The Olivia Newton-John ‘song' that appeared in Jaws

For a whole generation Olivia Newton-John - who has died at the age of 73 - will forever be Sandy in Grease.

The film, which also starred John Travolta, was the highest grossing US musical of the 20th century, but eagle eared Jaws fans will also recognise one of her songs from the Steven Spielberg shark classic.

Grease may have hit big in 1978, but one of Newton-John's songs could be heard in the background of one of the 'Sandy' beach scenes in not just the biggest film of 1975, but the highest grossing film in US history - until Star Wars blasted it from the top spot in 1977.

Olivia Newton-John's first hit song "I Honestly Love You" is heard in the beach scene when the great white shark eats Alex Kintner. It may be the song she made famous, but the song heard in the film is a cover - as was common at the time - with it performed by Lynn Anderson.

And there is no denying that Bruce the shark did love poor little Alex and his pruned fingers, just look at the state of his raft!

Newton-John's song was released in 1974 - the year that Jaws was being filmed in Martha's Vineyard - and became her first number one in the US and Canada.

That same year, she represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Long Live Love, where she placed fourth, although to be fair it was the same year Abba won with Waterloo.

Words by Dean Newman

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