"Why Can't I Touch You?" Ronnie Dyson (1970)
The biggest hit from an Off-Broadway musical, ever.
Peak: #8 on the Hot 100
Streams: 431,000
It’s obvious why Ronnie Dyson got a chance to be a pop star. He was only 18 when he starred in Hair on Broadway, but even then, he sang like a seasoned pro. Listen to him belt the opening lines of “Aquarius.” That’s an astonishing sound! It’s so textured you could wrap yourself in it and take the best nap of your life.
It matters, too, that Dyson got his break in Hair. It was such a phenomenon in the late 60s that four different artists had a top 5 hit with one of its songs. The astonishing kid from that show was gonna get a shot.
Naturally, Dyson’s first single was also a song from a musical. Why not keep him in his wheelhouse, right? But here’s where things get wild: His one and only hit wasn’t from Hair. It was a song called “(If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can’t I Touch You?”, a midtempo number from the Off-Broadway musical Salvation. (Note: By “Off-Broadway musical,” I mean a musical that played Off Broadway in New York without transferring to a Broadway theatre. I’m happy to explain the somewhat arcane terminology further, if you’d like. Just ask in the comments.)
Now, I haven’t seen Salvation. Despite working in the New York theatre since 2003 and being married to a vocal coach, I hadn’t even heard of it until I came across this song and its glorious parenthetical title. Apparently, it’s about a lapsed Baptist who becomes a spiritual guru. It ran for 269 performances from 1969-1970, which made it a blockbuster at the time.
I’m somewhat haunted by this. How could the culture have forgotten a show this successful that produced an actual hit song? I feel like sending a stern email to Encores!, asking why they haven’t revived it.
Anyway, judging by “Why Can’t I Touch You?”, Salvation sounds like part of the post-Hair wave of blissed-out rock musicals that also includes Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. (All three shows are about Christianity, but that’s another essay.) I can see why it got produced.
I also can see why this song got sent to pop radio. It has a loose, rambling energy; an easily relatable heartbreak story; and a killer melody that’s guaranteed to get stuck in your head.
And it’s got Ronnie Dyson’s vocal. He packs so much emotion into this performance that I actually believe he’s a spiritual healer who’s desperate to get laid. (I assume that’s what’s happening in Salvation when this song arrives.) As a singer, he’s both telling the story of the song and enhancing its raw musicality. It’s thrilling to hear.
He only got better. Despite never having another pop hit, Dyson refined and deepened his voice on successful R&B singles like this and this, and he kept making music until he died in 1990, at the age of 40. The official cause of death is heart failure, but given his age and the era, I’m assuming that’s code for AIDS. (I may be wrong.)
Meanwhile, Peter Link, the co-writer of Salvation, has had an interesting career. He was the first replacement for the lead role in Hair, which surely influenced his own show, and he eventually became a composer-in-residence at New York’s prestigious Public Theater. He got a Tony nomination while he was there, for a score he wrote to accompany a revival of Much Ado About Nothing. He got another Tony nomination a few years later for writing incidental music for a Neil Simon adaptation of some Chekhov short stories. (Sure! Why not?) Now he runs an inspirational music company, which I guess is a natural progression from writing a musical like Salvation.
Thinking about this song makes me wistful, since it’s performed by a guy who died too young and is from a hit show that has receded from view. But for my trivia brain, it’s a gold mine. You’d better believe I’m ready to wow my friends at a moment’s notice with my juicy tidbit about the only Off-Broadway musical to produce a top 10 hit. Now you can astonish your friends with this information as well!
Read my interview with Peter Link, who talked to me about this song and his remarkable career.