“One Way or Another” by Blondie

"One Way or Another" tears through Parallel Lines, Blondie's 1978 album, like it's late for something, and the story behind it is darker than the bounce lets on. Debbie Harry had been stalked in the early '70s, badly enough that she moved out of New Jersey to get away, and she turned the ordeal into a song sung from the point of view of an ex-boyfriend who won't take the hint, a twist that let her play the menace for laughs.

Bassist Nigel Harrison wrote the music, a riff with a Ventures twang that he first brought to keyboard player Jimmy Destri. Chris Stein and Frank Infante's guitars chew on it, Clem Burke drums like the floor is on fire, and Mike Chapman keeps the production lean and bright. But it's Harry's vocal that makes it: tough, taunting and aggressive, and critics have praised it ever since.

In North America it went out as the fourth single from the album, following the chart-topping "Heart of Glass", reaching number 24 in the US and the top 10 in Canada.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.