Posted: 1/29/21 at 8:01pm
I just read some interesting trivia regarding Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic from 'Evita'...
In the early 1980s, American talk show host Merv Griffin had one of his favorite guests on, Olivia Newton-John.
Griffin surprised ONJ when he told her 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' was not only his favorite recording by her, but his favorite recording of the song by anyone.
On the show, ONJ explained to Merv that she heard the song in 1976 while she was recording the album 'Making a Good Thing Better' in Vancouver. She decided she had to record it and include it on the album, which was to be released early in 1977. She got in touch with her producer John Farrar who was in Australia, and asked him to come back and produce the song. He was able to book a 100 piece orchestra to back up ONJ, and the song was recorded in one day.
ONJ said when the album was released, she wanted her label MCA to release the song in the US as the first single off the album, confident it would be a hit. But MCA wouldn't do it, as it was releasing the single of the Julie Covington recording and they didn't want competition on their own label (Covington's single was never released in the USA).
