All By Myself by MysteriousRob

YEARS OF BALLADS 70'S R3


70's Sad Ballads

"All by Myself" is a power ballad written and performed by Eric Carmen in 1975. It borrows very heavily from the second movement (Adagio Sostenuto) of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18, which Carmen believed was in the public domain. Having found it was not, only after the record had been issued, Carmen had to come to an agreement with the Rachmaninoff estate. [1] Carmen's full version has an extended piano solo and lasts over seven minutes, although there is also an edited version at 4:22. In a 2006 poll for UK's five programme Britain's Favourite Break-up Songs, Eric Carmen's version of this song was voted seventeenth.

The song was originally recorded by the author and released in 1975 to great success. It reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 1 on Cashbox Top 100 Singles and number 12 in the UK. Carmen's original version has spawned numerous cover versions, by such artists as Céline Dion or Frank Sinatra. It should not be confused with the jazz standard written by Irving Berlin and performed by Ella Fitzgerald.