"On My Own" was a hit duet by singers Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald when it was released as a single in 1986. It was released from LaBelle's first platinum album, Winner in You and was written and produced by Burt Bacharach and his former wife Carole Bayer Sager. The song was based on a relationship that had reached its end with both parties going their separate ways in a melancholy state with the occasional option of coming back together again one day.

It was often stated the the two performers were in separate cities when they recorded their individual parts which were then "married" during mastering. This was reflected in the music video produced to promote the song, which depicted LaBelle & McDonald performing the song simultaneously on different coasts. The singers were shown on separate sides of a split screen, each singing the song while walking through apartments which had identical layouts but different decor and furniture. The views from their respective porches, where they finished the song, made clear their separation by the continent.

In 1995, country music singers Reba McEntire featuring Martina McBride, Linda Davis, and Trisha Yearwood covered this song. It appeared on McEntire's 1995 album Starting Over. McEntire's version peaked at #20 on Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

"On My Own" is a rock song recorded by Hedley for their debut album Hedley (2005). It reached number one on the Canadian Singles Chart. The video for "On My Own" reached #1 on the MuchMusic countdown for the week of December 2, 2005.

On My Own was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001, performed in English by Haldor Lægreid. Unusually, there was another entry that year with a similar title - Michelle singing Out On My Own for the Netherlands.

The song is a ballad, with Lægreid singing about the fact that he is "on my own again" and ready to take charge of his life, where previously he had not.

The song was performed fourth on the night (following Bosnia and Herzegovina's Nino Pršeš with Hano and preceding Israel's Tal Sondak with En Davar). At the close of voting, it had received 3 points, placing 22nd (equal last) in a field of 23.

With the rapidly expanding size of the Contest, the decision was taken to restrict entry to the 2002 Contest to those countries recording the best 13 results of 2001, a group which did not include Norway. As a "passive participant" (that is, a country broadcasting but not entering the Contest), Norway was re-admitted to the next event. Thus, the song was succeeded as Norwegian representative at the 2003 Contest by Jostein Hasselgård with I'm Not Afraid To Move On.