Theme from Love Story - Williams/Mancini (1971) 4/16/23

Love means never having to say you're sorry...

In 1970, those words were on everyone's lips after the film "Love Story" debuted in theatres everywhere.

Not only did it spawn an iconic tagline, it generated several versions of its classic theme song--a "Great Song of 1971!

"Love Story" was a sad (and schmaltzy) story of how a rich college boy, Oliver Barrett IV, played by Ryan O'Neal, met and fell in love with Jenny Cavilari, a lower middle class girl played by Ali McGraw. Their love conquered all sorts of problems and interference--until Jenny fell ill and died.

The theme song, written by composer Francis Lai, fit the story beautifully...and although his instrumental version was released as a single and reached the middle of the charts, it was out-performed by a version by Henry Mancini, which reached #2 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart.

At this point, Paramount Pictures executive Robert Evans thought the theme could also be a hit if the song had lyrics, so he asked songwriter Carl Sigman to come up with something.

When Carl submitted his lyrics, Robert literally hated them, (He thought they were too racy!) and asked him to try again!

Carl was furious at first, and then when he calmed down, he kept asking his wife (rhetorically), "Where Do I Begin??"

And that's where he began!

The vocal version with Carl's new lyrics almost instantly became a "Great Song of 1971" by Andy Williams, topping the Adult Contemporary Chart, and peaking at #9 on the Hot 100!

Andy had some mighty strong competition for chart supremacy, but ended up beating out versions by Tony Bennett, Shirley Bassey, and Roy Clark. (Tony didn't even crack the Hot 100!)

In the end, "The Theme from Love Story" was almost a bigger hit than the movie itself! Almost.

But it became a "Great Song of 1971--at least twice!

Henry Mancini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26pzsW0Zgck

Andy Williams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ek7ZdZbovM