Every Face Tells a Story (song)
| "Every Face Tells a Story" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Olivia Newton-John | ||||
| from the album Don't Stop Believin' | ||||
| Released | 1976 | |||
| Genre | Country, pop | |||
| Length | 3:38 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Writer(s) |
Peter Sills Don Black Michael Allison | |||
| Producer(s) | John Farrar | |||
| Olivia Newton-John singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Every Face Tells a Story", written by Peter Sills, Don Black and Michael Allison, is a song recorded by Australian pop and country singer Olivia Newton-John on her 1976 album Don't Stop Believin'.
Chart performance
The song was released as a single in 1976 and chartered 55th on Billboard Hot 100, 21st on Hot Country Songs and 6th on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks. She produced an MTV style promotional clip for the song, which aired on ABC in November 1976.
Although the song made it to the top 10 in A/C this song broke Olivia's consecutive record of having every one of her singles go to the top of the A/C charts. It also broke Newton-John's streak of nine U.S. Top 40 hits in a row.
| Chart (1976–1977) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 21 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 6 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 55 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 5 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 58 |
| Preceded by "Thinkin' of a Rendezvous" by Johnny Duncan |
RPM Country Tracks number-one single January 8, 1977 |
Succeeded by "Sweet Dreams" by Emmylou Harris |
Originally a religious song
The original song was written by Michael Allison and Peter Sills for Cliff Richard, a friend of Olivia Newton-John. Richard released an album by the name Every Face Tells a Story. This song has the same music, but the lyrics are about Jesus and religious. Cliff Richard although a pop star is deeply religious and often devotes several tracks of each album to God.
It was Don Black who rewrote the lyrics completely, thus changing the religious song to a non religious number.
Cover versions
- Swedish pop and country singer Kikki Danielsson covered the song (non-religious version) on her 1982 album Kikki.[1]
- French Author and original performer of "My way", Claude François covered the Olivia Newton-John version in 1977 (Chaque visage dit une histoire).