One Son

"One Son" is the twelfth episode from the sixth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It first aired on February 14, 1999, on the Fox network. The episode was written by series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Rob Bowman. It explores the series' overarching mythology and concludes the Syndicate story arc.

The series centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who work on "X-Files"—cases deemed "unsolvable" by the FBI, usually dealing with the paranormal. Although Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, and the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work, the two have developed a deep friendship. While Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright) reveals the truth about the alien conspiracy to take over the Earth to Mulder, the Smoking Man (William B. Davis) does the same to her son, Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), in an effort to convince him to work with the Syndicate. Even as Mulder is deceived by Special Agent Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers), Scully stays true to the investigation, and the two find Spender to be a surprise ally. Meanwhile, the Syndicate reaches the climax of its plans, only to have its members systematically exterminated by the faceless alien rebels, who oppose colonization.

"One Son," a direct continuation of the previous episode "Two Fathers," was written, along with its predecessor, to eliminate the Syndicate and relaunch the series' mythology in a different direction. Both the opening of the episode and the climactic scene featuring the demise of the Syndicate were filmed at the Marine Corps Air Station Tustin in Tustin, California. Spotnitz was particularly critical of some of the visual effects used in the episode, expressing a desire to one day revisit and redo them. The episode has also been analyzed for its thematic examination of family. "One Son" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.1, and its first broadcast was watched by 16.57 million people. The episode was well received by critics, who applauded the way the Syndicate's story arc was wrapped up, although others felt the resolution was too simplistic.

## Plot

### Background

For the first five seasons of the series, FBI federal agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) have unravelled a conspiracy that involves the mysterious Syndicate, and their plans to aid in the alien colonization of Earth. The fifth-season episodes "Patient X" and "The Red and the Black" reveal that, counter to the colonization effort, there is a faction of alien rebels opposed to colonization. In the previous episode, "Two Fathers", one of the rebels tried to infiltrate the Syndicate and form an alliance, only to be killed. Meanwhile, Mulder learned that The Smoking Man's (William B. Davis) ex-wife, Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright), had successfully become an alien-human hybrid—a signal to the aliens for them to begin colonizing the planet.

### Events

Cassandra demands to be killed by Mulder but, before he can do anything, the group is quarantined by Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers). Mulder, Cassandra, and Scully are taken to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) facility at Fort Marlene, where Fowley tells the agents that Cassandra is carrying a contagious organism. Meanwhile, Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) reports on Cassandra's escape to the Syndicate, noting that the alien rebels want Cassandra kept alive. However, the Syndicate decides to turn Cassandra over to the colonists and save themselves by commencing colonization.

At Fort Marlene, Mulder runs into the sickly looking Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), who tells him that she was subjected to experiments by the Syndicate to create a black oil vaccine and that the colonists will begin colonization if they learn of Cassandra's existence as an alien-human hybrid. Scully, with help of the Lone Gunmen, looks into Fowley's personal history and informs Mulder that Fowley has been collecting data on alien abductees—MUFON—in Tunisia almost every week, although there is no trace of her activities in FBI records. Although Mulder still trusts Fowley, he goes to her apartment to confront her.

Inside the apartment, Mulder's search for clues is interrupted by the arrival of The Smoking Man, who tells Mulder that he has been betrayed by Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), who is actually his son. The Smoking Man tells Mulder that, many years ago, the Syndicate agreed by majority vote, against Bill Mulder's objections, to align themselves with the alien colonists to be spared during colonization. The Syndicate was forced to give up family members to the colonists as collateral so that an alien fetus could be given to the Syndicate in order for them to gain access to alien DNA, to make the human-alien hybrid possible. Since Bill Mulder was slow to agree, Samantha Mulder was not taken until after the others. Using the alien fetus, the Syndicate worked on creating alien-human hybrids who could survive the colonization. The Smoking Man then tells Mulder that the colonization will begin once Cassandra is handed over and that Mulder will be able to see his sister again, providing him with an address to the hangar where the Syndicate members will be meeting the colonists.

Spender goes to the Syndicate's headquarters, only to find Krycek, who tells him that the group's members—with the exception of The Smoking Man, who has gone to retrieve Cassandra—are preparing to give Cassandra to the aliens. Fowley returns to her apartment, where she finds Mulder. Fowley heads to the hangar at El Rico Air Force Base, whereas Scully picked up Mulder, and the two try but fail to stop the train car transporting Cassandra to El Rico. Spender arrives at Fort Marlene, where he runs into Marita; she tells him to go to El Rico Air Force Base to find his mother.

A Syndicate surgeon attempting to procure the alien fetus is killed by one of the alien rebels, who assumes his form. Krycek finds the dead surgeon and the fetus missing, and tells Spender that the rebels are now going to succeed in their goals to halt colonization. The Syndicate and its families gather at El Rico Air Force Base. Shortly after Fowley arrives, a white light appears around one end of the hangar. It is revealed to be the rebels, who surround and immolate the entire Syndicate, except for The Smoking Man and Fowley, who escape by car.

The next day, Mulder, Scully, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and Spender report to Assistant Director Alvin Kersh (James Pickens, Jr.) on the deaths of the Syndicate and Cassandra. Spender tells Kersh that Mulder and Scully could have prevented their demise, and recommends that they be reassigned to the X-Files before abruptly leaving the room. Heading to the X-Files office in the basement, Spender finds The Smoking Man, who first berates Spender for not being like Mulder and then shoots him in the head.

## Production

### Conception and writing

"One Son" concluded not only the story that had begun in the preceding episode, "Two Fathers", but also a large portion of the series' mythology, much of which had been centered around the Syndicate. The producers felt this was necessary as the Syndicate's story arc was becoming a "narrative drag" on the series, and that many questions from the past five seasons were still unanswered. Another impetus for finishing the arc was the belief of series creator and episode co-writer Chris Carter that the series would end by the spring of 2000. Thus "One Son" was written to resolve many of the show's arcs in preparation for a future series finale. The writing staff was also looking for ways to create a new story lines for the series, such as the "Super Soldiers" arc, which was created for the eighth and ninth seasons.

Carter also sought to rectify small issues that fans had with the 1998 feature film, The X-Files, explaining, "I think if there was any trouble with the movie, it was that we promised so much that we didn't deliver all of it. I think we wanted to deliver a lot, and all at once, in these two episodes". Episode co-writer Frank Spotnitz agreed, saying that when The X-Files film was being promoted with the tagline "The Truth is Revealed," he realized that many fans would be unhappy with the revelations. Spotnitz struggled when writing "One Son" because he believed that episodes that gave answers seemed to be less entertaining for viewers than episodes that presented new questions. He did, however, acknowledge that this episode was necessary to explain the show's mythology; he called the episode the "biggest chapter we had time to explore in the nine years we were on the air".

Writers for the series often struggled with writing "mytharc" episodes because there was a need to force as much material into them as possible, given their relative paucity compared to the "Monster of the week" episodes. While the title of the previous episode, "Two Fathers", referred to both Bill Mulder and The Smoking Man, this episode was titled "One Son" to reflect the fact that Mulder was the only remaining son of either of these men, after the presumed death of Jeffrey Spender.

Several of the plot elements self-reference other episodes of the series. Fort Marlene's presence is a reference to the first season finale "The Erlenmeyer Flask," in which the alien fetus was first introduced; the term "purity control" is also a reference to this episode. The references to MUFON were designed to recall the fourth-season story-arc involving Scully's cancer. The episode also references and mirrors elements of popular culture. Fowley's apartment was purposely located in the Watergate complex, a hotel notorious as the location of the 1970s Watergate scandal. The scenes featuring Mulder and Scully being decontaminated were based on a similar scene in the James Bond film Dr. No (1962), according to Spotnitz. He felt that the scene successfully played upon the sexual tension between the two lead characters.

### Casting and filming

"One Son" would be the last episode of the series to feature Owens' character, Jeffrey Spender, until the ninth season entry "William". Owens learned that he would be killed off when Carter told him, "You're going to go out a hero, of sorts". Owens was slightly disappointed, as he had just been introduced during the conclusion of the previous season. Davis was upset that Owens was leaving the series, and reportedly told Owens during their last scene together, "I don't want to shoot you! I enjoy working with you!" Owens, however, jokingly noted that Davis had no problems slapping him when the script called for it. In the episode, Laurie Holden, who played Marita Covarrubias, returns. Spotnitz crafted the sequence in which she confronts Mulder to be a way of "taking away [her] beauty and making her [look] as horrifying as possible". To accomplish this, she was given "terrible-looking" contact lenses and her hair was disheveled.

