You Don't Love Me (song)

"You Don't Love Me" is a blues song recorded by Willie Cobbs in 1960. It is based on an earlier song by Bo Diddley and has become a "blues classic" that has been interpreted and recorded by a variety of performers.

Earlier song
In 1955, Bo Diddley recorded "She's Fine She's Mine" for the B-side to his second single, "Diddley Daddy" (Checker 819). Accompanying Diddley (vocal and guitar) were Billy Boy Arnold (harmonica), Clifton James (drums), and Jerome Green on maracas. The song features a repeated figure on Diddley's tremolo-laden guitar. The first verses are sung without lyrics:
 * Ah ah ah, ah ah ah ah ah ah (2x)
 * Well you don't love me baby, you don't love me I know

"While this is a traditional blues in form, the unusual, almost exotic, arrangement with its hypnotic beat combined with Bo Diddley's anguished vocal takes this far out of the range of the ordinary". The lyrics "she's fine she's mine" do not appear in the song. Diddley recorded an unrelated song, "You Don't Love Me (You Don't Care)" with different music and lyrics two months prior on March 2, 1955, which was released on his Go Bo Diddley album.

Willie Cobbs songs
In 1960, Willie Cobbs recorded "You Don't Love Me" using Bo Diddley's repeating guitar figure. Cobbs' version also contains Diddley's melody, as well as much of the original lyrics, including the key "you don't love me, you don't love me I know" line; the songs titles are the main difference.

According to Eddie Boyd, Sammy Lawhorn played the guitar, Boyd provided the piano, and unidentified performers supplied saxophone (doubling the guitar line), bass, and drums.


 * Ah ah ah, you don't love me yes I know (2x)
 * 'Cause you left me baby, and I have no place to go

Cobbs' original Mojo Records release became a local Memphis hit. The song was released by Vee-Jay Records, but because of copyright issues, they stopped promoting the single and it failed to reach the Billboard charts. Cobbs has revisited "You Don't Love Me" several times, including in 1998 for his Pay or Do 11 Months & 29 Days album.

Junior Wells version
In 1965, Junior Wells with Buddy Guy recorded the song as "You Don't Love Me Baby" for their influential 1965 album Hoodoo Man Blues. Their version altered the guitar figure somewhat and added some new lyrics:
 * You don't love me baby, you don't love me yes I know (2x)
 * If you leave me baby, don't you know you're gonna hurt me so

Junior Wells later recorded the song for his Coming at You album; Buddy Guy also recorded it for his Hold That Plane album.

Dawn Penn versions
Jamaican singer Dawn Penn recorded "You Don't Love Me" in 1967 (Coxsone CS 1008). She used most of the Bo Diddley/Willie Cobbs melody and lyrics, but her version featured a rocksteady backing arrangement.
 * No no no, you don't love me and I know now (2X)
 * 'Cause you left me baby, and I got no place to go now

In 1994, she remade it as the dancehall-influenced "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)", which was an international hit.

Other versions
It has been noted that "the riff of 'You Don't Love Me' has inspired quantities of bluesmen". The song has been interpreted and recorded by a variety of performers, some following the Diddley/Cobbs versions and others following the Wells/Guy versions (except where noted):
 * 1959 - Clarence Edwards recorded it as an acoustic blues released on a Folk-Lyric compilation.
 * 1962 - The Megatons recorded an instrumental version as "Shimmy Shimmy Walk Parts 1 & 2" (Dodge 808).
 * 1964 - Tommy Raye recorded it for the Memphis-based Pen label (45-2PN-351) (distributed by London Records).
 * 1965 - Sonny & Cher recorded it for their Look At Us album.
 * 1966 - Gary Walker's version hit #26 in March 1966 in the UK (also issued in the US on Date 2-1506 and bubbled under the chart at #129)
 * 1966–67 - Quicksilver Messenger Service recorded several live versions with early member Jim Murray, later released in 2008.
 * 1966 - Grateful Dead recorded it February 25 Live at Ivar Theater (bootleg).
 * 1967 - John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers featuring an early vocal performance by Peter Green from A Hard Road.
 * 1968 - Kaleidoscope from their album A Beacon from Mars.
 * 1968 - Booker T. and the MG's recorded the song for their album Doin' Our Thing.
 * 1968 - Al Kooper and Stephen Stills recorded it for Super Session, with an early use of flanging.
 * 1968 - Magic Sam recorded it for his second Delmark album Black Magic.
 * 1969 - Albert King recorded an instrumental version for Years Gone By, sometimes listed as "Shimmy Shimmy Walk".
 * 1969 - Ike & Tina Turner from The Hunter.
 * 1971 - The Allman Brothers Band recorded a live version for their multi-million seller At Fillmore East.
 * 1979 - Black Uhuru recorded the song as "No, No, No" based on the Dawn Penn version (Taxi single). The single was produced by Sly Dunbar before he and Robbie Shakespeare joined the band later that same year.
 * 1986 - Otis Rush with Eric Clapton and Luther Allison from Live at Montreux 1986.
 * 1990 - Gary Moore from Gary Moore & The Midnight Blues Band – Live at Montreux 1990 (DVD released 2004) and Essential Montreux (CD released 2009) (live versions from 1990, 1995, and 1999).
 * 2005 - Rihanna with Vybz Kartel as "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)", based on the Penn version, from Music of the Sun.
 * 2008 - The Mannish Boys from Lowdown Feelin'.
 * 2010 - Beyoncé Knowles performed it as "You Don't Love Me, No No No" (based on the Penn version), released on the I Am... World Tour live CD/DVD.