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You Don't Know Me (Cindy Walker song)

{{Short description|1956 song by Eddy Arnold & Cindy Walker}}

{{More citations needed|date=October 2008}}

{{Infobox song

| name = You Don't Know Me

| cover = You Don't Know Me cover art.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Eddy Arnold

| album =

| B-side = The Rockin' Mockin' Bird

| released = April 21, 1956

| recorded = 1955

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Country

| length = 2:34

| label = RCA Victor

| writer = Eddy Arnold
Cindy Walker

| producer =

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title =

| next_year =

}}

"You Don't Know Me" is a song written by Eddy Arnold and Cindy Walker in 1955. "You Don't Know Me" was first recorded by Arnold that year and released as a single on April 21, 1956, on RCA Victor.{{Cite web|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/10212|title=Cover versions of You Don't Know Me by Eddy Arnold with Orchestra and Choir conducted by Charles Grean |website=Secondhandsongs.com|access-date=29 April 2021}} The best-selling version of the song is by Ray Charles, who took it to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1962, after releasing the song on his number 1 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. The first version of the song to make the Billboard charts was by Jerry Vale in 1956, peaking at number 14 on the pop chart. Arnold's version charted two months later, released as an RCA Victor single, 47–6502, backed with "The Rockin' Mockin' Bird", which reached number 10 on the Billboard country chart. Cash Box magazine, which combined all best-selling versions at one position, included a version by Carmen McRae that never appeared in the Billboard Top 100 Sides listing.

Origin

In his book Eddy Arnold: Pioneer of the Nashville Sound, author Michael Streissguth describes how Arnold and Walker composed the song:{{cite web |url=http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1166 |title=Eddy Arnold: Pioneer of the Nashville Sound |publisher=Upress.state.ms.us |access-date=2014-05-23 |archive-date=2016-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220074505/http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1166 |url-status=dead }}

Cindy Walker, who had supplied Eddy with "Take Me in Your Arms and Hold Me" (a number-one country record in 1949 and Eddy's first Cindy Walker release), recalled discussing the idea for "You Don't Know Me" with Eddy as she was leaving one of Nashville's annual disc-jockey conventions. "I went up to the Victor suite to tell Steve Sholes good-bye," she explained, "and just as I was leaving, Eddy came in the door." Arnold approached Walker with the title of the song: "I got a song title for you... 'You Don't Know Me.'" Walker, in jest, replied "But I know you!" to which Arnold retorted he was serious and proceeded to outline the story he had in mind. Walker promised to take Arnold's story and think about how to turn it into workable lyrics and melody, which eventually came naturally. "The song just started singing. It sort of wrote itself..."

The song, in a basic thirty-two-bar form, tells a narrative of a man, who has "never (known) the art of making love," and his friendly encounter with someone he knows but secretly loves—fearing rejection, the narrator never expresses his feelings toward the object of his affections and lets her walk away with another "lucky guy" (this lyric is gender-neutralized when sung by a woman), never knowing if she loves him back.

Notable recorded versions

{{Infobox song

| name = You Don't Know Me

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Jerry Vale

| album =

| B-side = Enchanted

| released = 1956

| recorded = 1955

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Traditional pop

| length = 2:33

| label = Columbia

| writer = Eddy Arnold
Cindy Walker

| producer = Percy Faith

| prev_title = Innamorata (Sweetheart)

| prev_year = 1956

| next_title = Mother Mine

| next_year = 1956

}}

{{Infobox song

| name = You Don't Know Me

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Ray Charles

| album = Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

| B-side = Careless Love

| released = July 1962

| recorded = February 1962

| studio = United Recording Studios, Hollywood, California

| venue =

| genre = *Country

| length = 3:14

| label = ABC-Paramount 10345

| writer = Eddy Arnold
Cindy Walker

| producer = Sid Feller

| prev_title = I Can't Stop Loving You

| prev_year = 1962

| next_title = You Are My Sunshine

| next_year = 1962

}}

The best-selling version of the song is by Ray Charles, who took it to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1962, after releasing the song on his number 1 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. It was the follow-up single to "I Can't Stop Loving You", which held the number 1 position for five weeks. After being released in July, it was kept from the number 1 spot by "Sheila" by Tommy Roe.{{Cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1962-09-08|title=The Hot 100 Chart|website=Billboard.com|access-date=29 April 2021}} This version also topped the Easy Listening chart for three weeks in 1962 and was used in the 1993 comedy film Groundhog Day. The song was the 12th number one country hit for Mickey Gilley in 1981.{{cite book |title= The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=137}}

