To Know Him Is to Love Him

December 1958

A name you'll be seeing a lot in this blog is Phil Spector, and "To Know Him Is to Love Him" was his very first hit. You could say he was off to a good start, as it spent 3 weeks at #1. Unlike his future work, his involvement in the Teddy Bears was as a singing member (not the lead, obviously).



It's really a sweet song, and I'm gonna go ahead and call it the best song I've covered so far. Not to get too technical but it makes great use of a fairly standard chord progression - something about that transition from the vi to the IV chord just has a tremendous feeling of lift (in the first verse, it falls on "makes my life worthwhile"). It does exactly what a great pop song should do - it takes established norms of songwriting and tweaks them just enough to make something really original.

As for the performance, of course it's a little corny, but you gotta love how singer Annette Kleinbard keeps it subdued for the verses, but then amps it up for the middle eight section. It gives the song a real dynamic feeling.

"To Know Him Is to Love Him" was successfully recorded in the late 80s by the trio of Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris. It's proven to be quite an enduring song over the years, having been covered by artists as diverse as the Beatles and, oddly enough, Amy Winehouse. For me though, the original version is by far the best.

After all the news about Phil Spector in the last few years, it can be a bit eerie listening to this old tune - like looking at old childhood photos of a serial killer. But look into this man's eyes, and you just might see the kindness of his heart:

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