| "I Don't Know How to Love Him" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Yvonne Elliman | ||||||||||
| from the album Jesus Christ Superstar | ||||||||||
| Released | 1971 | |||||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1970 | |||||||||
| Genre | Rock opera | |||||||||
| Length | 3:36 | |||||||||
| Label | Decca/MCA | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice | |||||||||
| Producer | Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice | |||||||||
| Yvonne Elliman singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"I Don't Know How to Love Him" is a song from the 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar written by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), a torch ballad sung by the character of Mary Magdalene who in Jesus Christ Superstar is presented as bearing an unrequited love for the title character. The song has been much recorded with "I Don't Know How to Love Him" long being unique for having two versions concurrently in the Top 30 of the Hot 100 chart in Billboard magazine, specifically those recorded by Helen Reddy and Yvonne Elliman.[1]
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"I Don't Know How to Love Him" had originally been published with different lyrics in the autumn of 1967, the original title being "Kansas Morning." The melody's main theme has been come under some scrutiny for being non-original, being so similar to a theme from Mendelssohn's violin concerto in E minor. In December 1969 and January 1970, when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice completed Jesus Christ Superstar, Rice wrote new lyrics to the tune of "Kansas Morning" to provide the solo number for the character of Mary Magdalene (Rice and Webber's agent David Land would purchase the rights to "Kansas Morning" back from Southern Music for £50). [2] Now entitled "I Don't Know How to Love Him", the song was recorded by Yvonne Elliman which was completed between March and July 1970. When first presented with "I Don't Know How to Love Him", Elliman had been puzzled by the romantic nature of the lyrics, as she was under the misapprehension that the Mary she'd been recruited to portray was Jesus' mother.
From the time of the soundtrack's October 1970 release, "I Don't Know How to Love Him" has been universally acclaimed as the album's highlight; in 2003 The Rough Guide to Cult Pop would assess Elliman's performance thus: "It's rare to hear a singer combine such power and purity of tone in one song, and none of the famous singers who have covered this ballad since have come close."[3] However the choice for single release went to the track "Superstar" by Murray Head. When a cover of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" by Helen Reddy began moving up the charts in the spring of 1971 the original track by Yvonne Elliman was issued as a single to reach #28, although Reddy's version was more successful at #13. In early 1972 Elliman's "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was issued in the UK on a double A-side single with Murray Head's "Superstar"; with this release Elliman faced competition with a cover of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" by Petula Clark with neither version becoming a major hit, Elliman's reaching #47 and Clark's #42. Tim Rice produced several additional tracks for Elliman to complete her debut album, entitled I Don't Know How to Love Him.
Elliman performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" when she played the Mary Magdalene role first in the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar which opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre 12 October 1971, and then in the movie version, her respective renderings being featured on the both the Broadway cast album and the movie's soundtrack album. Her version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from the movie soundtrack gave Elliman a hit in in Italy (#21) in 1974. Latterly Elliman has performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" when she's revisited her Mary Magdalene role firstly at a Jesus Christ Superstar concert by the University Of Texas at El Paso Dinner Theatre staged 14 April 2003, and then for a live-in-concert one-night only performance of Jesus Christ Superstar on 13 August 2006 at the Ricardo Montalban Theater in Los Angeles.[4]
Other singers who have performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" in the role of Mary Magdalene in the stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar include Linda Nichols in the first US national tour which played the Hollywood Bowl in August 1971 - Nichols reprised the role in a four-city tour (Atlanta/ Dallas/ Sacramento/ St. Louis) in 1985; Heather MacRae in the second US national tour which played the Universal Studios Amphitheatre in July 1972; Dana Gillespie in the original London production at the Palace Theatre which opened 9 August 1972, and on the subsequent UK tour; Marcia Hines, who originated the role in Australia in 1972 reprising it in 1975 and 1978; Kate Ceberano in the 1992 Australian national tour; Margaret Urlich in a New Zealand concert production in 1993; Emily Saliers in the Jesus Christ Superstar: a Resurrection production which played Atlanta, Austin and Seattle in 1994; Joanna Ampil in the London revival at the Lyceum Theatre which opened 19 November 1996; Golda Rosheuval in the 1998-99 UK tour; Kerry Ellis in a concert production at Porchester Castle in Fareham 11 July 2004; Maya Days in the 2000 Broadway revival which opened at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts that 16 April; Natalie Toro in the 2004 US national tour,[4] Jennifer Paz in the Village Theatre (Seattle) revival which opened 11 May 2011, and Chilina Kennedy in the Stratford Festival revival which opened 16 May 2011. Renderings by Dana Gillespie, Kate Ceberano, Margaret Urlich, Emily Saliers and Joanna Ampil all appear on the cast recordings of their respective productions; Marcia Hines' version appears on her 1978 Live Across Australia album. The cast recording versions of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" by Kate Ceberano and Margaret Urlich were released as singles in respectively Australia and New Zealand charting at respectively #38 and #44.