While the first five seasons of the series were mainly filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, production of the show's sixth season was based in Los Angeles, California. The scenes taking place in the hangar were filmed at the Marine Corps Air Station Tustin in Tustin, California. The hangar—constructed in 1942 in support of the United States Navy coastal patrol efforts during World War II—is one of the largest all-wooden hangars in the United States. Bill Roe, director of photography, and Rob Bowman were tasked with lighting the entire structure for the episode's teaser and climax, a job that Spotnitz later called "amazing". Because the series' move to Los Angeles had caused production costs to rise, the show was forced to cut down on its "astonishing production values". However, Spotnitz highlighted the use of the hangar as "was a way to try and create that cinematic scale and still keep [the show] affordable". Initially, the production staff had hoped to show the alien rebels incinerating the Syndicate on screen. However, because they were filming in an all-wooden hangar, the use of fire was never considered.

The episode also revisits trains as a setting, something that had previously been done in the third season episodes "731" and "Nisei". However, for budgetary reasons, the scenes taking place on the trains did not take up much screen time. To give the effect that the train carrying Cassandra Spender is moving at a high speed, Manners utilized "sound effects, music, clever camera angles and quick cutting". In reality, the train was going a little under ten miles an hour.

All of the sets in the episode were created by Corey Kaplan. Roe, meanwhile, was in charge of the cinematography. While Spotnitz was complimentary towards Rob Bowman's directing, he was critical of the scene in which one of the Syndicate members morphs into an alien rebel. He felt that the effect was subpar, largely because it had been created on such short notice. He explained, "It was one of those cases where you just run out of time, sorry to say". He later expressed a desire to one day go back and revisit the effect.

The episode required extensive demands from makeup department head Cheri Montesanto-Medcalf. She was tasked with creating the illusion of the lead surgeon's head being frozen in liquid nitrogen, as well as "de-aging" members of the Syndicate for the episode's flashback sequences. To create the former, Montesanta-Medcalf painted the actor's face blue, then attached silicone icicles to his head.

## Themes

The episode emphasizes the importance of family. Meghan Deans of Tor.com wrote that the Syndicate handing over their family and loved ones to save the world was evidence of this permeating theme. She also highlighted the duality of fathers and sons. The Smoking Man is both a father to Mulder and Spender, but he favors Mulder. At the same time, both Spender and Krycek vie for the position of "son," with the former falling from The Smoking Man's grace, and the latter playing the role of "prodigal son". However, both Spender and Krycek eventually fail, leaving Mulder as the titular "one son". Neal Justin of the Star Tribune also wrote about the episode's emphasis on family, commenting that "it is interesting to note that the core of the story appears to be the relationship between parents and their children". He compared the episode's thematic mechanism to the same concern of the Star Wars films.

## Reception

### Ratings and accolades

"One Son" originally aired in the United States on the Fox network on February 14, 1999, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky1 on May 23, 1999. In the U.S., the episode was watched by 16.57 million viewers. It earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.1, with a 16 share. Nielsen ratings are audience measurement systems that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the U.S. This means that roughly 10.1 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were watching the episode. In the U.K., "One Son" was seen by 860,000 viewers, making it the fourth most-watched episode that week, behind ER, The Simpsons, and Friends. Dean Haglund's name is misspelled as Dean Haglung in the opening credits.

Cartwright was nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series" for her role in both this episode and "Two Fathers". "One Son" was also nominated for "Outstanding Art Direction—Series", and "One Son" and "Two Fathers" were co-nominated for "Outstanding Makeup—Series". The series won an Emmy for the latter. On November 5, 2002, the episode was released on DVD as part of the complete sixth season. The episode was later included on The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization, a DVD collection that features episodes involved with the alien colonists' plans to take over the Earth.

### Reviews

Because the episode was promoted with the promise of answering questions, it caused increased media speculation. With the conclusion of "One Son", many critics applauded the way the series was able to wrap up the Syndicate arc. A.M. Jamison of the Dayton Daily News wrote that "'One Son' ends dramatically, drawing to a close one quest and opening a new set of challenges not only for Mulder but the Earth as well". Noel Holston and Justin of the Star Tribune awarded the episode four stars out of five, noting that it answered even more questions than "Two Fathers". They also applauded the familial bonds that held the episode together. However, some critics felt that the answers were slightly rushed. Manuel Mendoza of The Dallas Morning News wrote that "Mr. Carter and his co-writer Frank Spotnitz have a wonderfully indirect way of setting up dramatic situations and an unbelievably shorthand way of resolving them".

Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode three-and-a-half stars out of five. The two enjoyed Davis' performance, noting that he gave the role "real power", and that he was "the emotional centre of the episode". Shearman and Pearson were critical of the amount of attention Fowley's allegiance received. However, they felt that the episode "reaches for both significance and closure, and mostly works". Deans wrote that "One Son," along with "Two Fathers," is elevated above a "mytharc infodump" because of "its use of family, a theme woven deep and clear throughout". She largely applauded the episode's exploration of the various characters, and its central motif, noting that "the conspiracy [the Syndicate] is no longer the threat now. It's the rebels and the colonists, fearful and unknown. Just like family". Tom Kessenich, in his book Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files wrote positively of the episode, saying "The 'Two Fathers'/'One Son' was extremely powerful stuff. Tightly written, beautifully filmed and filled with more affirmations than revelations, but fascination looks at the characters in the drama".

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a "B" rating. He felt that the episode worked extremely well on a visual and character-based level. Handlen felt that, because the show was "often scariest when it's implying, rather than flat out stating," its "mythology only really works as something just out of sight". For this reason, he felt that the episode mixed "the compelling with the absurd" with "mixed results". Handlen concluded that the episode "has its moment," but is ultimately hurt by the fact that it refuses "to come to any serious conclusions," as well as "the inherent limitations of the [episode's] form". Not all reviews were glowing. Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a negative review and awarded it one-and-a-half stars out of four. Vitaris criticized the death scene of the Syndicate, noting that it was "clumsily contrived, allowing [The Smoking Man] and Fowley to escape, but not because it makes sense, but because the show needs them to return at some point".

Since its airing, "One Son" has been called one of the best episodes of The X-Files. Joyce Millman from Salon magazine said the episode, along with "Two Fathers," was one "of the most coherent, [...] almost unbearably tense, hours in the series' run". She said that the episode gave some long-waited answers, but created new questions, such as what has really happened to Samantha Mulder. Michigan Daily reviewer Melissa Runstrom said that "One Son," along with "Two Fathers" and season finale "Biogenesis," were the highlights of the sixth season. Earl Cressey from DVD Talk also named "One Son," along with "Two Fathers," as one of the "highlights of season six".

Television episodes set in New York City

Television episodes written by Chris Carter (screenwriter)

Television episodes written by Frank Spotnitz


Merced River

The Merced River (/mɜːrˈsɛd/), in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a 145-mile (233 km)-long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and steep course through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, where it is the primary watercourse flowing through Yosemite Valley. The river's character changes dramatically once it reaches the plains of the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, where it becomes a slow-moving meandering stream.

The river first formed as the Sierra Nevada rose about 10 million years ago, and sediment eroded from its canyon helped form the flat floor of the San Joaquin Valley. Glaciation during the ice ages carved the high elevation parts of the watershed, including Yosemite Valley, into their present shape. Historically, there was an extensive riparian zone which provided habitat for millions of migrating birds, and the river had one of the southernmost runs of chinook salmon in North America.

Miwok and Paiute people lived along the river for thousands of years before Spanish and Mexican military expeditions passed through in the early 19th century. The California Gold Rush brought many people into California and some settled in towns along the lower Merced River. A railroad was built along the Merced canyon, enabling mining and logging in the upper watershed, and later carrying tourists to Yosemite National Park. Conflicts between settlers and Native Americans resulted in wars, including the expulsion of the Ahwahnechee from Yosemite.

Large-scale irrigation was introduced to the San Joaquin Valley in the late 19th century, and led to the construction of numerous state, federal and privately owned dams, which blocked migrating salmon and caused a large decline in riparian habitat. Diversion of water for irrigation often reduces the river to a small stream by the time it reaches its mouth. Efforts to mitigate environmental damage include habitat conservation work, re-establishment of historic streamflow patterns, and the construction of a salmon hatchery.

## Course

The headwaters of the Merced River are at 8,017 feet (2,444 m) at the foot of the Clark Range subrange of the Sierra Nevada, rising at the confluence of the Triple Peak Fork and Merced Peak Fork after they cascade down glacially polished slopes from the high country in the southeastern corner of Yosemite National Park. From its headwaters, the river flows north for a short distance and collects the Lyell Peak Fork. The course of the Merced then turns to the north west and flows through a steep walled canyon for 2.5 miles (4.0 km) where the river receives the Red Peak Fork and then collects into Washburn Lake, 7,612 feet (2,320 m) above sea level.

