"I Love How You Love Me" was an American 1961 Top Ten hit for the Paris Sisters which inaugurated a string of elaborately produced classic hits by Phil Spector. The song has been recorded by many other artists including Bobby Vinton for whom it was a Top Ten hit in 1968.
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"I Love How You Love Me" was written by Barry Mann and Larry Kolber (aka Kolberg) when both were staffwriters at Don Kirshner's Aldon Music near the famed Brill Building. Kolber had written the lyrics on a restaurant napkin within five minutes. The song was intended for Tony Orlando to be arranged in the same upbeat style as Orlando's precedent hits "Bless You" and "Halfway to Paradise".1 However Phil Spector discovered the song on a visit to Kirshner's Aldon offices and persuaded Kirshner that the song would have more potential if rendered by a female act. Spector then recorded "I Love How You Love Me" with The Paris Sisters.
Spector's interest in the song was occasioned by its structural similarity to "To Know Him Is to Love Him", the No. 1 hit that Spector's group, the Teddy Bears, had scored in 1958. Annette Kleinbard who'd been the Teddy Bears' vocalist, would weep upon hearing The Paris Sisters' "I Love How You Love Me" on her car radio: "Before [Priscilla Paris] sung five words I knew it was Phil's record...it was just the most beautiful record, but I loved it and I hated it at the same time; it felt like Phil had taken my voice and passed it on to someone else".[1]
However Priscilla Paris would opine: "My sound was not like Annette's - she had a very thin type of little girl voice. I have a heavy roque - that's a French word meaning very heavy, husky - voice. I think Phil fell into something he wanted to do, added extra ingredients, and ended up with something different."[2]
Spector recorded the Paris Sisters' "I Love How You Love Me" at Gold Star Studios in the autumn of 1961. The group vocalized repeatedly to a piano accompaniment until Spector was satisfied with the balance between the voices, after which a string arrangement which Spector worked on over several days with Hank Levine was added.[1]
According to Lester Sill, with whom Spector was then staying, Spector would bring the tapes for "I Love How You Love Me" from Gold Star Studios every evening to review in his room: "he would wake me up at three or four in the morning, listening to [the song] over and over again at a very low level." Sill says Spector "must have remixed the strings on that song thirty times; then listened to it for another four or five days before he was sure it was right. Then finally when the record was pressed he listened to the pressing for another two or three days before he gave it an approval."[1]
The song featured a spoken recitation by one of the sisters, speaking the first half of the repeated first verse.
Entering the Top 40 in October 1961, "I Love How You Love Me" reached #5 that November.
| "Luk a šíp" | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| song by Marika Gombitová from the album Diskotéka OPUSu 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Released | 1978 | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Pop music | |||||||||||||
| Language | Slovak | |||||||||||||
| Length | 02:40 | |||||||||||||
| Label | OPUS | |||||||||||||
| Writer | Kamil Peteraj | |||||||||||||
| Composer | Barry Mann Larry Kolber |
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"Luk a šíp" (English: Bow and Shaft) is a cover version of the Paris Sisters song, recorded by Slovak female singer Marika Gombitová.[3] Her version, with featuring alternate lyrics, was released on Diskotéka OPUSu 1 compilation by OPUS in 1978.[4]
In the UK the Paris Sisters' version was overlooked in 1961 in favour of a cover by Jimmy Crawford a singer from Sheffield whose version reached #19. "I Love How You Love Me" was also a UK chart hit for Maureen Evans in 1964 at #34 and for Paul and Barry Ryan in 1966 at #21. [1]
Nino Tempo claims that the Ryans' version of "I Love How You Love Me" was a copy of an upbeat 1965 version he cut as a single with April Stevens which featured fuzz guitar and bagpipes and which failed to chart. [2]
"I Love How You Love Me" was also a non-charting single for the Spokesmen in 1966 before being successfully revived in 1968 by Bobby Vinton who made a comeback in the late '60s when producer Billy Sherrill had him remake songs which had been hits a few years previous: Vinton took "I Love How You Love Me" to #9 following up with a version of "To Know Him Is to Love Him" entitled "To Know You Is to Love You" (coincidentally Vinton's precedent single to "I Love How You Love Me" had been a remake of "Halfway to Paradise" the Tony Orlando hit to which "I Love How You Love Me" had been written as the intended followup).
Roxy Music front man Bryan Ferry recorded a camp rendition of "I Love How You Love Me" for his first solo album These Foolish Things (1973).
"I Love How You Love Me" has been a C&W hit for both Lynn Anderson (#10 - 1979) and Glen Campbell (#17/ also A/C #35 - 1982).
Teen Queens had a #14 hit in Australia in 1992 with their remake entitled "Love How You Love Me".
The original version of the Roxette track "Anyone" recorded in 1998 with Per Gessle singing included a large segment of "I Love How You Love Me" which was omitted on the track as it appeared on the 1999 album Have a Nice Day where it was sung by Marie Fredriksson rather than Gessle. However the original version was included on the single release of "Anyone" on which it was subtitled "Tits & Ass Demo 1998".
"I Love How You Love Me" has also been recorded by Eddy Arnold, Chet Atkins, The Babys, Dana (#27 in the Netherlands/ 1976), Bryan Ferry, Camera Obscura, Kria Brekkan, Billy Fury, the Lettermen, Lorrie Morgan, Mud, Beth Orton, Sandy Posey, Jerry Vale, Jeff Mangum, Wizex (as "En vän för alltid") and Rachel York.
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