In 1999 a filmation based on the 1998 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar was shot, featuring Renee Castle singing "I Don't Know How to Love Him" as Mary Magdalene; the film was released in the UK 16 October 2000 and opened internationally over the next six months. A planned soundtrack release never materialized.[4]
In 1992 Claire Moore sang "I Don't Know How to Love Him" on a 20th Anniversary re-recording of the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack.[4]
Frances Ruffelle sang "I Don't Know How to Love Him" when she performed as Mary Magdalene in a version of Jesus Christ Superstar broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 19 October 1996. Also in 1996 Issy Van Randwyck performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" on a recording of Jesus Christ Superstar produced for Jay Records.
Agnetha Faltskog sang a translated version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" entitled "Vart Ska Min Karlek Fora" when she originated the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar (Swedish version 1972) which premiered 18 February 1972. Although Faltskog's tenure in the role was brief, as she was unable to go out on the national tour which began two weeks after the premiere, she sang the Mary Magdalene role on the Swedish cast album of Jesus Christ Superstar released March 1972 and that same month had a #2 hit with "Vart Ska Min Karlek Fora", which she'd recorded while still in rehearsals on 4 February at a session at Metronome Studios in Stockholm produced by Björn Ulvaeus.
Anne-Marie David introduced the French language version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" when she originated the role of Mary Magdalene in the Paris production of Jesus Christ Superstar which opened in April 1972. Her rendering of "La Chanson de Marie-Madeleine" taken from the cast recording reached #29 on the French charts. This rendering, with lyrics by Pierre Delanoë, was also recorded by Nicoletta for an unofficial Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack album released on Barclay Records to coincide with the April 1972 opening of the Paris production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Angela Carrasco introduced the Spanish language version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him": "Es más que amor" in the original Spanish language production of Jesus Christ Superstar in Madrid; her recorded version appears on the 1975 cast recording. Cast recordings from subsequent Madrid productions feature Estíbaliz Gabilondo (1984) and Lorena Calero (2007), the latter singing a new Spanish language version entitled ""No sé cómo quererle"".
Other singers with theatrical associations who have recorded "I Don't Know How to Love Him" include (with parent album) Elaine Paige (Stages - 1983; also Elaine Paige Live - 2009), Barbara Dickson (Ovation: Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber - 1985), Stephanie Lawrence (The Love Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber - 1988), Marti Webb (The Magic From the Musicals - 1991), Fiona Hendley (The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection - 1991), Sarah Brightman (Sarah Brightman Sings the Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber - 1992), Lea Salonga (The Broadway Concert - 1992) and Helena Vondráčková (as "Já, Máří Magdaléna" on Brodway - 1993; also as "I Don't know How to Love Him" on The Broadway Album - 1994). Sandy Lam performed the song in the Andrew Lloyd Webber: Masterpiece: Live From the Great Hall of the People, Beijing televised concert in 2001; her rendering is featured on the soundtrack album. Sonia, who performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" in the 1997 UK tour of the What a Feeling nostalgiac revue, recorded her version for the show's soundtrack album. Also Bonnie Tyler was recruited to record "I Don't Know How to Love Him" for the 2007 album Over the Rainbow - Show Tunes in Aid of the Association of Children's Hospices.