The Merced continues to the northwest for 3 miles (4.8 km) where collects into Merced Lake. Leaving Merced Lake, the river continues to the west northwest for 2.3 miles (3.7 km) where the canyons open up into Echo Valley. The river then turns generally westward for another 3 miles (4.8 km), where it snakes through a spectacular narrow gorge between massive, glacially resistant granite cliffs. The gorge opens up after Bunnell Point and Sugarloaf Dome confine the river to form Bunnell Cascade, before turning southward through the Lost Valley of the Merced, and then spills over a granite cliff into Little Yosemite Valley, named for its resemblance to Yosemite Valley downstream.

The Merced River drops over Nevada Fall and Vernal Fall, together known as the "Giant Staircase", then receives Illilouette Creek and flows into Yosemite Valley, where it meanders between pine forests and meadows that fill the valley floor. Tenaya, Yosemite, Bridalveil and Pigeon Creeks join the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. Beyond the glacial moraine at the western end of the valley the river flows through the steep Merced River Canyon, picks up Cascade Creek and turns south near El Portal. State Route 140 follows the river out of the west entrance to the national park, a few miles before the South Fork Merced River, the largest tributary, joins from the left.

The river arcs northwest to receive the North Fork, and a few miles after it enters Lake McClure, formed by New Exchequer Dam. Below New Exchequer, the river flows west through a heavily irrigated region of the Central Valley, passing through McSwain and Crocker-Huffman Dams and the cities of Hopeton, Delhi and Livingston. It joins the San Joaquin River at Hills Ferry, a few miles south of Turlock.

## Watershed

The Merced River watershed encompasses 1,726 square miles (4,470 km2) in the central Sierra Nevada. To the north it is bordered by the watershed of the Tuolumne River, the other major river draining Yosemite National Park. On the south, the Merced watershed borders on the headwaters of the San Joaquin River. To the east, it is bordered by the Sierra crest which divides it from the endorheic Great Basin watershed of Mono Lake.

Much of the Merced River basin is at high elevation, where an alpine climate prevails. The Sierra receives heavy snowfall in the winter, which melts in the spring and early summer causing annual flooding. By late autumn the river level has dropped considerably, and some smaller tributaries dry up altogether. Up to 85% of the flow above Happy Isles comes from melting snow. In the dry season, groundwater provides the only base flow to the river. In addition, the river is fed by dozens of high Sierra lakes, the largest of which include Merced Lake, Tenaya Lake, Ostrander Lake, the Chain Lakes, and May Lake. The foothills experience a drier Mediterranean climate, while the San Joaquin Valley floor is dry enough to be considered semi-desert.

The Merced River is the third largest tributary of the San Joaquin River. Before irrigation started in the Central Valley and dams were constructed, the river's natural flow at the mouth was much higher than the current average of 661 cubic feet per second (18.7 m3/s), or about 479,000 acre-feet (591,000,000 m3) per year. Upstream on the river, at Happy Isles, the average flow is 355 cubic feet per second (10.1 m3/s). The United States Geological Survey has river gauges at three locations along the Merced River: at Happy Isles, above Lake McClure, and at the mouth. The first two record flows unaffected by dams and human intervention, but discharge at the mouth is chiefly controlled by New Exchequer Dam. The Lake McClure gauge, located at the former mining town of Bagby, is probably the most accurate gauge for flows overall. The average annual flow recorded there was 1,185 cubic feet per second (33.6 m3/s) from 1923 to 1966. A peak of 92,500 cubic feet per second (2,620 m3/s) was reported there on December 23, 1955. For the mouth gauge, the highest flow was only 13,600 cubic feet per second (390 m3/s) in 1950. Finally, for the gauge at Happy Isles, the largest flow ever recorded was 10,100 cubic feet per second (290 m3/s) in the 1997 Yosemite floods, which destroyed many campgrounds, roads, paths, and bridges in the valley.

## Ecology

According to a study in 2006, there were 37 fish species, 127 bird species, and 140 insect and invertebrate species found in the Merced River watershed. Due to differences in climate, there is a large disparity between species found in the upper watershed (above Lake McClure) and along the lower river.

There are 26 species of native and introduced fish in the lower Central Valley portion of the river, including Sacramento sucker, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and carp. Anadromous fish species found in the lower river are chinook salmon, Pacific lamprey and striped bass. The upper section of the river, defined as the stretch from Lake McClure to the headwaters, has 11 species of fish. Historically, the range of anadromous fish extended to the waterfalls at the head of Yosemite Valley, but dams have blocked their migration since the early 1900s, and diversions frequently dewater their remaining spawning habitat in the lower part of the river. Environmental measures enacted in the late 20th century have had some success in boosting chinook salmon populations, from a record low of 500 fish during several years in the 1950s, to a high of 30,000 in 1984. Since the 1970s, the annual chinook run has averaged about 5,300.

Of the 127 bird species found along the Merced River, only 35 occur along the entire length of the river. Many of these birds are migratory and only pass the area a few times every year, while 109 species of birds are found only in the breeding season. Birds are more abundant along the slow-moving lower river, which has more suitable riparian habitat compared to the rocky, swift upper river. Common species of bird throughout the basin include ruby-crowned kinglet, cedar waxwing, American robin, yellow-rumped warbler, tree swallow and European starling, and several endangered species, including white-tailed kite and Swainson's hawk. Birds that occur commonly in the middle and upper sections of the Merced River include mourning dove, Cassin's finch, California quail, dark-eyed junco, woodpecker, dipper, great blue heron, scrub jay, red-winged blackbird, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture, cliff swallow, canyon wren, merganser, and bald eagles. Common insects found along the river include mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies. The river is impacted by invasive Asiatic clam, Chinese mitten crab, and New Zealand mud snail.

Many species of plants are found throughout the middle and upper basin, including California poppy, white alder, Oregon ash, oak, poison oak, bigleaf maple, Indian rhubarb, buttonbush, willow, whiteleaf manzanita, and historically, sugar pine, before heavy logging in the late 19th century. Squirrels, raccoon, jackrabbits, bats, skunks, beavers, mule deer, coyote, bobcat and black bear are among the mammal species found in the middle and upper watershed.

One species of interest is the limestone salamander, an extremely rare amphibian whose only habitat is the Merced Canyon downstream of Yosemite Valley. The salamander depends on the limestone walls of the Merced Canyon to survive. To protect the salamander, a 20-mile (32 km) segment of the canyon covering 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) was designated an "Area of Critical Environmental Concern" in 1986.

## Geology

When the North American Plate on its slow journey westwards encountered the Pacific Plate approximately 250 million years ago during the Paleozoic, the latter began to subduct under the North American continent. Intense pressure underground caused some of the Pacific Plate to melt, and the resulting upwelling magma pushed up and hardened into the granite batholith that makes up much of the Sierra Nevada. Extensive layers of marine sedimentary rock that originally made up the ancient Pacific seabed were also pushed up by the rising granite, and the ancestral Merced River formed on this layer of rock. Over millions of years, the Merced cut a deep canyon through the softer sedimentary rock, eventually hitting the hard granite beneath. The encounter with this resilient rock layer caused the Merced River to mostly stop its downcutting, although tributary streams continued to widen the ancient canyon.

Over about 80 million years, erosion caused the transportation of massive amounts of alluvial sediment to the floor of the Central Valley, where it was trapped between the California Coast Range on the west and the Sierra Nevada on the east, forming an incredibly flat and fertile land surface. The present-day form of the upper Merced River watershed, however, was formed by glaciers, and the lower watershed was indirectly but significantly affected.

When the last glacial period or Ice Age arrived, a series of four tremendous valley glaciers filled the upper basin of the Merced River. These glaciers rose in branches upstream of Yosemite Valley, descending from the Merced River headwaters, Tenaya Canyon and Illilouette Creek. Tenaya Canyon was actually eroded even deeper by an arm of the Tuolumne Glacier, which formed the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne and Hetch Hetchy Valley on the Tuolumne River in the north. Little Yosemite Valley formed as a result of the underlying rock being harder than that below the Giant Staircase, the cliff wall containing Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall. These three branches of each glacier combined to form one large glacier about 7,000 feet (2,100 m) thick at maximum, stretching 25 miles (40 km) downstream past the mouth of Yosemite Valley, well into Merced Canyon. These glaciers formed the granite cliffs that now constitute landmarks such as Half Dome, El Capitán, and Cloud's Rest.

