Few artists come anywhere near Olivia Newton-John when it comes to singles success. Time and again, Newton-John displayed the ability to change with the musical times, which is why her run of chart supremacy lasted for so long.
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But what was the first song that allowed Newton-John to break through into the U.S. Top 40? You might be surprised to know it’s a track first recorded by two of the biggest names in the history of rock and roll.
Oh Olivia
Olivia Newton-John impressed a lot of people in the ‘60s as both a singer and actress. But she wasn’t yet able to sustain much success in either field during that stretch. A 1966 one-off single (“Till You Say You’ll Be Mine”), released when she was still just 18 years old, failed to draw much interest.
There were brief stints in a duo (Pat and Olivia) and a band (Toomorrow) that failed to ignite her career. She was able to secure a record deal at the start of the new decade thanks to some top connections: Her then-boyfriend Bruce Welch was a member of the famed UK group The Shadows, while John Farrar, who made his name as a member of The Strangers, was the father of her former duet partner Pat Carroll.
Welch and Farrar produced her debut album, which was released in November 1971. Newton-John tackled songs from top songwriters like Tom Rush, Gordon Lightfoot, David Gates of Bread, and Richard Manuel of The Band. But the album’s lead single and title track was reserved for the most momentous writer of them all.
What “If”
Much of Bob Dylan’s 1970 album New Morning is devoted to celebrating the peace and tranquility of his family life with wife Sara. That included the track “If Not for You,” one where Dylan catalogs all the ways his life would be different (for the worse) if she wasn’t in his life.
Dylan’s own recording is shaggy and homespun. His version arrived in October 1970. Just a month later, George Harrison released his first post-Beatles work, the triple album All Things Must Pass. While much of the record showcased Harrison’s burgeoning brilliance as a songwriter, he decided to include a cover version of “If Not for You.”
Harrison added just a bit more precision and musical prettiness to his version of the song, most notably due to his slide-guitar work. It was this version that caught the ears of Farrar and Welch, and they modeled their production on it when Newton-John recorded the track.
The Aftermath
Olivia Newton-John apparently wasn’t sure at first that “If Not for You” was the right vehicle for her. At that point, she was still being positioned as more of a country artist than a pop singer. Nonetheless, she delivered an affecting vocal, one brimming with innocence that adds a whole new perspective to the track.
Newton’s take on “If Not for You” did great business in the UK, hitting the Top 10. It also worked its way to No. 25 in the U.S., not bad at all considering that she had little to no exposure in the States up to that point.
Interestingly enough, Newton-John needed another two years to make a splash like “If Not for You” again. That would come when the country-tinged “Let Me Be There” hit big in 1973. After that, she was pretty much a mainstay as one of the world’s biggest single artists for the next decade.
Photo by Warwick Bedford/Radio Times via Getty Images
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