The song was written by Jeff Barry and Australian singer and composer Peter Allen.

At the 17th Grammy Awards in 1975, the single won both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

[6] A snippet of Lynn Anderson's recording of the song plays over Chief Brody's radio in the second shark attack in Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws, moments before Alex Kitner and Pippet the dog disappear beneath the waves.

[9] The song's success also helped propel its parent album, If You Love Me, Let Me Know, to number one, on the chart dated 12 October 1974.

In November 1977, a re-release of Newton-John's original version backed with "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", from her then-current album Making a Good Thing Better, reached number 48 during its nine-week run on the Hot 100; the single outperformed the only A-side single from the album (the title track), which five months earlier had stalled at number 87.

Newton-John re-recorded "I Honestly Love You" for her 1998 album Back with a Heart, with Babyface on background vocals.