You Don't Know What Love Is

This article is about the song written by Gene de Paul. For the song by the White Stripes of the same name, see You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told).
"You Don't Know What Love Is"
Song
Written1941
Composer(s)Gene de Paul
Lyricist(s)Don Raye

"You Don't Know What Love Is" is a popular song of the Great American Songbook, written by Don Raye (lyrics) and Gene de Paul (music) for the Abbott and Costello film Keep 'Em Flying (1941), in which it was sung by Carol Bruce.[1] The song was deleted from the film prior to release.[1] The song was later included in Behind the Eight Ball (1942), starring the Ritz Brothers.[1] "You Don't Know What Love Is" was again sung by Carol Bruce; it was her third and final film until the 1980s.[2]

After Miles Davis recorded an instrumental version of the song in 1954, it became a jazz standard, with Dinah Washington releasing a soulful pop-flavored vocal version a year later, along with a searing Modern Jazz take by Anita O'Day, accompanied by Jimmy Rowles and Tal Farlow. Other noteworthy recordings were made by Billie Holiday (with string arrangements by Ray Ellis), and Sonny Rollins.[2]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference standards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Wilson, Jeremy. "'You Don't Know What Love Is' (1941)", JazzStandards.com, accessed October 15, 2017