The song has been performed or recorded by hundreds of artists, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and Willie Nelson. Charles re-recorded the song with Diana Krall on his number 1 album of duets, Genius Loves Company, the only song common to both of Charles' two number 1 albums. It was sung by Meryl Streep in the 1990 film Postcards from the Edge, by John Legend in the 2007 Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "The Bat Mitzvah", by Robert Downey Jr. in the 1998 film Two Girls and a Guy, and by Lizzy Caplan.

Artists that released versions of the song:

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Charts

=Eddy Arnold=

class="wikitable"

!align="left"|Chart (1956)

! style="text-align:center;"|Peak
position

{{singlechart|Billboardcountrysongs|10|artist=Eddy Arnold}}

=Jerry Vale=

class="wikitable"

!align="left"|Chart (1956)

! style="text-align:center;"|Peak
position

{{singlechart|Billboardhot100|14|artist=Jerry Vale}}

=Lenny Welch=

class="wikitable"

!align="left"|Chart (1960)

! style="text-align:center;"|Peak
position

{{singlechart|Billboardhot100|45|artist=Lenny Welch}}
{{singlechart|Billboardrandbhiphop|28|artist=Lenny Welch}}
align="left"|Canada CHUM Chart{{cite web|url=http://chumtribute.com/60-05-23-chart.jpg|title=CHUM Hit Parade = May 23, 1960}}

| align="center" |37

=Ray Charles=

class="wikitable sortable"

!align="left"|Chart (1962)

! style="text-align:center;"|Peak
position

{{singlechart|Billboardhot100|2|artist=Ray Charles}}
{{singlechart|Billboardrandbhiphop|5|artist=Ray Charles}}
{{singlechart|Billboardadultcontemporary|1|artist=Ray Charles}}
{{singlechart|UK|9|date=19621004|artist=Ray Charles|song=You Don't Know Me}}
align="left"|Canada CHUM Chart{{cite web|url=http://chumtribute.com/62-09-03-chart.jpg|title=CHUM Hit Parade = September 3, 1962}}

| align="center" |18

=Elvis Presley=

class="wikitable"

!align="left"|Chart (1968)

! style="text-align:center;"|Peak
position

{{singlechart|Billboardhot100|44|artist=Elvis Presley}}
{{singlechart|Billboardadultcontemporary|34|artist=Elvis Presley}}

=Ray Pennington=

class="wikitable"

!align="left"|Chart (1970)

! style="text-align:center;"|Peak
position

{{singlechart|Billboardcountrysongs|61|artist=Ray Pennington}}

=Mickey Gilley=

class="wikitable sortable"

!align="left"|Chart (1981)

! style="text-align:center;"|Peak
position

{{singlechart|Billboardcountrysongs|1|artist=Mickey Gilley}}
{{singlechart|Billboardhot100|55|artist=Mickey Gilley}}
{{singlechart|Billboardadultcontemporary|12|artist=Mickey Gilley}}
{{singlechart|Canadacountry|1|chartid=0385}}
{{singlechart|Canadaadultcontemporary|6|chartid=0402}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1166 Eddy Arnold: Pioneer of the Nashville Sound] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220074505/http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1166 |date=2016-12-20 }}

{{Eddy Arnold}}

{{Ray Charles}}

{{Elvis Presley singles}}

{{Mickey Gilley}}

{{Willie Nelson singles|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:You Don't Know Me (Eddy Arnold Song)}}

Category:1955 songs

Category:1962 singles

Category:1981 singles

Category:Songs written by Cindy Walker

Category:Songs written by Eddy Arnold

Category:Eddy Arnold songs

Category:Ray Charles songs

Category:Mickey Gilley songs

Category:Van Morrison songs

Category:Willie Nelson songs

Category:Jerry Vale songs

Category:Elvis Presley songs

Category:Eva Cassidy songs

Category:RCA Victor singles

Category:Epic Records singles

Category:Columbia Records singles

Category:ABC Records singles

Category:Paramount Records singles

Category:Torch songs

Category:Harry Connick Jr. songs

Category:1950s ballads