Song of the Day Feb 17

February 17, 2024

This month I’m focusing on Love Songs from the 70s.

Today our song is:  I Honestly Love You

Wikipedia tells us this about the song:

"I Honestly Love You" is a song recorded by Olivia Newton-John and released in 1974 on the album Long Live Love in the United Kingdom and If You Love Me, Let Me Know in the United States. The song became a worldwide pop hit, her first number-one single in the United States and Canada. The single was first released in Australia as "I Love You, I Honestly Love You", as per its chorus. The song was written by Jeff Barry and Australian singer and composer Peter Allen. The latter recorded it around the same time for his album Continental American.

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". 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.

It also appears in the musical about Peter Allen's life, The Boy from Oz.

Enjoy!