes out of being peachy keen.”

When I was young
I never needed anyone
And making love was just for fun
Those days are gone

Livin’ alone
I think of all the friends I’ve known
When I dial the telephone
Nobody’s home

All by myself

Hard to be sure
Sometimes I feel so insecure
And love’s so distant and obscure
Remains the cure
ERIC CARMEN BY MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES

The song, according to Carmen, was self-explanatory. “If you walked in a record store and saw ‘All By Myself’ on the record label, you’d know what the song was about, and it’s an emotion that everyone has felt at some point in their life,” said Carmen. “Therefore, it’s a song that goes immediately to your heart. The lyrics are as simple as I could possibly make them. Sometimes my melodies are so dramatic that if the lyric is that dramatic, it’s overkill.”

In the Movies—and TV

Along with being nearly 200 times by everyone from Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Sheryl Crow, Hank Williams Jr., and more, “All By Myself” made its way into dozens of films and television throughout the past 50 years as a quintessential song of loneliness.

In 1977, Barry Williams and Florence Henderson (Greg and Carol Brady) first performed it on The Brady Bunch Variety Hour in 1977. The song was also been featured in dozens of films including Bridget Jones’s Diary, Dawn of the Dead, Clueless, Shrek 2, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and more, along with the TV shows Friends, 30 Rock, Psych, and Glee, among others.