The first and largest glacier was the Sherwin or Pre-Tahoe glacier, which eroded the upper Merced watershed to an extent close to its present form. Three stages followed during the Wisconsinian glaciation; these were the Tahoe, Tenaya and Tioga stages, of which the Tioga was the smallest. The Tioga glacier left at the mouth of Yosemite Valley a rocky moraine. This moraine was actually one of several moraines deposited by the four glaciations, which include Medial Moraine and Bridalveil Moraine. After the Tioga Glacier retreated this moraine formed a lake that flooded nearly the entire valley. Gradual sedimentation filled Lake Yosemite, creating a broad and flat valley floor. Sediments of glacial origin continued to travel down the Merced River following then, helping to form the flat floor of the Central Valley.

## History

Of the many Native American tribes that have lived on the Merced River the most prominent were the Miwok (consisting of Plains Miwok and Sierra Miwok), Paiute, and Ahwahnechee. Many Plains Miwok settled in the lowlands along the lower Merced River. The Sierra (or Mountain) Miwok lived in the upper Merced Canyon and in Yosemite Valley, and at the time the first white explorers came to the area, there were about 450 Sierra Miwok split among ten permanent villages. Paiute, of origin from the eastern Sierra near the Mono Lake area, also lived in the upper watershed of the Merced River. The Sierra Miwok and Mono Lake Paiute eventually, through cultural interaction over time, formed a new culture, the Ahwahnechee, derived from Ahwahnee, meaning "the valley shaped like a big mouth" (referring to U-shaped Yosemite Valley).

In the early 19th century, several military expeditions sent by Spanish colonists from coastal California traveled into the Central Valley. One of these trips, headed by lieutenant Gabriel Moraga, arrived on the south bank of the Merced River on September 29, 1806. They named the river Rio de Nuestra Señora de la Merced (River of Our Lady of Mercy), who is the patron saint of the diocese of Barcelona and is celebrated on September 24. Another expedition to the Central Valley in 1805 also named the Kings River upon reaching it on January 6, 1805, which is the feast of the Magi or Epiphany. Moraga's expedition was part of a series of exploratory ventures, funded by the Spanish government, to find suitable sites for missions in the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills. In 1808 and 1810, Moraga led further expeditions along the lower Merced River below Merced Canyon, each time coming to nothing. Eventually, plans to establish a mission chain in the Valley were abandoned. In 1855, Merced County was created, named after the Merced River.

Following the establishment of Merced County and the independence of California from Mexico, many settlers came to the Merced River area and established small towns on the Merced River. One of the first was Dover, established in 1844 at the confluence of the Merced River with the San Joaquin River. Dover functioned as an "inland seaport" where boats delivered supplies from the San Francisco Bay area to settlers in the San Joaquin Valley. Some towns that followed were Hopeton, Snelling and Merced Falls, the latter named for a set of rapids on the Merced River near the present-day site of McSwain Dam. In the late 1880s a flour mill, woolen mill and a few lumber mills were constructed at Merced Falls. The Sugar Pine Lumber Company and Yosemite Lumber Company operated lumber mills at Merced Falls for over thirty years, relying on narrow-gauge railroads to ship lumber from the Sierra Nevada along the Merced River. Following the construction of the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads, many of the river towns on the Merced River were deserted. Several cities that did achieve prominence, however, include Merced and Turlock, both located on the railroad.

The California Gold Rush in the 1850s saw gradually increasing mining in Merced Canyon and Yosemite Valley. Many Native Americans in the area revolted, leading to conflicts between miners and the Ahwahnechee. In 1851 the Mariposa Battalion was formed to drive the remaining Ahwahnechee out of the valley into reservations. The Battalion fought an Ahwahnechee group led by Chief Tenaya over the South Fork of the Merced River. Eventually, they succeeded in driving most of the Indians out of the Yosemite Valley, first into a reservation near Fresno. Following the gold rush, the Ahwahnechee were allowed back into Yosemite Valley, but further incidents prompted a second battalion to drive them out, this time to the Mono Lake area. Many place names in the valley have their origin from the Mariposa Battalion.

Even before the establishment of Yosemite National Park, tourists began to travel into the Merced Canyon and Yosemite Valley as early as 1855. The first roads were constructed into Yosemite Valley in the 1870s. The first was Coulterville Road, followed by Big Oak Flat Road, a trading route from Stockton to Merced Canyon. Environmental movements led by John Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson convinced the U.S. Congress to establish Yosemite National Park in 1890. With the creation of the national park tourism to the Valley and the Merced River increased significantly, leading to many other roads being built throughout the upper Merced River watershed. Other national forests protecting more of the Merced River upper basin followed, including Sierra National Forest and Stanislaus National Forest.

The Yosemite Valley Railroad, originally established with the discovery of mineral deposits in Yosemite Valley and Merced Canyon, continued functioning through the early 20th century carrying tourists to Yosemite Valley along the Merced River. El Portal Road, constructed through Merced Canyon in 1926, put an end to passenger service on the railway, but operations continued until the mid-1940s, when major flooding occurred, destroying sections of the railroad. In the early 20th century, when the upper Merced River basin lay mostly protected, the lower river was the subject of dam-building and irrigation diversions by the Merced Irrigation District. The District proposed the Exchequer Dam, completed in the mid-1920s and raised in the 1960s, as a water storage facility on the Merced River.

Irrigation with water from the Merced River continued to grow substantially until most of the arable land around the river, some 120,000 acres (490 km2), was under cultivation. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley was to such an extent that many of the rivers ran dry in sections. Upriver of the Merced River confluence with the San Joaquin, the latter river was usually dry, only regaining flow where the Merced River enters. In the mid-20th century, the flow in the Merced River diminished to such a degree that very few salmon returned to spawn in the lower section of the Merced River. In 1991, a fish hatchery, the Merced River Hatchery, was built beside the Merced River just downstream of the Crocker-Huffman Diversion Dam, the lowermost Merced River dam. Fall chinook salmon travel up a fish ladder into the hatchery's pools, which are supplied with water diverted from the Merced River.

Yosemite Valley saw significant amounts of damage when the river flooded the valley in 1997.

## River modifications

Despite its partial status as a National Wild and Scenic River, the Merced River has many dams and irrigation diversions. New Exchequer Dam is the largest dam on the river and forms Lake McClure, which holds 1,032,000 acre-feet (1.273×109 m3) of water for irrigation, flood control and hydropower generation. This modern structure was preceded by the old Exchequer Dam forming 281,000-acre-foot (347,000,000 m3) Exchequer Reservoir. The old concrete arch dam, completed in 1926, was flooded out when the new concrete-faced rockfill dam was built in 1967, but occasionally reappears during periods of low water.

Downstream of New Exchequer Dam is McSwain Dam, which serves as a regulating forebay for New Exchequer Dam and also generates power. Below this dam is Merced Falls Dam, an irrigation diversion dam. The lowermost, the Crocker-Huffman Diversion Dam, was built in 1906 and completely blocks the passage of anadromous fish up the Merced River. Together, these diversions remove almost half the natural flow of the Merced River, and an even greater proportion during dry years.

Cascades Diversion Dam was a timber crib dam built in 1917 near where the Merced River flows out of Yosemite Valley. Originally built to generate hydropower, the dam was decommissioned in 1985 but remained standing for a number of years afterward. After the great flood of 1997, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation surveyed the dam and found it in danger of failure. Classified as a "high hazard" structure, it was originally considered for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places but was deemed too dangerous, and was subsequently removed. Today, the Merced River above Lake McClure is completely free-flowing and unobstructed by any dams.

The Merced Irrigation District (MID) operates most of the irrigation infrastructure on the lower river, which supplies water to 154,394 acres (624.81 km2) of farmland. As a whole, the system includes about 4,000 control gates and 793 miles (1,276 km) of canals and laterals. Irrigation has taken most of the water out of the lower river, which is often reduced to a small stream where it joins the San Joaquin. Irrigation return flows carry pesticides, fertilizer and other pollutants into the river. The MID is federally required to allow at least 15,000 acre-feet (19,000,000 m3) of water annually to flow continually down the river, not including floodwater releases.

## Recreation

The Merced River and its tributaries are a popular recreational area in part because of Yosemite National Park. There are many activities within the watershed, including boating, fishing, camping and hiking. Whitewater rafting is permitted throughout Merced River Canyon from the downstream half of Yosemite Valley to the entrance of Lake McClure. The most difficult rapids in this segment rate Class III and Class IV, mostly upstream of El Portal. There is also boating on Lake McClure. Camping throughout the upper Merced watershed is generally only permitted in designated campgrounds. Campgrounds along the Merced River and its tributaries include ones at Railroad Flat, McCabe Flat, Willow Placer, Merced Lake, Vogelsang Lake, Sunrise Creek, May Lake, Bridalveil Creek, and a ski hut at Ostrander Lake, the source of Bridalveil Creek.

