I Honestly Love You

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"I Honestly Love You"
Yugoslavian sleeve
Single by Olivia Newton-John
from the album Long Live Love (UK) If You Love Me, Let Me Know (US)
B-side	"Home Ain't Home Anymore"
Released	August 1974 (U.S.)
Recorded	1974
Genre	Soft rock[1][2]
Length	3:40
Label	EMI
Songwriter(s)	Jeff Barry, Peter Allen
Producer(s)	John Farrar
Olivia Newton-John singles chronology
"If You Love Me, Let Me Know" (1974) "I Honestly Love You" (1974) "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975)

"I Honestly Love You" is a song recorded by Olivia Newton-John and which in 1974 became a worldwide pop hit – her first number-one single in the United States and Canada. It remained her signature solo song until the 1981 hit "Physical". The single was first released in Australia as "I Love You, I Honestly Love You", as per its chorus.

The track was released in Britain on the album Long Live Love and in the United States on the album If You Love Me, Let Me Know. The song was written by Jeff Barry – co-writer of "Then He Kissed Me", "Be My Baby", "Leader of the Pack" and "River Deep - Mountain High" – and Australian composer Peter Allen; the latter recorded it around the same time for his album Continental American. It also appears in the musical about Allen's life, The Boy from Oz. VH1 placed the song at no. 11 on its "40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs" list.^[3]

At the 17th Grammy Awards in 1975, the single won both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. The composition was nominated for Song of the Year but lost to "The Way We Were".^[4]

British arranger, keyboardist and composer Alan Hawkshaw received the award for Best Arrangement from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for "I Honestly Love You". He also played on the recording.

A snippet of Lynn Anderson's recording of the song plays over Chief Brody's radio in the second shark attack in Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws, moments before Alex Kitner and Pippet the dog disappear beneath the waves.

Chart performance[]

The single reached the top three of Billboard's Hot 100 in a then unusually fast six weeks, and in its eighth week, in the chart dated 5 October 1974, it spent the first of its two weeks at number one. Soon after it was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold one million copies. It also reached number one (three weeks) on the Adult Contemporary chart^[5] and no. 6 on the Country chart.^[6] The song's success also helped propel its parent album, If You Love Me, Let Me Know, to number one, in the chart dated 12 October 1974. By contrast, the single failed to reach the Top 20 in the United Kingdom (no. 22), although it did chart there in 1983 when it was re-released to promote a Newton-John greatest hits album.

The single ranked 97 on Billboard's year-end Top 100 of 1974 – a low position owing to the fact that the year-end 100 was based on charts from issue dates 24 November 1973 through 26 October 1974, the week in which "I Honestly Love You" was on only its tenth of 15 weeks on the Hot 100.

"I Honestly Love You" ranked no. 1 for the year on the following radio stations: KTLK (Denver), KTKT (Tucson), WGNG (Pawtucket), WCFL (Chicago) and WLAN (Lancaster, PA). It ranked no. 2 for the year on WLS (Chicago) and WROV (Roanoke); no. 3 for the year on WIXY (Cleveland) and WFIL (Philadelphia); no. 4 for the year ion KMBY (Monterey), WQAM (Miami), WKTQ (Pittsburgh) and WPRO (Providence). Plus no. 7 (KSFX, San Francisco); no. 10 (WRKO, Boston); no. 11 (WNBC, New York) and no. 14 (WABC, New York).

In November 1977 a re-release of Newton-John's original version – backed with "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", from her then-current album Making a Good Thing Better – reached no. 48 during its nine-week run on the Hot 100; the single outperformed the only A-side single from the album (the title track), which five months earlier had stalled at no. 87. The re-release of Newton-John's 1974 hit also re-charted on the Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at no. 49.

1998 version[]

Newton-John re-recorded "I Honestly Love You" for her 1998 album Back with a Heart, with Babyface on background vocals. The new version was released as a single, debuting on Billboard's Hot 100 in May 1998. The single – her first (of new material) to chart in the US in six years – peaked at no. 67 but spent 12 weeks on the chart. It reached no. 18 on the Adult Contemporary chart and no. 16 on the Country Music Sales chart.

Charts[]

Cover versions[]

• Bobby Vinton on his 1974 album Melodies of Love
• Andy Williams on his 1974 album You Lay So Easy on My Mind
• Lynn Anderson on her 1974 album What a Man My Man Is
• Ronnie Milsap on his 1975 album A Legend in My Time
• Kamahl on his 1975 album Let it Be Me
• Jerry Butler on his 1976 album Love's on the Menu
• Bobby Womack on his 1979 album Roads of Life
• Frank Sinatra and Leslie Uggams on the 1977 TV special Sinatra and Friends
• The Staple Singers on their 1977 album Family Tree
• Jackie Moore on her 1980 album With Your Love
• Donna Fargo on her 1984 album Encore
• Lea Salonga on her 1993 self titled album
• Richard Clayderman on his 1999 album My Australian Collection
• Juliana Hatfield on her 2018 album Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John.^[12]
• Delta Goodrem in the mini-series Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You and the accompanying soundtrack album, I Honestly Love You
• Kate Ceberano on her 2021 album Sweet Inspiration

References[]

External links[]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics