| "One Way Ticket" | |
|---|---|
 Front cover of Japanese 7-inch single | |
| Single by Neil Sedaka | |
| from the album Neil Sedaka Sings Little Devil and His Other Hits | |
| Language | English |
| A-side | "Oh! Carol" |
| Released | 1959 |
| Genre | Pop |
| Length | 2:13 |
| Label | RCA |
| Songwriter(s) | Jack Keller, Hank Hunter |
"One Way Ticket" is a song written by Jack Keller and Hank Hunter. It was originally performed by American singer Neil Sedaka and popularized by British disco band Eruption.
The track was originally performed by Neil Sedaka and included as the B-side on Sedaka's 1959 single "Oh! Carol". In 1961, the song featured in the track listing of his third studio album, Neil Sedaka Sings Little Devil and His Other Hits , but was never released as a standalone single. Despite this, the song made it to number one on the Japanese pop charts, where it was affectionately called "The Choo-Choo Train Song". [1]
The lyrics allude to several popular songs of the late 1950s, including "Lonesome Town", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Bye Bye Love", "Gotta Travel On", "Lonely Teardrops", "A Fool Such as I", and "I Cried a Tear".
| "One Way Ticket" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Front cover of UK 7-inch single | ||||
| Single by Eruption | ||||
| from the album Leave a Light | ||||
| B-side | "Left Me in the Rain" | |||
| Released | January 1979 | |||
| Recorded | 1978 | |||
| Genre | Disco | |||
| Length | 3:35 | |||
| Label | Hansa, Ariola, RCA | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jack Keller, Hank Hunter | |||
| Producer(s) | Frank Farian, Rainer M. Ehrhardt | |||
| Eruption singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"One Way Ticket" was covered by British disco band Eruption for their second album, Leave a Light. The song became a big hit in Europe in the first half of 1979, topping charts in Austria and Switzerland, and reaching top 10 across Europe. This song inspired the item song "Hari Om Hari" from the Hindi film Pyara Dushman (1980). "One Way Ticket" is now one of the band's trademark hits, along with their cover of "I Can't Stand the Rain".
| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Argentina (CAPIF) [2] | 2 |
| Australia (Kent Music Report) [3] | 10 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [4] | 1 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [5] | 2 |
| Denmark (Hitlisten) [6] | 2 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) [7] | 2 |
| French Singles Chart [8] | 4 |
| Irish Singles Chart [9] | 13 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100) [10] | 5 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [11] | 4 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [12] | 32 |
| South Africa (Springbok Radio) [13] | 5 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [14] | 8 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [15] | 1 |
| UK Singles (Official Charts Company) [16] | 9 |
| US Dance Club Songs ( Billboard ) [17] | 30 |
| West Germany (GfK) [18] | 7 |
| Zimbabwe (ZIMA) [19] | 4 |
| Chart (1979) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report) [20] | 42 |
Neil Sedaka is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard "Howie" Greenfield and Phil Cody.
Eruption were a British disco, R&B and soul recording act in the 1970s and 1980s. They are best known for their covers of Ann Peebles's "I Can't Stand the Rain" and Neil Sedaka's "One Way Ticket", which were big disco hits in 1978 and 1979.
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