The name "Railroad Flat" originates from the Yosemite Valley Railroad, which once travelled up Merced River Canyon into Yosemite Valley. The old railroad grade still exists, and is now the site of a public trail. Many other trails lead throughout the Merced River watershed, notably the John Muir Trail, which starts near Happy Isles and climbs the Giant Staircase, past Vernal and Nevada Falls, into Little Yosemite Valley and north along Sunrise Creek to join the Pacific Crest Trail near Tuolumne Meadows. Trails also follow the river through Little Yosemite Valley to the headwaters area, and along Illilouette, Bridalveil, Yosemite, Alder and Chilnualna Creeks, and the lower South Fork of the Merced River. There are no trails along some segments, including the lower Bridalveil Creek, upper South Fork, and specifically Tenaya Canyon, which is extremely dangerous.

## See also

- List of rivers of California

River in California

Rivers of the Sierra Nevada (United States)

Rivers of the Sierra Nevada in California

Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States


Rocket (Beyoncé song)

"Rocket" is a song by American recording artist Beyoncé from her fifth studio album, Beyoncé (2013). It was written by Miguel, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon and Beyoncé with the group of the latter three people also serving as its producers. Miguel initially conceived the song inspired by Beyoncé, trying to showcase her confidence and sexuality. Beyoncé revealed that "Rocket" was inspired by D'Angelo's "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" (2000) and felt it was one of her liberating songs meant to illustrate different sides of her personality.

"Rocket" is a slowtempo soul, funk and R&B ballad which was frequently compared to the music of D'Angelo and Prince. It features explicit and metaphorical lyrics discussing frank female sexuality, a prominent theme present on Beyoncé. Lyrically, it sees Beyoncé addressing a male partner through sexual innuendos, adopting soft and sensual vocals.

A music video for the song was directed by Beyoncé, Ed Burke and Bill Kirstein and released through Beyoncé itself on December 13, 2013. It was shot at The Standard, High Line hotel, New York City in black-and-white using a slow motion technique and features various shots of the singer, who appears dressed in lingerie for most of the time. Many critics considered it to be one of the most erotic clips on the entire album and praised its filming technique. At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, Beyoncé performed "Rocket" during a medley consisting of songs from her fifth studio album. It was also a part of the setlist during The Formation World Tour (2016).

## Background

"Rocket" was written by Miguel, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon and Beyoncé for the latter's self-titled fifth studio album. It was produced by Beyoncé, Timbaland and Harmon, with the former also serving as the song's vocal producer. The track was recorded with guidance by Stuart White and Chris Godbey in Jungle City Studios and Oven Studios, both located in New York City. The engineering of "Rocket" was done by Ramon Rivas with assistance by Matt Weber. Chris Godbey finished the mixing and eventually, the mastering was done by Tom Coyne and Aya Merrill at Sterling Sound. Timberlake further provided background vocals.

While working in the studio for her fifth studio album, Beyoncé demanded from Miguel to write a song in which nothing was "off-limits" and where he could push the envelope creatively. He recalled that they collaborated soon after she had had her first baby. Inside the studio, she told him, "'Listen I feel so empowered at this time and place. You'll have to put me on a pedestal, like, never mind that it's Beyoncé. I wanna make music that makes me feel or shows that I feel hot and I'm confident and I wanna feel empowered because that's what I meant in my life'". For the opening lines of the song, Miguel was inspired by the singer herself: "What's the first thing I'd want Beyoncé to say to me, as a man? What have I not heard her say? That's where the song came from." He further noted that "Rocket" managed to showcase a new part of the singer which was confident, sexual and liberating at the same time.

Beyoncé explained on her iTunes Radio channel that "Rocket" was one of the "most sensual songs", adding that it reminded her of the vibes of D'Angelo's song "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" (2000). The singer elaborated the concept behind the song during an album documentary filmed for Beyoncé, titled "Honesty", saying, "Now I'm in my 30s, and those children that grew up listening to me have grown up, and I always felt like it was my responsibility to be aware of kids and their parents and all these generation". With that said, the singer felt "stifled" and unable to express every feeling she wanted to show. However, she noted that with "Rocket", one of the most liberating songs on the record, she managed to express many of those feelings and show different sides of her personality. Revealing that she would not have been confident enough to record the song earlier in her career, Beyoncé noted, "I kinda dropped that fourth wall and I did it". The singer also discussed the meaning of the song by saying, "What I love about this song is, it takes you through this journey. You're flirting and you're talking all of your arrogant s--t [sic]. Then you climax, and then you have your cigarette... This song actually is about singing from the heart, and harmonies and adlibs and arrangement". During the same video, she praised Timberlake and Miguel's work; the clip also showed footage of Beyoncé recording the song in the studio.

## Composition

"Rocket" is a six and a half-minute track, the longest one on Beyoncé. It has a time signature of 6/8. It is a slow tempo ballad and explores elements of soul music, neo soul, funk and R&B. It was noted to be one of the album's retro songs. Houston Chronicle's Joey Guerra deemed the track an "old-school R&B stunner" filled with "all swooping verses and steamy choruses". Many critics found similarities to work by musician Prince. Nick Catucci of Entertainment Weekly described the track as a "funk excursion" similar to songs by Prince. Mike Divers from Clash magazine also felt that "Rocket" was reminiscent of Prince's "funky prime". Jon Pareles of The New York Times noted that the seductive track harks back to Prince's music with "harmonies blossom[ing] all around Beyoncé's cooing lead vocal". Julia Leconte of Now summarized the song's sound as a cross between music by D'Angelo during the late-90s and Usher during the early 2000s. Other critics noted "Rocket" to be a rehash and a homage of D'Angelo's work, particularly on his song "Untitled (How Does It Feel)". Claire Lobenfeld of Complex magazine found cues taken from "Untitled" in "Rocket" to the "point of pop-facsimile". Variety's Andrew Barker deemed the seductive, "grinding" "Rocket" a 2013 makeover of that song. In a review for The Quietus, Mof Gimmers concluded that the song followed up where Ciara's "Body Party" (2013) and R. Kelly's Black Panties (2013) finished.

Keeping in line with the most prominent theme of Beyoncé, "Rocket" explores frank female sexuality. It opens with Beyoncé expressing feelings of lust in the first line, "Let me sit this assssss  [sic] on ya" for which she adopts a soft and sultry vocal style. She further sings about love-making with a male lover and the second line includes the lyrics: "Let me take this off while you watch me / that's my'ass appeal". It features explicit and metaphorical lyrics throughout and sees Beyoncé instructing her love interest to watch her perform a striptease. She further talks about how their evening together is going to proceed with lyrics such as "If you like you can touch it babe, do you wanna touch it baby?".

While singing the lines "So rock right up to the side of my mountain / Climb until you reach my peak babe my peak, the peak / And reach right into the bottom of my fountain", Beyoncé uses sexual innuendos. She also incorporates similar double entendres and euphemisms in the lyrics, "Reach right into the bottom of my fountain / dip me under to where you can feel my river flow / Rock it till water falls". During the end of the song, Beyoncé sings the lines "You rock hard / I rock steady" eventually "erupting into an orgasmic finish" as stated by Puja Patel of Spin. During the last part, she sings "Goddamnit, I'm comfortable in my skin / And you're comfortable in my skin". It was noted that during the end of the song, the protagonist becomes ready to be sexually subordinate and "discipline[d]" as opposed to the first part where she adopted a more dominant persona; this is further exemplified in the lines "Punish me, punish me please" where Beyoncé uses soft vocals.

## Critical reception

John Kennedy from Vibe magazine opined it was impossible for a sexually active person not to feel an urge to invite their partner over upon hearing "Rocket". Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club compared the song's sexiness to that of "Drunk in Love" in a style of an "overeager, pre-shower quickie", calling both of them the singer's raunchiest and most romantic. Mike Diver of Clash felt surprised by Miguel's writing contribution mostly due to the sound showcased in the song. Now's Julia LeConte listed the song as the best on the entire album. Andy Kellman from AllMusic called "Rocket" the second best song on Beyoncé, deeming it an "amusing mix of metaphorical and explicit come-ons" with an "elegant" opening line. Similarly, Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone provided a positive review for the "squishy" tune where Beyoncé "hits nasty highs", further praising the first line as a nice song-opener. Jon Dolan of the same publication further praised it as the best opening line of the "sumptuously asstastic" track. In an article for Vulture, Jody Rosen viewed the song as "teasingly slow and salacious" and felt that its opening line was one of the best of all time. James Montgomery from MTV News regarded it as a "slowed-down jam in the purest sense of the term".

