Songfacts®:

• In this tight little rocker (it runs just 2:25), Linda Ronstadt is searching for they keys to a guy's heart. It's a bit coy. "I like the way you dance," she sings. "How do I make you spin for me?"
  
  The song was the lead single from her 1980 album Mad Love, starting the new decade with another hit. After releasing her Heart Like A Wheel album in 1974, she became one of the most popular singers of that era; some of her biggest songs are "You're No Good" and "Blue Bayou."
• "How Do I Make You" was the first hit song Billy Steinberg wrote. He went on to write five US #1 hits, including "Eternal Flame," "Like A Virgin" and "True Colors." In a Songfacts interview with Steinberg," he explained how Rondstadt came to record the song: "The band I had at that time was called Billy Thermal. And Billy, of course, is my name, and Thermal is a little town in the Coachella Valley where my dad had a vineyard. So I worked on that farm of his at that time. So I decided to call my band Billy Thermal. And that was the band that was signed to Planet Records with Richard Perry. The guitar player in the band was a guy from Florida who was living in L.A., his name was Craig Hull. And Craig's girlfriend at that time was a pretty well-known songwriter named Wendy Waldman. And Wendy would sometimes tour with Linda Ronstadt as a background vocalist. So without asking my permission or anything, Wendy and Craig played the Billy Thermal demos for Linda Ronstadt, and Linda liked the song 'How Do I Make You.'"
• According to Billy Steinberg, a big hit from 1979 influenced this song. "I remember, the song 'My Sharona' came out by The Knack, and I thought it was just like ear candy," he told Songfacts. "It was just really exciting. So I think my song, 'How Do I Make You' was a little bit influenced by 'My Sharona.'"
• Ronstadt's producer at this time was Peter Asher, who worked at The Beatles' Apple Records in the late '60s and was James Taylor's producer during his time there. He had no trouble getting the top musicians in the Los Angeles area to play on Ronstadt's albums. The credits on this track are:
  
  Mark Goldenberg - guitar solo
  Bob Glaub - bass
  Russ Kunkel - drums
  Bill Payne - keyboards
  Dan Dugmore - guitar
  
  Goldenberg also sang backup along with Nicolette Larson, who had a hit in 1978 with "Lotta Love."