"Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" is a song written by Canadian musician Bryan Adams, Michael Kamen and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and recorded by Adams for the 1995 film Don Juan DeMarco, starring Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway. The melody is used as a musical motif through the film, and the song is featured three times in the movie, twice performed by other artists in Spanish, and finally performed by Adams himself during the closing credits. The Adams version of the song, which features flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía, is included on the soundtrack album and on Adams' seventh studio album, 18 til I Die, which was released over a year later.

The song stayed at number one for five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, making it the third number-one song for the songwriting team. It also went to number one in Canada, Australia, Austria, and Switzerland while reaching the top five in 10 additional countries, including France and the United Kingdom, and the top ten in a further four countries. Its accompanying music video was filmed in Málaga, Spain. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 68th Academy Awards but lost to "Colors of the Wind" from the Disney animated film Pocahontas.

Critical reception Paul Verna from Billboard magazine described the song as "sultry". Steve Baltin from Cash Box noted that here, "the king of soundtrack ballads attempts to reclaim his throne". He added further, "The flamenco introduction lends the false hope this may be something different, but it's the same old Adams. Be careful not to operate any heavy machinery while under the influence of this one." Fell and Rufer from the Gavin Report viewed it as an "unusual waltz with #1 written all over it." Pan-European magazine Music & Media commented, "Everything is there to make it work: a film, Don Juan DeMarco, a ballad, a long song title but nothing between brackets, guitarist Paco de Lucía and Adams' hoarse voice."

Christine Coulter, librarian/programmer at Downtown Radio/Belfast stated, "It's absolutely different from his previous film ballads. The film, which will be issued here in May I believe, is not the reason we play it. For us it's a track that stands fully on its own." A reviewer from Music Week gave it three out of five, writing that "Bryan comes over all Hispanic for this strong ballad which arrives replete with Spanish guitar flourishes and castanets." The magazine's Alan Jones described it as "a simple, singalong song in waltztime, with acoustic Spanish style guitar picking." Barbara Ellen from NME felt it finds Adams "at his most plaintive".

Music video

The music video for "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" was shot in Málaga, Spain at Casa los Pavos Reales, starring Cecilie Thomsen and Amira Casar. It was directed by the music video director Anton Corbijn and was released in May 1995.

It was posted on Adams' official YouTube channel on October 31, 2008. The original video had the identifier "hq2KgzKETBw", and it had 107 million views and 409.6 thousand likes. For unknown reasons, the original music video was taken private, and as of March 2026, is unavailable on YouTube or any official platform.

Rerecording In 2022, Adams released a rerecording of the song with the label "Classic Version". The video was shot in Vigo, Spain, in July 2022.

Personnel Personnel are taken from the 18 Til I Die liner notes. Bryan Adams – vocals, acoustic guitar, handclaps Paco de Lucía – Spanish guitar Mutt Lange – bass Mickey Curry – drums, brushes Olle Romo – castanets, pads

Charts

Weekly charts +Chart (1995)Peakpositionscope="row"scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"Canada Retail Singles (The Record) 1scope="row"scope="row"Denmark (IFPI) 3Europe (Eurochart Hot 100) 1Europe (European Hit Radio) 1Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) 7scope="row"scope="row"Hungary (Mahasz) 2Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40) 2scope="row"Israel (Israeli Singles Chart) Search "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" for Israeli chart history. 22Italy (Musica e dischi) 8Italy Airplay (Music & Media) 3scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"Poland Airplay (Music & Media) 2scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"scope="row"US Cash Box Top 100Cash Box Chart Entries 1990-1996 1

+Chart (1995)Peakposition Jamaica Airplay () 7

Year-end charts +Chart (1995)PositionAustralia (ARIA) 6Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) 6Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 9Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia) 8Canada Top Singles (RPM) 5Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM) 1Europe (Eurochart Hot 100) 4Europe (European Hit Radio) 1France (SNEP) 13Germany (Media Control) 6Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40) 17Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 7Netherlands (Single Top 100) 17New Zealand (RIANZ) 27Sweden (Topplistan) 14Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) 1UK Singles (OCC) 70UK Airplay (Music Week) 37US Billboard Hot 100 16US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 6US Top 40/Mainstream (Billboard) 29US Cash Box Top 100 15

Decade-end charts +Chart (1990–1999)PositionCanada (Nielsen SoundScan) 10US Billboard Hot 100 54

Certifications

Release history +RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)United StatesApril 4, 1995A&MUnited KingdomApril 10, 1995JapanMay 10, 1995CDAustraliaMay 15, 1995

References