You Only Live Once

"You Only Live Once" is song by American rock band the Strokes. It is the opening track on their third studio album "First Impressions of Earth". The song was written by Julian Casablancas with production from David Kahne and Gordon Raphael. It was released as the third and final single from the album on September 6, 2006 by RCA and Rough Trade Records. They have performed this song on several programs, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

A cover of Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me" was recorded as a B-side and features Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam sharing vocals with Casablancas, while Josh Homme (of Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures and Eagles of Death Metal) plays drums alongside Fabrizio Moretti.

When the song was released as a single, the Strokes launched 'Operation You Only Live Once' prompting all of their fans to call and request the single on radio stations. Their goal was to try to get out the word of the new single as fast as possible, by spreading the song by word of mouth. The Strokes' MySpace page asked all users to put the song in their profile in an attempt to spread the single among the online community.

In 2020, The Independent and Paste ranked the song number eight and number seven, respectively, on their lists of the 20 greatest Strokes songs. Listed at #16 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2006.