Writers of Billboard magazine called "Rocket" a "baby-making anthem" in the vein of Zapp, which finds the singer "fully equipped for the occasion". Commenting it was "a primer on what sex with Beyoncé is like", Chris Bosman from the website Consequence of Sound concluded the track "beats R. Kelly at his own game of pairing hyper-specific, 'so ridiculous they're incredible' bedroom euphemisms with the most classic of soul vibes". Writer Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune noted that Beyoncé's voice turned into a "lust-saturated choir" on the track. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times felt the "sumptuous" song provided a room for the singer to "flex her impressive stylistic chops". Jody Rosen in Vulture also described it as a "sumptuous old-fashioned soul ballad, [which] goes down like a profiterole". Ryan E.C. Hamm from Under the Radar advised people who thought D'Angelo's "Untitled " is "the sexiest song ever" to hear "Rocket". Lindsey Weber of Vulture considered it an ode to "Untitled" and summed it up as "insanely sexy". Editor Caitlin White writing for the website The 405 noted how the singer managed to reveal her true side in "Rocket" while making herself the dominant lover.

Philip Matusavage in a review for the musicOMH pointed out the lines "you're the shit, that makes you my equivalent" as re-appropriation of "When I Get You Alone" (2002) by singer Robin Thicke. Writing for Idolator, Mike Wass likened the song to material on B'Day (2006), and complemented it as a "vocal tour de force with eye-popping, quotable lyrics". BET's Latifah Muhammad used the words "assertive, feminine, coy and direct" to describe the track. Una Mullally of The Irish Times dubbed "Rocket" as "simple and inoffensive". Kevin Fallon of The Daily Beast felt that Beyoncé managed to execute a modern Motown sound. Tris McCall of The Star-Ledger wrote that "Rocket" featured "a thing or two to say about the irresistible siren call of her butt". Claire Lobenfeld from Complex found "Rocket" to be more sultry than the rest of the songs on the album. Tim Finney of the same publication highlighted "Rocket" as a "relatively classicist... sex romp slow jam" and concluded, "[it] gradually disintegrates into a loosely interwoven patchwork of faux-improvised exclamations and exhalations as Beyoncé determinedly roots out every possible voluptuous vocal angle on the song's preoccupations".

Stereogum journalist Tom Breihan described "Rocket" as "a squelchy, Prince-ly old-school sex-ballad" in which the singer seemingly "melt[s] into the track". He stated that despite "nothing remotely innovative about it... I can't remember the last time I heard a ballad of this type so completely fleshed-out and fully realized". Ryan B. Patrick of Exclaim! noted that songs on the album, such as Rocket", effectively display genre diversity, Beyoncé's vocal range and "a penchant of musical experimentation". Although describing it as a "pitch-perfect rehash" of "Untitled" and noting that it succeeded in turning Beyoncé's "sex life into topography", Fact's Chris Kelly felt "Rocket" was unnecessary on the album. Philip Cosores of Paste stated that the song was "dragging on a minute or two too long". Janice Llamoca from the website HipHopDX called it suitable for a bonus track on Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience (2013). Neil McCormick, writing for The Daily Telegraph criticized the song as a "superflous" [sic] cut meant for The 20/20 Experience. In the annual Pazz and Jop mass critics poll of the year's best in music in 2013, "Rocket" was ranked at number 424.

## Music video

The music video for "Rocket" was directed by Beyoncé along with Ed Burke and Bill Kirstein. It was filmed at a room known as Hudson Studio in the hotel The Standard, High Line, located in Manhattan, New York City. Some of the scenes were also shot in the hotel's hallway while others were filmed at different locations. The visual was released on December 13, 2013 to iTunes Store on Beyoncé itself along with sixteen other music videos for every track on the album. On November 24, 2014 it was also uploaded to the singer's Vevo account. Todd Tourso, who served as the creative director for Beyoncé, revealed that while making the video, "Rocket" was altered to fit with its visual counterpart.

During one scene in the video, Beyoncé is seen wearing a denim button-down top and a lace bra by retailer Agent Provocateur. In a commentary about the look, Joanna Nikas of The New York Times described her style as "[a]t-[h]ome". Neal Farinah, who worked as a stylist for the singer, elaborated that the team wanted to keep her hair long and wavy in order to portray sexuality and femininity. The video features various close-up shots of the singer throughout; she is seen writhing on a bed dressed in lingerie, eating strawberries, having a shower inside a bathtub, playing on a piano. Other scenes show various objects and Beyoncé walking along a corridor and lighting up a cigarette atop a car.

### Reception

A writer from the website E! Online felt that in the video, Beyoncé "most certainly comes into her own". Puja Patel of Spin regarded it as "practically a tribute to her curves". An editor for CTV News noted how the singer was seen hovering over a bed in an exorcist style. Kathy Iandoli from Vice remarked the same particular scenes for showing Beyoncé living in a matrix. Billie Cohen from the magazine Condé Nast Traveler noted that "maybe one of the most memorable image" from the visual album was when the singer was seen falling on a king-size bed in "Rocket". In what she perceived to be the best dance moves on the album, Lindsey Weber of Vulture listed the same scene. Considering it one of the most intimate videos on the entire record, Michael Zelenko from The Fader noted, "In a collection full of erotic videos, 'Rocket,' with its heaving chests, bare thighs, bubble baths, and nails clawing at sheets, manages to stand apart as the steamiest of the bunch." Jody Rosen of The New York Times opined that the video featured mostly slow-motion pictures of "billowing silk sheets and water droplets tumbling onto Beyoncé's bare midriff". Neil McCormik from The Daily Telegraph noted the lack of subtlety during the scenes showing a power drill and Beyoncé "shuddering with pleasure". In another review, he labeled the clip as "very naughty".

Fuse writer Jason Newman called the clip an ode to D'Angelo and went on to state it worked as part underwear commercial, part shower commercial. Writing for the Italian edition of Vogue, Valentina Veneziano concluded that the video showcased Beyoncé's positive attitude portrayed through her laugh in "Rocket". Meghan O'Keefe from VH1 argued that the video was the first to focus on Beyoncé's "voluptuous curve, toned muscle, raised goosebumps and bleached strands of bed head". Brent DiCrescenzo from the magazine Time Out found influences by Madonna from her work on the album Erotica (1992) and the book Sex (1992). Vanity Fair reviewer Michelle Collins opined that the video opened with shots of Beyoncé on a bed to slightly change the overall feeling present on the album. Insanul Ahmed writing in Complex remarked that things "get sensual" in "Rocket"'s clip. Whitney Phaneuf of the website HitFix was more critical towards the visual, saying that it "may be the sexiest video of the bunch, but it's achieved in such a conventional way that it ends up being boring". On December 21, 2013, eight days following the release of the video for "Rocket", CTV News reported that the hotel where the clip was filmed would earn profit from the exposure in the album.

## Live performances

"Rocket" was performed live for the first time by Beyoncé during the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on August 25, as part of a medley consisting of songs from her self-titled album. For the rendition of the song, the singer danced atop a chair, surrounded by smoke on stage. She performed the same dance choreography seen in the music video for "Partition". Beyoncé was dressed in a jeweled bodysuit and performed "Rocket" as the seventh song on the set. Mike Wayers writing for The Wall Street Journal noted that the performance of the song was during the medley's "sexiest part". Following the song's live performance, its sales in the US increased by 584%. In 2016, "Rocket" was performed live throughout The Formation World Tour. During the track, a line of "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" was implemented and Beyoncé performed a chair dance.

## Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes and the singer's official website.

Song credits

- Writing – Miguel Jontel Pimentel, Beyoncé Knowles, Justin Timberlake, Timothy Mosley, Jerome Harmon, James Fauntleroy
- Production – Timbaland, Knowles
- Co-production – Harmon
- Vocals production – Knowles
- Recording – Stuart White, Chris Godbey; Jungle City Studios, Oven Studios, New York City
- Second engineering – Ramon Rivas
- Assistant engineering – Matt Weber
- Background vocals – Beyoncé, Timberlake
- Guitar – Mike Scott
- Bass – Dwayne Wright
- Audio mixing – Chris Godbey
- Assistant mix engineering – Chris Cannon
- Audio mastering – Tom Coyne, Aya Merrill; Sterling Sound, New York City

Video credits

- Directors – Knowles, Ed Burke, Bill Kirstein
- Directors of photography – Kirstein, Steve Romano, Jackson Hunt
- Executive producers – Rob Galluzzo, Erinn Williams
- Producers – Carly Hugo, Kirstein, Tracey-Lee Permall
- Co-producer – Luke Kenny
- Production companies – Loveless, Parkwood Entertainment
- Stylists – Ty Hunter, Raquel Smith
- Additional styling – Tim White
- Production designer – Philip Dorling
- Editor – Jonathan Wing
- Brand manager – Melissa Vargas
- Color correction – Ron Sudul
- Visual effects – The Brigadem Alexander Moors
- Assistant editors – Jonatán López, Joe Sinopoli
- Photography – Robin Harper

## Certifications

Song by Beyoncé

Song recordings produced by Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon


My All

"My All" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey from her sixth studio album, Butterfly (1997). It was released as the album's fifth single overall and second commercial single on April 21, 1998, by Columbia Records. The song was written and produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff. "My All" is built around Latin guitar chord melodies, and makes subtle use of Latin percussion throughout the first chorus, before taking on a more conventional R&B-style beat. Carey was inspired to write the song and use Latin inspired melodies after a trip to Puerto Rico, where she was influenced by the culture. The song's lyrics tell of a lonely woman declaring she would give "her all" to have just one more night with her estranged lover. It is the first song Carey wrote for the Butterfly album.

