8 January 2025 - Yvonne Elliman - I Don't Know How to Love Him | Helen Reddy - I Don't Know How To Love Him

Let's start by remembering that, when Jesus Christ Superstar, the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical, was first recorded, Yvonne Elliman was 18.  

18.

And she sang it with such maturity, and such gravitas, that it quite literally stole the show. 

This version is from the 1973 version of the movie, when she was 21.  

The song is sung from the point of view of Mary Magdelene, and the "Him" is Jesus Christ himself, in the last couple of days before his crucifixion.  Written by Rice (lyrics) and Webber (music), the song owes a huge debt to Mendelssohn's "Violin Concerto in E Minor", and if you don't believe me, go check out the 2nd movement about 5 minutes in.  

And, more than fifty years after its initial release, it is a song that stands on its own as a classic.

But this wasn't the version I grew up with. 

No, in fact, when I first saw Jesus Christ Superstar in the early 1990s, my initial reaction to that song was 1) "that's not Helen Reddy" 2) "this is WAY better than Helen Reddy!"

Now, before you go off and say "OMG, you are being so disrespectful", hear me out. 

I was in the early 20s when I saw the musical.  I had grown up with parents - especially a mother - who were very passionate about music - especially music they had either purchased on eight-track tape or via a Columbia House membership, or in the case of Helen Reddy's Greatest Hits album, BOTH - and therefore, I grew up with this Helen Reddy cover of the song (a song she initially did not like)....

.... which was actually a hit first, and a bigger hit.  The single release of the Elliman version was a reaction to Reddy's - and both were legitimately hits.

Now, as I am older, I appreciate Helen Reddy - the queen of 70's pop - a lot more than I did when I was 20.  Her music brings me back to road trips in the van, short trips to school... a simpler time.  And her voice was spectacular - let's not pretend otherwise.  

I do stand by my statement that the original is the best, though. 

And Elliman is still around to perform the song, and she does.  The song would be one of her most recognized and one of her biggest hits.   And even in this version, where her voice has lost some of the higher register, the passion she still exudes gives me goosebumps.