Tag: You’re The One That I Want

RIP Olivia Newton-John

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Artist Spotlight20 Comments

I’m really sad about the passing of Olivia Newton-John, from cancer at the age of 73. I was a teenager when I first learned about the British-Australian singer back in 1971 when she released her lovely cover of Bob Dylan’s “If Not For You”. The song became her first charting single in the U.S., peaking at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. I really liked her delicate vocal style and thought she was beautiful, even developing a bit of a teenage crush. A couple of years would pass before she had another hit, with “Let Me Be There”, and as she continued to release more singles, including her stirring, ethereal ballad “I Honestly Love You”, I became a big fan of hers. On the strength of that song, which became her first #1 hit, I bought her 1974 album If You Love Me, Let Me Know (which I just learned was a compilation album released only in the U.S. and Canada).

Looking back on her extensive and impressive discography spanning a time frame of over 40 years – including 26 studio albums, six live albums, 14 compilations, six soundtracks, and 70 singles – some of it I really loved, while some of it I thought was just okay. But there’s no denying the impact she made on popular music from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s. Fifteen of her singles made the top 10, with five – “I Honestly Love You”, “Have You Never Been Mellow”, “You’re the One That I Want”, “Magic” and “Physical” – reaching #1. Though “Physical” was her biggest hit of them all, spending 10 weeks at #1 and ranking as Billboard‘s Top Hot 100 Single of the 1980s, it’s not among my favorite Olivia Newton-John songs.

Here are my top five favorite songs of hers:

  1. Magic (1980) – A brilliant, mesmerizing song from the mediocre film Xanadu

2. I Honestly Love You (1974) – The beautiful piano, strings and strummed guitar, accompanied by Newton-John’s breathy vocals, are marvelous.

3. You’re The One That I Want” (1978) – Exuberant & fun duet with John Travolta for the film musical Grease

4. Hopelessly Devoted to You (1978) – An emotionally-wrought love song with a bit of a Country flavor, written for Newton-John for the film version of Grease

5. Sam (1977) – I love the gorgeous sweeping orchestration and her vibrant vocals, and this song should have been a bigger hit (only peaked at #20)

She was a beautiful woman with a beautiful soul, and a long-time advocate for environmental and animal rights causes. She was also instrumental in raising funds to help build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia. May the light and joy she gave throughout her life live on in her memory.

Song of the Day Challenge – Day 2: “You’re the One That I Want”

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Favorite Songs8 Comments

Song A Day Challenge

Today’s Song of the Day Challenge theme is “A song you’d sing as a Karaoke duet”, and my pick is “You’re the One That I Want“, which I did in fact sing as a Karaoke duet many years ago. The fun, exuberant song was sung by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta for the 1978 film version of the hit musical Grease, which they both starred in. John Travolta is a decent actor, but was not a good singer. Neither am I, so my part of the Karaoke duet was perfectly fine.

“You’re the One That I Want” was not in the original stage musical, and was written by John Farrar specifically for Olivia Newton-John’s appearance in the film (along with her other hit song “Hopelessly Devoted to You”). The song originally written by Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs for the final number of the stage musical was “All Choked Up”, however it and another of their original songs were removed from both the film and soundtrack album. I think “You’re the One That I Want” is a superior song, and so did many others. It’s the kind of show-stopping finale number audiences love, and is now included in most contemporary stage performances of Grease, rather than the original number. It was also a worldwide smash hit, topping the music charts in the U.S., Australia, UK, Ireland, Germany, and numerous other countries. It spent nine weeks at #1 in both the UK and Australia.