I Honestly Love You

This was written by the leading American songwriter Jeff Barry ("Be My Baby," "Sugar, Sugar") and the Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen, who was working on his album Continental American. Allen brought Barry in to write and they came up with "I Honestly Love You." They made a demo of the song for their own purposes, but somehow that demo made its way to Olivia Newton-John's producer John Farrar, who played it for the singer. Olivia loved the song, but Allen wanted to keep it for himself. Barry convinced him that letting Olivia record it was a good idea, since she was one of the most popular singers in the world and more likely to have a hit with it. Allen agreed, and it proved a shrewd move; the song became a huge hit and helped launch Allen's career as a songwriter.

This song is about a couple who clearly have a spark but are also attached to others (perhaps married). The singer explains that despite their chemistry, she's not going to do anything about it. Why? Because she honestly loves him. The song was written from the perspective of a guy, so the intention isn't so pure. "I thought it would be a really sexy song for a guy to sing - 'I'm not trying to sleep with you,'" Jeff Barry explained in More Songwriters on Songwriting. "I honestly love you. No one had ever said that before. And I thought any girl who would hear that would have to say, 'Well, can we just do it once?'"

Like most of Olivia Newton-John's hits, this was produced by her fellow Australian John Farrar. Farrar was a former member of The Shadows who took up songwriting and arranging for Olivia. He had known her from the early days and he later married Pat Carroll, who for a time sang in a duet with Olivia and later became her business partner.