He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)

Album: He Don't Love You (Like I Love You) (1975)
Charted: 1
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Songfacts®:

  • Peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, this song was originally a hit for Jerry Butler (who wrote the song with Curtis Mayfield and Calvin Carter) in 1960 under the title "He Will Break Your Heart" before Tony Orlando & Dawn released their chart-topping version in 1975.
  • The idea to remake this song actually came from actress Faye Dunaway and her then-husband Peter Wolf, the lead singer for The J. Geils Band, after Orlando and Wolf spontaneously sang the song together while waiting to attend a Golden Globes ceremony.
  • Dolly Parton covered this song as "She Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" for her 1984 album The Great Pretender.
  • Nicolas Cage performed the Jerry Butler version of this song in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).
  • This lands in our bad grammar category for using the wrong contraction in the title, which should read "He Doesn't Love You (Like I Love You)." (Doesn't is used when the subject is he, she, or it; don't is used with the subjects I, you, we, or they.) As it stands, the title suggests "He Do Not Love You," a fact not lost on the grammar-conscious Butler. In a 2011 interview, the singer spoke of the title change: "When we released it, we didn't want to call it 'He Don't Love You Like I Love You' because that's bad grammar. Funny thing about that is, a couple years later Tony Orlando comes along with Dawn and he puts it on the album just like that and it's a hit," he laughed. "Just goes to show that as time goes by, things do indeed change."

Comments: 2

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn this day in 1966 {September 23rd} the Righteous Brothers performed "He Will Break Your Heart"* on the ABC-TV week-day afternoon program, 'Where The Action Is'...
    Four months earlier on May 29th, 1966 "He Will Break Your Heart" enter Billboard's Top 100 chart for a one week stay at position #91...
    It was the B-side of "He", which entered the Top 100 the same day at position #89, five weeks later it peaked at #18 {for 1 week}....
    The year of 1966 was a good one for the not-for-real brothers, during that year they had seven Top 100 records, besides the above two there was "Ebb Tide" {#5}, "Georgia On My Mind" {#62}, "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" {#1 for 3 weeks}, "Go Ahead and Cry" {#30}, and "On This Side of Goodbye" {#47}...
    Between 1963 and 1990 the Righteous Bros. had twenty-three songs on the Hot Top 100 chart; six made the Top 10 with two reaching #1, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" for 2 weeks on January 31st, 1965 and the above "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration"...
    Sadly; Bobby Hatfield passed away at the age of 63 on November 5th, 2003 {heart attack}...
    May he R.I.P.
    And from the 'For What It's Worth' department, three other versions of "He Will Break Your Heart" have made the Top 100, as noted above, the original version by Jerry Butler {#7 in 1960}, as "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" by Tony Orlando & Dawn {#1 for 3 weeks in 1975}, and was included in Jim Croce's "Chain Gang Medley" {#63 in 1976}...
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn November 1st 1960, Jerry Butler performed "He Will Break Your Heart" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
    And the day before on October 31st it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #63; and five weeks later on December 5th, 1960 it peaked at #7 {for 2 weeks} and spent 15 weeks on the Top 100...
    And on November 8th, 1960 it reached #1* {for 7 non-consecutive weeks} on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
    Between 1958 and 1977 he had thirty-four Top 100 records; with two making the Top 10, his other Top 10 record was "Only the Strong Survive"; it reached #4 in 1969...
    He just missed having a third Top 10 record when "Moon River" peaked at #11 in 1961...
    'The Iceman' will celebrate his 75th birthday next month on December 8th {2014}
    * Twice it was bumped out of the #1 spot by "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" by Hank Ballard & the Midnighters only to regain the #1 position for a 3rd time.
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