You Don't Know Me (Cindy Walker song)

"You Don't Know Me"
Single by Eddy Arnold
B-side "The Rockin' Mockin' Bird"
Released April 21, 1956
Recorded 1955
Genre Country
Length 2:34
Label RCA Victor
Songwriter(s) Eddy Arnold
Cindy Walker

"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. 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:

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

"You Don't Know Me"
Single by Jerry Vale
B-side "Enchanted"
Released 1956
Recorded 1955
Genre Traditional pop
Length 2:33
Label Columbia
Songwriter(s) Eddy Arnold
Cindy Walker
Producer(s) Percy Faith
Jerry Vale singles chronology
"Innamorata (Sweetheart)"
(1956) 		"You Don't Know Me"
(1956) 		"Mother Mine"
(1956)
"You Don't Know Me"
Single by Ray Charles
from the album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
B-side "Careless Love"
Released July 1962
Recorded February 1962
Studio United Recording Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre
Length 3:14
Label ABC-Paramount 10345
Songwriter(s) Eddy Arnold
Cindy Walker
Producer(s) Sid Feller
Ray Charles singles chronology
"I Can't Stop Loving You"
(1962) 		"You Don't Know Me"
(1962) 		"You Are My Sunshine"
(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. 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.

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:

Charts

Eddy Arnold

Chart (1956) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard) 10

Jerry Vale

Chart (1956) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 14

Lenny Welch

Chart (1960) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 45
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard) 28

Ray Charles

Chart (1962) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 2
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard) 5
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 1
UK Singles (OCC) 9

Elvis Presley

Chart (1968) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 44
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 34

Ray Pennington

Chart (1970) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard) 61

Mickey Gilley

Chart (1981) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard) 1
US Billboard Hot 100 55
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) 12
Canada Country Tracks (RPM) 1
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM) 6