The music video for the song was released in March 1998. It shows many scenes of Carey laying on a submerged vessel in a large body of water, while lamenting her lost lover. Towards the video's climax, Carey and her love interest climb atop a lighthouse and caress each other under the night's sky. "My All" was performed live on various occasions, including the 1998 World Music Awards and Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Saturday Night Live, The Rosie O'Donnell Show and various European television and music chart programs. The song was also part of Carey's 1998 Butterfly World Tour, and was performed during many future tours and concerts. House music producer David Morales remixed the song, which was performed live as a medley with the original.

"My All" received acclaim from music critics and charted strongly throughout various music markets. In the United States, the song became Carey's thirteenth chart topper on the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Throughout Europe, the song performed moderately, peaking at number four in the United Kingdom and in the top ten in Belgium (Wallonia), France, Spain and Switzerland. In France, due to strong sales, the song was certified gold by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP).

## Background

Carey began writing and composing themes for Butterfly by the end of 1996. She considered this period in time to be a "redefining moment for herself," as she began making the music she truly loved, R&B and hip hop. Additionally, Carey began incorporating other musical genres into her songwriting, assisting her in developing new ideas and melodies. Carey expressed how the mixed emotions she felt at that point in her life helped develop the song, as she would "pour herself and emotions into anything she was writing at the time." In an interview with Fred Bronson, Carey expressed how a visit to Puerto Rico and the current emotions in her life inspired her to write "My All":

> I had gone to Puerto Rico and was influenced by Latin music at that moment. When I came back, the melody was in my head. It was at a melancholy point in my life and the song reflects the yearning that was going on inside of me. It was like being in a situation but you want to break free and you can't, so you're confined yet you're releasing those emotions through the lyrics and the actual act of singing. That's why think a lot of people felt very strongly about that song, because the emotion is clear when you listen to it.

Carey began to infuse her personality into her work, something that showed throughout various tracks. During her stay, she was influenced by the Latin culture, and began harmonizing and singing the music she heard there. When she arrived back to New York, she already had the melody developed, and soon began working on the song in San Francisco with Afanasieff.

In her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, Carey revealed how "My All" was also inspired by a secret romantic rendezvous she and baseball player Derek Jeter had during her time in Puerto Rico.

## Recording

Carey and Afanasieff had worked together since her debut album in 1990. Together, they had written some of Carey's biggest hits at the time, including "Hero" and "One Sweet Day." "My All" would be the last time the two would collaborate, as he is absent from the writing credits in her follow-up album, Rainbow (1999). During the recording of the song, Carey and then-husband Tommy Mottola were in the midst of their divorce. Afanasieff, who had developed relationships with the two of them, was caught in the middle. He spoke of the difficulties he had recording "My All" with Carey, as their relationship had already strained during the divorce. Afanasieff had been employed by Mottola and Columbia Records, and had worked extensively with Carey in the studio. In an interview with Fred Bronson, Afanasieff spoke in depth of the personal problems he experienced with Carey in 1997:

> I needed to maintain a very strong relationship with Tommy [Mottola]. During that period, the beginning of their end, I had to stay away more than normal from her because she was going through a rough time. She felt that shutting her relationship with Tommy was also a cleansing of who she was. She felt that part of what she was dropping was the shmaltzy pop singer ballad kind of stuff he was adamant about. I had to make my exit and say 'Mariah, you need to redefine yourself, that's fine. I'm here doing what I do and if and when you want to come back and do it again, I'm here.

"My All" was written in Carey's home-studio in upstate New York, and was recorded in Afanasieff's recording studio in San Francisco. After she presented him with the melody she had developed in Puerto Rico, he began playing chords on the piano, while Carey sang the tune and directed him. After they produced the chorus, Carey wrote the lyrics, while he added a drum groove to the basic melody. According to Afanasieff, "My All" had tapped into both their Latin backgrounds. While she hadn't spent much time with her Venezuelan paternal grandfather, Carey said the music was "definitely subconsciously in me." On the other hand, Afanasieff was born in Brazil, and had heard Russian and Brazilian music his whole life. In an interview with Fred Bronson, Afanasieff described the steps they took to record the song:

> I remember being in the back part of the studio, and we were sitting there late at night and writing. I was strolling through some sounds and came upon a particular sound from a steel acoustic guitar. I played these really beautiful chord changes that eventually led to 'My All.' She started singing and I started playing, and we came up with the basis for the song. I put a little drum groove down and it was one of the easier songs to write with her.

## Composition

"My All" is a slow-tempo ballad, that blends contemporary R&B beats and Latin guitar and chord melodies, making subtle use of Latin percussion in the first chorus. The song is described as having a "lush sound" and featured synthetic guitar arpeggios that were produced in the studio. "My All" was compared to Toni Braxton's music style, described as "slink, slow-jam R&B sounds." The song is set in signature common time and written in the key of G minor. It features a basic chord progression of Gm-Cm-D7-Gm. Carey's vocal range in the song spans from the low note of B2 to the high note of F5, with the piano and guitar pieces range from G3 to G5. The track was very different than anything Carey had ever recorded, incorporating strong "Latin cultured background." The instrumentation and vocal arrangement used in the song was compared to Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds' productions, due to its "soft R&B coos and guitar melodies."

## Critical reception

"My All" received acclaim from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic chose the song as one of the three "track choices" from the album. Daryl Easlea for BBC said it "encapsulates her more traditional, straight ballad approach with Latin overtones." Larry Flick from Billboard praised the song, calling it an "anthemic gem." He also described it as "sparkling with a house flavor that's mildly reminiscent of Toni Braxton's landmark 'Un-break My Heart'." While reviewing the album, Flick also reviewed the Morales remix, writing "Morales straddles the fence between underground aggression and pop-radio fluff with deceptive ease, crafting a track anchored with a muscular bassline and embellished with vibrant synths. It's 10 minutes of pure disco bliss." David Browne from Entertainment Weekly praised the song's instrumentation, noting "with its gently plucked guitars, is the best Babyface track Babyface never produced." Another editor, Mark Bautz, felt it stand up as one of "the best pop tunes of the '90s." In 2018, the magazine described it as a "let-the-candles-burn" ballad "put through a slow-burn flamenco filter and zhuzhed up with some serious sensuality and Spanish guitar." A reviewer from The Hartford Courant wrote that Carey's voice "flows like molasses, accompanied by a lead guitar in the sexy "My All"." Virginian Pilot declared the song as a "lush pop ballad" that has been "tailor-made" for Carey. Richard Harrington from The Washington Post felt it's "another yearning ballad with Babyface-style romantic extremism".

## Chart performance

Although "My All" was the fifth single released from Butterfly, it was only the second commercial worldwide release. The song debuted at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart behind Next's "Too Close" with 21 million radio airplay audience impressions and sales of 122,000 units. According to Billboard, the single was "deeply discounted". It eventually became Carey's 13th chart topper in the United States, placing her in fourth place for most number ones in the US. Also, it gave Carey the honor of having the most number ones for a female artist. It stayed atop the Hot 100 for one week, and was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over two million units. "My All" peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and eighteen on the Adult Contemporary chart. It finished number seventeen on the Billboard end of year chart, and ninety-nine on the end of decade chart. In Canada, the song entered the Canadian RPM Chart at number 89 during the week of May 18, 1998. In its fifth week, the song peaked at number 28, spending 16 weeks in the chart before exiting the week of August 31.

"My All" performed weakly in Australia, peaking at number 39 while spending only two weeks on the ARIA Top-40. In Belgium (Wallonia), it peaked at number nine, and spent 14 weeks on the Ultratop singles chart. The song performed well in France, peaking at number six and spending 24 weeks fluctuating in the French singles chart. "My All" was certified silver by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), denoting shipments of 125,000 units throughout France. The song performed moderately in Ireland, peaking at number 21, and spending seven weeks on the Irish Singles Chart. In Norway and Sweden, it peaked at numbers 14 and 15, respectively. The song charted well in Switzerland, spending 21 weeks in the top-100, and peaking at number seven. In the United Kingdom, 'My All" debuted and peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart on June 13, 1998, the highest new entry of the week. The song spent eight weeks on the singles chart, until the week of August 1, 1998, where it dropped outside the top-100. Sales in the UK are estimated at 160,000 units.

