OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN - I HONESTLY LOVE YOU

I HONESTLY LOVE YOU

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN

SONGWRITERS: PETER W. ALLEN & JEFF BARRY

WHERE: DICK CAVETT TV 1974

COUNTRY: U.K.

ALBUM: BACK WITH A HEART

LABEL: MCA

GENRE: SOFT ROCK

YEAR: 1974

"I Honestly Love You" (first released in Australia as "I Love You, I Honestly Love You", per its chorus) was a worldwide pop hit single for Olivia Newton-John in 1974. The song was Newton-John's first number-one single in the United States and Canada.

Released on the Long Live Love album in the United Kingdom by EMI, it was eventually released on the album If You Love Me, Let Me Know in the United States on MCA. The song was written by Jeff Barry and the Australian composer Peter Allen; the latter recorded it around the same time on 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. The song won Newton-John both the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 17th Grammy Awards. Andy Williams released a version in 1974 on his album, You Lay So Easy on My Mind.

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

Maybe I hang around here

A little more than I should

We both know I got somewhere else to go

But I got something to tell you

That I never thought I would

But I believe you really ought to know

I love you

I honestly love you

You don't have to answer

I see it in your eyes

Maybe it was better left unsaid

This is pure and simple

And you should realize

That it's coming from my heart and not my head

I love you

I honestly love you

I'm not trying to make you feel uncomfortable

I'm not trying to make you anything at all

But this feeling doesn't come along everyday

And you shouldn't blow the chance

When you've got the chance to say

I love you

I honestly love you

If we both were born

In another place and time

This moment might be ending in a kiss

But there you are with yours

And here I am with mine

So I guess we'll just be leaving it at this

I love you

I honestly love you

I honestly love you.