On the 2 September 2006 episode of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? potential eliminees Helena Blackman and Leanne Dobinson sang a joint version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" for Andrew Lloyd Webber, who elected to "save" Blackman.
| "I Don't Know How to Love Him" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Helen Reddy | ||||
| from the album I Don't Know How to Love Him | ||||
| B-side | "I Believe in Music" | |||
| Released | January 1971 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1970 | |||
| Genre | traditional pop | |||
| Length | 3:15 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Writer(s) | Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice | |||
| Producer | Larry Marks | |||
| Helen Reddy singles chronology | ||||
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Upon the release of the original Jesus Christ Superstar album Capitol Records executive Artie Mogull heard the potential for a smash hit in the track "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and had pitched the song to Linda Ronstadt, then on the Capitol roster; after Ronstadt advised Mogull: "she hated the song, [saying] it was terrible" Mogull invited the then-unknown Helen Reddy to record "I Don't Know How to Love Him" as part of a one-off single deal with Capitol. Reddy herself did not care for "I Don't Know How to Love Him" agreeing to cut the song to serve as B-side for the track she wished to record: the Mac Davis composition; "I Believe in Music" (later a hit for Gallery).[5]
In her autobiography The Woman I Am, Helen Reddy states that Mogull invited her to record a single after seeing her perform on a Tonight Show episode (the guest host Flip Wilson had invited Reddy to appear; Wilson knew Reddy from the club circuit). Mogull himself attributed his interest in Reddy to the solicitations on her behalf by her then-husband and manager Jeff Wald who called Mogull three times a day for five months asking him to let Reddy cut a song.
Larry Marks produced Reddy's recording of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and "I Believe in Music" at A&M's recording studios. According to Reddy, her extreme anxiety - "I had waited years for this shot and I didn't think there would be another one" - manifested in her vocals making "I Believe in Music" ineffectual but "I Don't Know How to Love Him" convincingly plaintive, clinching the decision to make the latter the A-side of the single, released in January 1971.
In a 1974 Billboard tribute to Helen Reddy, writer Cynthia Spector states "I Don't Know How to Love Him" became a hit due to the efforts of Jeff Wald "who stayed on the phone morning to night, cajoling, bullying, wheedling airplay from disk jockeys. Using $4,000 of his own money, his own telephone credit card and his American express card to wine and dine anyone who would listen to his wife, he made the record happen."[5]
Reddy attributes the eventual success of her recording of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" to the positive listener response the track received at the first station where it was played: WDRC (AM) in Hartford Conn - where in fact a number of the "local requests" for "I Don't Know How to Love Him" originated in Los Angeles being made by Reddy's visiting nephew: a teenage Australian actor with a penchant for different voices, and also a number of Reddy's friends, with Reddy admitting: "I may have made a call or two myself". [6] In April 1971 WDRC program director Charles R. Parker would relate how Reddy and Wald had visited WDRC to thank the station for its initial support of Reddy's "I Don't Know How to Love Him", with Reddy and Wald expressing how they "were more than delighted and surprised to see [the track] break on Top 40 at WDRC."[7]
Reddy's recording of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" entered the national charts in March 1971 - showing in the Top Ten in Dallas and Denver that month [1] - but its momentum was so gradual as to not effect Top 40 entry until that May; by then MCA Records had issued the original Yvonne Elliman track as a single and from 15 May 1971 to 26 June 1971 both versions were in the Top 40 with Reddy's version maintaining the upper hand peaking at #13 while Elliman's version peaked at #28.
"I Don't Know How to Love Him" became Reddy's first hit single in her native Australia peaking at #2 on the Go-Set Top 40 chart for two weeks that August; in April 1972 the track reached #23 in the Netherlands.
