In 1978, Grease was everywhere. The iconic film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John became a summertime blockbuster, fueled by the release of a hit RSO Records soundtrack album that spring.
The Grease soundtrack featured songs from the original stage musical, but the single “You’re the One That I Want” was written especially for the film.
On June 10, 1978—a week before the movie was released nationwide – “You’re the One That I Want” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Written by John Farrar, "You’re the One That I Want” was an energetic duet performed by Travolta and Newton-John (Danny and Sandy) near the end of the film. Newton-John’s Sandy transformed herself from prim goody-two-shoes into a leather-laden vixen to perform the song with Travolta’s Danny Zuko for the film’s closing fairground scene.
Farrar recalled being asked to write an “emergency song” for the final scene of the movie after director Randal Kleiser decided he didn’t want to use the song “All Choked Up” from the original Grease musical.
“You’re the One That I Want” was written overnight and recorded hours later.
"When John came in for 'You’re the One That I Want', apparently he was quite nervous about doing it," Farrar told The Independent in an interview. "He was a bit wary of me; he didn’t know me, but Olivia came in and sort of held his hand, and he did an incredible job, even better than I thought he would do it. He produced the little yodel on the 'You’re the one that I want' line that I wanted. It was quite a high song, and he was great.”
The songwriter was admittedly stunned by the song’s massive success. "It was one of those lucky things, being in the right place at the right time,” Farrar said. "I still don’t know why it was such a hit. It affected young people greatly, it seems.”
Newton-John once told Interview magazine that most of her hits had been written by Farrar.
“John Farrar has written some of the best songs that I’ve ever [recorded],” the Grease star shared. “He wrote ‘Have You Never Been Mellow?’ and ‘Sam’ and ‘You’re the One That I Want’ and ‘Hopelessly Devoted To You’ and ‘Make A Move On Me.’ There’s tons of them; he’s a brilliant writer.”
Related: John Travolta's 1976 Top 10 Hit Song Led to Career-Defining Movie Role
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