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Ryan Paris

THE HIT HAMMER: Tony Orlando & Dawn's "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)"
















(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)


Tony Orlando & Dawn - "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)"

Hit Number 1: May 3, 1975

Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks











There aren't many people that the '70s treated kindlier than Tony Orlando. Orlando was one of the most famous figures in the world, becoming a successful singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and even got to host some award ceremonies throughout the decade. The guy was everywhere; I bet if you were to turn on your television and flip through the channels you could find Tony Orlando somewhere. So it's only natural that this dude would try to jump on the early '60s nostalgia bandwagon that was taking over the charts. He probably knew it would be an easy way to score a major hit. If Neil Sedaka could suddenly come back and become a music star again, of course a guy who was already extremely famous would cover an "older" song and score a hit. Well, maybe it was little bit more complicated than that.


Like I said, Orlando was a part of many awards ceremonies in the '70s, and it was during a Golden Globes award ceremony that Orlando, the two other members of Dawn, and Faye Dunaway and Peter Wolf kind of created their idea of "He Don't Love You" being covered. (Fun fact: Peter Wolf will eventually appear in this blog as a member of the J. Geils Band) The original version of the song was a #7 hit for Jerry Butler, and it was titled "He Will Break Your Heart." (Butler's version is okay, but doesn't do much for me. It's a 5) While backstage at the Golden Globes, Orlando and Dawn found themselves singing a bunch of older songs to Dunaway and Wolf to pass the time, and the two were very impressed with how they sounded when they did Butler's "He Will Break Your Heart." They immediately told Orlando that his group should consider covering the song. All Orlando had to do was contact Curtis Mayfield, one of the songwriters of "He Will Break Your Heart," and get his permission to re-record the song. When Orlando told Mayfield that he would change the name of the song, Mayfield agreed to let Orlando cover it. After all, Mayfield would probably get some decent royalties if Orlando were to score big with the song. And he would of course, even more so than Butler did.


Butler's version of the song is a classic example of pre-Beatles unexcitement. (Spell check doesn't like the word "unexcitement." So I guess I just invented a word? I don't know. Anyway, moving on) It's a song without any of the poppy strings and harmonies that Orlando and Dawn would later add. In other words, I find Butler's version to be dried up, repetitive and boring. Not bad per say, but I'm inclined to think that Orlando improved the song by modernizing it. With that being said, "He Don't Love You" is still a song that makes it itself easy to make fun of, even in Orlando's version. The song is about a guy who clearly is jealous of another guy who is in a relationship with a girl the narrator has the hots for. But what the narrator doesn't seem to realize is that he makes this other guy sound pretty great, and there's really no benefits to dating the narrator. "He uses all the great quotations/Says the things I wish I could say" along with the narrator admitting this other guy is handsome, and you're wondering why this girl would ever even think about abandoning him. The narrator's argument is that he's "got a feeling" this other guy is going to put her down. Not very convincing if you ask me.


Also I don't understand why Orlando and Dawn make the "final act" part of the song so dramatic. It's like the song shifts itself into neutral and quits moving. But I don't know, these things still make the song interesting. It might be silly, and I mean the song's lyrics are downright comical, but Orlando's remake is still perfectly fine '70s pop. I like the steady flow of the song, and I also like how Orlando and Dawn sound together. The string section game is also pretty strong, and I find it to be pretty elegant. There's nothing here that's mind-blowing, I don't think Orlando and Dawn ever did anything that could be described as "mind-blowing," but I don't find their music to be terrible either. So someone explain to me why so many people make fun of these guys? It seems like every music reviewer I find has a distaste for Tony Orlando and Dawn, like they killed their family or something. I can think of a bunch of songs I've covered to this point that are worse than any of the three #1 hits Orlando and Dawn put out. They're not among my favorite artists, but I think their music is just fine. I'm not bothered by any of their songs.


So yeah, "He Don't Love You." A pretty silly song, but Orlando did as much justice as he could have done with it. From here on out his music career would decline, and Dawn would break up in 1978, but Orlando never really did go away. He continued acting, and even hosted his own show in the mid-'70s with other music stars appearing on it. He became a born-again Christian in 1978 and today is a supporter of the Republican political party. (Maybe that's why people hate him, who freaking knows. People should really get over politics ASAP) He also ran a successful theater in Branson, Missouri called the Tony Orlando Yellow Ribbon Music Theatre from 1993 to 2013. You can hate him all you want, but success was not hard to find for Tony Orlando. Also, he's 77 now and still looks great. So maybe people hate him because they're jealous of him. I'd at least understand that.


GRADE: 6/10


IN POP CULTURE:

Dolly Parton did a cover version of the song, and kept the same title frame that Tony Orlando & Dawn used, but of course renaming it to "She Don't Love You." Here's the audio of her cover version, which was released in 1984:











(Dolly Parton will eventually appear in this blog)

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