The success of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" led to Reddy's being signed to a long term contract by Capitol who released her I Don't Know How to Love Him album in August 1971. The track issued as a follow-up single: a version of Van Morrison's "Crazy Love" stopped short of being entering the U.S. top 40, peaking at #51, while the album charted at a moderate #100; Reddy's subsequent success, however, garnered her debut album sufficient interest for it be certified as a Gold record in 1974. Also of note, I Don't Know How to Love Him included an initial arrangement of Reddy's signature song, "I Am Woman"; Reddy would later rearrange and rerecord the song in late 1972, and it would become her breakthrough single, topping the U.S. charts in early 1973.
The earliest single version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was that cut by Karen Wyman an artist on the roster of MCA/Decca Records the label of release for the original Jesus Christ Superstar album: Wyman's single, produced by Ken Greengrass and Peter Matz, was released in November 1970 in the US and was also released in 1970 in the UK. The track was included on Wyman's May 1971 album release One Together.
A version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" done in medley with "Everything's Alright", also from Jesus Christ Superstar, was recorded on the Happy Tiger label by a group credited as the Kimberlys; released in January 1971 the same week as the Helen Reddy version, the Kimberlys' track received enough regional attention to reach #99 on the Billboard Hot 100 that March. The appearance of Helen Reddy's version on the Billboard Hot 100 also drew the single release of the version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" by Petula Clark which single - produced by Johnny Harris - would be Clark's last released on Warner Brothers.
In the British Isles "I Don't Know How to Love Him" first became a hit in the Republic of Ireland where Tina & Real McCoy took it to #1 in December 1971. In January 1972 the version by Petula Clark was released in the UK to chart at #42 marking Clark's final appearance on the UK Singles chart except for the 1988 remix of her 1964 hit "Downtown". Clark's "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was to be her final single release on Pye Records. Concurrent with Clark's version, the original Yvonne Elliman track was issued as a single on a double A-side with "Superstar" by Murray Head; this single peaked at UK #47. A 1972 version by Sylvie McNeill on a UK 45, United Artists UA UP35415, was released (11 August) timed for the first UK Stage Musical of “Jesus Christ Superstar”; she had actually performed it on The Benny Hill Show” (Original Air Date: 23 February 1972).
Petula Clark also recorded "I Don't Know How to Love Him" in French as "La Chanson de Marie-Madeleine" which served as the title cut for a 1972 French language album which also featured Clark's version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him". "La Chanson de Marie-Madeleine" became a chart item (#66) for Clark in Quebec in March 1972 despite being bested in France by the Anne-Marie David version from the Paris cast recording which reached #29.
Shirley Bassey recorded "I Don't Know How to Love Him" for her 1972 album release And I Love You So with the track having a single release as the B-side of the title track. Johnny Harris, who'd produced Petula Clark's version of "I Don't How to Love Him", was the producer of Bassey's And I Love You So album (Noel Rogers was credited as executive producer) and on that album's "I Don't Know How to Love Him" track Harris acted as arranger/conductor.
"I Don't Know How to Love Him" has also been recorded (with parent album) by Julie Budd (Julie Budd: produced arranged and conducted by Tony Hatch at Pye Studios Marble Arch - 1972), Cilla Black (Day by Day with Cilla - 1972), Chelsia Chan (Dark Side of Your Mind - 1975), Judy Collins (Amazing Grace - 1985), Kjerstin Dellert (as "Vad Gör Jag Med Min Kärlek") (Primadonna - 1977), Katja Ebstein (as "Wie soll ich ihn nur lieben") (Liebe - 1977), Peggy Lee (Where Did They Go? - 1971), Gloria Lynne (I Don't Know How to Love Him - 1976), Jeane Manson (Jeane Manson - 1993), Anita Meyer (Premiere - 1987), Angelika Milster (as "Wie soll ich ihn nur lieben") (Meisterstucke - 2001), Sinéad O'Connor (Theology - 2007) and Seija Simola (as "Maria Magdalena") (Seija - 1972). Kelly Marie, who at sixteen had won four times on Opportunity Knocks singing "I Don't Know How to Love Him", recorded a disco version of the song which appears on the 2003 album Applause.
Nell Carter performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" in an espisode of the NBC-TV sitcom Gimme a Break! entitled Flashback which was broadcast 26 January 1984.
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