Only the Lonely

According to the Only The Lonely Songfacts, the video garnered lead singer Martha Davis an American Music Award for "Best Performance in a Music Video." The singles from The Motels' first two albums had occasional and varied success. It was “Only The Lonely”, the first single from their third release, that was their breakthrough song, becoming the first of two #9 songs in the US and reaching the top 40 in Canada, New Zealand and Australia. At the end of 1982, it was ranked the #29 song of the year in the US. “Only The Lonely” was inspired by Davis' promising musical career contradicted by her personal sadness at the time. Her performance in the music video for “Only The Lonely” won her an American Music Award. Martha Davis told Beyond Race magazine: Only the Lonely’ was one of those songs that was sitting on my guitar waiting for me. It literally wrote itself. It’s a song about empty success. It came about while the Motels were experiencing critical acclaim, traveling the world, riding in limos, and yet I was probably as sad as I had ever been. I was in a horrible relationship and had not yet recovered from my parents' death (I doubt one ever does). The contradiction of these two worlds was where ‘Only the Lonely’ lived… bittersweet.

Only the Lonely Lyrics The Motels From The Album All Four One (1982) [Verse 1] We walked the loneliest mile We smiled without any style We kiss altogether wrong No intention We lied about each other's drinks We lived without each other thinking What anyone would do Without me and you [Chorus] It's like I told you Only the lonely can play [Verse 2] So hold on, here we go Hold on to nothin' we know I feel so lonely way up here You mention the time we were together So long ago, well I don't remember All I know is that it makes me feel good now [Chorus] It's like I told you Only the lonely can play Only the lonely Only the lonely can play [Instrumental Break 01:38-02:13] [Guitar Solo] [Saxophone Solo] [Chorus] Only the lonely Only the lonely can play It's like I told you Only the lonely can play Only the lonely Only the lonely can play [Instrumental Outro] Written By Martha Davis Release Date April 6, 1982