"I Don't Know How to Love Him" is a song from the 1970 album and 1971 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. It was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics). The song is performed by the character Mary Magdalene, who expresses feelings of love for the main character, Jesus, that are not returned. The song has been recorded many times. It is one of the few songs after the 1950s to have two different recordings reach the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. These recordings were performed by Helen Reddy and Yvonne Elliman.
Composition and recording
The song "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was first written with different lyrics in autumn 1967, and its original title was "Kansas Morning." The main melody of the song has been closely examined, as it has been compared to a theme from Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor. In December 1969 and January 1970, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice completed their musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Tim Rice then wrote new lyrics for the melody of "Kansas Morning" to create a solo song for the character of Mary Magdalene. Rice and Webber's agent, David Land, later bought the rights to "Kansas Morning" from Southern Music for £50. The song was then renamed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and recorded by Yvonne Elliman between March and July 1970. When Elliman first heard the lyrics, she was confused because she believed the character she was portraying, Mary Magdalene, was Jesus’s mother, not the one described in the song.
The song was recorded in one take at Olympic Studios in June 1970. After the Jesus Christ Superstar album was released in September 1970, "I Don't Know How to Love Him" became widely praised as the standout track of the soundtrack. In 2003, The Rough Guide to Cult Pop noted that Elliman's performance combined rare strength and purity of tone, and no other singer who covered the song later matched her version.
The first single from the musical was "Superstar" by Murray Head. In spring 1971, a cover of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" by Helen Reddy gained popularity on the charts. As a result, Elliman's original version was released as a single and reached No. 28, while Reddy's version reached No. 13. Both versions performed moderately well on the Adult Contemporary chart, with Reddy's at No. 12 and Elliman's at No. 15. Despite Reddy's greater chart success, Cash Box magazine considered Elliman's version the stronger interpretation. In early 1972, Elliman's version of the song was released in the UK as a double A-side single with Head's "Superstar." At this time, a cover by Petula Clark also competed for attention, but neither version entered the Top 40, both peaking at No. 47. Tim Rice also produced additional songs for Elliman to complete her debut album.
Elliman performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" when she first played the role of Mary Magdalene in the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar, which opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on October 12, 1971. She also performed the song in the movie version of the musical, and both performances were included on the Broadway cast album and the film's soundtrack. Her version from the movie soundtrack became a hit in Italy, reaching No. 21 in 1974. Later, Elliman performed the song again when she revisited the role of Mary Magdalene in a 2003 concert by the University of Texas at El Paso Dinner Theatre and in a one-night-only live performance of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Ricardo Montalban Theater in Los Angeles on August 13, 2006.
Renditions
English singer Melanie C performed the song "I Don't Know How to Love Him" as Mary Magdalene during the Jesus Christ Superstar Live Arena Tour. The tour first ran in the UK from September to October 2012, including a show in Dublin on 12 October 2012. It later toured Australia from May to June 2013 and returned to the UK in October 2012. Melanie C first performed the song on 25 July 2012 during the final of the Superstar talent show on ITV, where she sang it with Andrew Lloyd Webber playing piano. A review of the Adelaide Entertainment Centre performance on 4 June 2012 said Melanie C sang the song powerfully, adding a strong rock feel to the bridge and hitting the final notes with great strength.
Melanie C recorded "I Don't Know How to Love Him" for her 9 September 2012 album Stages, a collection of show tunes. The song was released as a digital preview and reached number 20 on the UK Independent Singles Chart in its first week.
Credits for the album version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" include:
• Andrew Lloyd Webber – songwriter
• Tim Rice – songwriter
• Peter-John Vettese – producer
• Mark 'Tufty' Evans – engineer
• Tony Cousins – mastering
• Ian Ross – art designer
• Tim Bret-Day – photographer
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. Other singers with theatrical backgrounds who recorded the song include Marina Prior (Aspects of Andrew Lloyd Webber – 1992) and Julia McKenzie (The Musicals Album – 1992).
When the original Jesus Christ Superstar album was released, Capitol Records executive Artie Mogull believed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" could be a hit. He tried to convince Linda Ronstadt, then signed to Capitol, to record the song, but she disliked it. Mogull then invited Helen Reddy, who was not yet famous, to record the song as part of a one-time deal. Reddy agreed to record it as a B-side to a song she wanted to record: "I Believe in Music" by Mac Davis.
In her autobiography The Woman I Am, Helen Reddy said Mogull invited her to record a single after seeing her perform on The Tonight Show. Mogull credited Helen Reddy's husband and manager, Jeff Wald, for pushing him to let Reddy record the song. Wald called Mogull three times a day for five months to request it. Larry Marks produced Reddy's recording of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and "I Believe in Music" at A&M Studios. Reddy said her nervousness made her vocals on "I Believe in Music" weak, but her performance of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was strong enough to be chosen as the A-side of the single. The single was released in January 1971.
A 1974 Billboard article said Jeff Wald's efforts to get radio stations to play the song helped it become a hit. Wald used his own money to buy meals and call radio stations to support the song. Reddy said the first station to play the song, WDRC in Hartford, Connecticut, received many requests for it, including from her nephew and friends. She admitted she might have called the station herself. In April 1971, WDRC's program director said Reddy and Wald visited the station to thank them for their support.
Reddy's version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" entered the national charts in March 1971 and reached the Top Ten in Dallas and Denver that month. It entered the Top 40 in May 1971, around the same time Yvonne Elliman's version was also in the Top 40. Reddy's version peaked at No. 13, while Elliman's peaked at No. 28. In Australia, Reddy's version reached No. 2 on the Go-Set Top 40 chart in August 1971 and stayed there for eight weeks. In Europe, the song reached No. 14 in Sweden and No. 23 in the Netherlands.
Capitol Records signed Reddy to a long-term contract after the success of "I Don't Know How to Love Him." Her album I Don't Know How to Love Him was released in August 1971. A follow-up single, a version of Van Morrison's "Crazy Love," did not reach the Top 40. The album reached No. 100 on the charts. Reddy's debut album was certified as a Gold record in 1974. The album also included an early version of her signature song, "I Am Woman," which later became a hit.
The first single version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was by Karen Wyman, who was signed to MCA/Decca Records. Her version was released in November 1970 in the US and the UK. It was included on her 1971 album One Together and reached #101 on Record World’s "The Singles Chart 101–150" in December 1970 to January 1971.
A medley of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and "Everything's Alright" was recorded by a group called the Kimberlys for the Happy Tiger label. Their version was released in January 1971, the same week as Helen Reddy's single, and reached No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1971.
In 1971, Dutch singer Bojoura released "I Don't Know How to Love Him" as a B-side to "Everything's Alright." Petula Clark also released a version of the song as a single, produced by Johnny Harris. This was Clark’s final single released on Warner Brothers.
In the UK, "I Don't Know How to Love Him" first appeared on the charts in…