## Remixes and other versions

"My All" features two remixes: the first is a contemporary R&B version titled, "My All/Stay Awhile" (So So Def Remix). Carey re-recorded her vocals for the song, while building it around a sample from the Loose Ends song "Stay a Little While, Child." Carey's vocal interpolation blends the first verse and chorus of "My All" with the verse and chorus of "Stay a Little While, Child." It was produced by Jermaine Dupri and features raps from Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz. The single also features a version without any rap verses. The second remix is a dance version mixed by David Morales. The dance remix is known as the Classic Club Mix; it was Carey's first collaboration with Morales that did not feature entirely new vocals. Consequently, the song is fairly close to the original chord progressions of the album version, though some new vocals were added. The remix was performed live as a medley with the original during many of Carey's live concert tours.

Carey recorded a Spanish version of "My All" titled, "Mi Todo." Unlike with "Hero" (1993) and "Open Arms" (1995), Carey recorded the Spanish version of the song in a different key from the original English version. The first line of the song had been mistranslated and was grammatically incorrect. Carey later mentioned on her website that she would no longer record Spanish versions of her songs until she could verify the correct lyrics and pronunciation. "Mi Todo" was remixed as well, however only being released as a promotional single in Mexico.

## Music videos

"My All" and the "My All/Stay Awhile" (So So Def Remix) featured different music videos. The video for "My All" was shot entirely in black and white in Puerto Rico, and was directed by fashion photographer Herb Ritts. The video begins with Carey lying on an overturned vessel on a beach, staring into the night sky, lamenting her estranged lover. As the scenes progress, Carey's love interest is seen atop a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean, searching for his lost companion. Further scenes show Carey laying on a large conch shell, wet and vulnerable. Soon after, she begins walking on a path of large white flowers, until she reaches the top of the lighthouse where she is rejoined with her lover. After the song's second verse, Carey and the man begin caressing each other, and embracing atop the lighthouse. After they share an intimate moment, Carey is shown walking back on the trail of white flowers, smiling and happy. The scenes of Carey lying in the shell and in front of the flowers were inspired by Sandro Botticelli's painting The Birth of Venus. According to author Chris Nickson, the snippets of Carey on the overturned vessel showed her vulnerability without her loved one, truly highlighting the yearning emphasized in the song. Sony Music Video released "My All" on VHS on April 21, 1998; it peaked at number six on the US Billboard Music Video Sales chart and sold 6,000 copies by June of that year according to Nielsen SoundScan.

A music video was also filmed for the So So Def remix. Directed by Diane Martel, it was shot in a grainy fashion to simulate a home video. The video features cameo appearances by Dupri, Tariq and Gunz. It begins with scenes of Carey and Dupri at a small in-home gathering, lounging and enjoying each other's company. As the video progresses, the other two featured hip-hop musicians appear at the house, alongside various other guests. They begin to dance to music, while sipping on cocktails by the pool. As the video reaches its climax, scenes of Carey singing in an outdoor garden are shown, while the others join her on the pool deck.

## Live performances

"My All" was performed on several live television appearances, as well as most of Carey's tours following the song's release. Carey first sang "My All" on Saturday Night Live on November 15, 1997. The performance featured guitar player. Later, Carey performed the song at the 1998 World Music Awards, completing both the original and dance remix as a medley. The performance was via-satellite from Carey's tour at the time, which was broadcast onto a large screen. At the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards in 1998, Carey sang the original version of the song, featuring a full orchestra and live backup vocals.

Carey was one of the five featured performers at the 1998 VH1 Divas, where she sang "My All" as well as the dance remix. The song was performed on the British music chart program, Top of the Pops, where a live medley of the original and dance versions were performed. "My All" was performed during Carey's Butterfly World Tour in 1998. For the performances in Japan, Carey featured a Latin guitarist and backing vocals. The guitarist was present during the song's recital throughout the entire tour, replacing the orchestra used during her television appearances. For the shows, Carey wore a beige outfit, with varying hairstyles. Neither remix version was performed during the tour.

For her Rainbow World Tour (2000) Carey performed the original version of the song, once again featuring the orchestra and live female background vocals. 2 years later on December 7, 2002, Carey performed the original version of "My All" in front of a crowd of 50,000 people, at the closing ceremony concert of the Mexican Teletón, which took place in the country's Azteca Stadium. Since the Charmbracelet World Tour in 2004, Carey has not performed the full version of the original, substituting it for the dance remix after the second verse. During the shows in the Adventures of Mimi tour, Carey donned a black bikini and matching cape, while featuring one male and two female background singers. On the Angels Advocate Tour (2010), she performed the original and dance remix versions, wearing a red outfit while performing the song seated. Again, the original and dance remix was performed as a medley, featuring the same backup from the previous tour. After completing the song, Carey was whisked away by a shirtless male dancer, and carried off the stage for a costume change, as the back-up continued into the dance version.

## Cover versions

On February 25, 2014, Alisa Kozhikina, the representative of Russia to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014, won in the Grand Finals of Golos Deti, the Russian kids' edition of The Voice, performing a Russian version of the song called "Vsyo". In 2020, Australian singer Greg Gould recorded a Spanglish version as a duet with Emily Williams for his album 1998.

## Formats and track listings

- US CD single

1. "My All" – 3:51
2. "Breakdown" – 4:58

- US CD maxi single /My All/Breakdown EP

1. "My All" (Album Version) – 3:51
2. "My All" (Classic Club Mix) – 9:06
3. "Breakdown" (The Mo Thugs Remix) – 4:58
4. "The Roof" (Remix With Mobb Deep) – 5:29
5. "Fly Away" (Fly Away Club Mix) – 9:50

- US CD and 12-inch maxi single

1. "My All/Stay Awhile" (So So Def Mix With Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz) – 4:33
2. "My All/Stay Awhile" (So So Def Mix Without Rap) – 3:46
3. "My All" (Morales My Club Mix) – 7:08
4. "My All" (Morales Def Club Mix) – 7:16
5. "The Roof" (Morales Funky Club Mix) – 8:28

- My All EP

1. "My All / Stay Awhile" (So So Def Remix) – 4:45
2. "My All / Stay Awhile" (So So Def Remix without Rap) – 3:34
3. "My All" (Full Crew Radio Mix) – 3:59
4. "My All" (Classic Radio Club Mix) – 4:17
5. "My All" (Morales "My" Club Mix) – 7:11
6. "My All" (Morales "Def" Club Mix) – 7:17
7. "My All" (Morales Classic Club Mix) – 9:15
8. "My All" (VH1 Divas Live) – 5:28

- European CD maxi single

1. "My All" (Album Version) – 3:51
2. "My All" (Morales Classic Radio Mix) – 4:21
3. "My All" (Morales Classic Club Mix) – 9:06
4. "My All" (Full Crew Main Mix) – 4:40
5. "My All" (Full Crew Radio Mix) – 3:57

- US 12-inch single

1. "My All" (Classic Club Mix) – 9:06
2. "The Roof" (Mobb Deep Mix) – 5:29
3. "Breakdown" (The Mo'Thugs Remix) – 4:58
4. "Fly Away" (Butterfly Reprise) (Fly Away Club Mix) – 9:50

- European 12-inch single

1. "My All" (Classic Club Mix) – 9:06
2. "My All" (My Club Mix) – 7:08
3. "My All" (Album Version) – 3:51
4. "My All" (Classic Radio Club Mix) – 4:15

- Mariah en Español'' EP

1. "Héroe" – 4:17
2. "El Amor Que Soñé" – 3:29
3. "Mi Todo" – 3:51
4. "Mi Todo" (Versión Por Una Noche Más) – 3:25
5. "Mi Todo" (Versión Mi Fiesta) – 4:30
6. "Mi Todo" (Por Una Noche Más En Los Clubs) – 7:04
7. "Mi Todo" (Por Una Noche Más Instrumental) – 3:24

## Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel are adapted from the Butterfly'' liner notes.

Recording

- Recorded at Crave Studios (New York City), WallyWorld (California) and The Hit Factory (New York City)
- Mixed at Crave Studios (New York City)
- Mastered at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine)

Management

- Published by Sony/ATV Songs LLC, Rye Songs (BMI)/Sony/ATV Tunes LLC and WallyWorld Music
- All rights administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing

Personnel

## Charts

### Weekly charts

### Year-end charts

### Decade-end charts

## Certifications and sales

## Release history

## See also

- List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1998

1998 single by Mariah Carey

Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical

Song recordings produced by Walter Afanasieff