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

"You Don't Know Me" is a song written byEddy Arnold andCindy Walker in1955. It was first recorded by Arnold that year and released as a single on April 21, 1956, onRCA Victor.^[1]

The best-selling version of "You Don't Know Me" was recorded byRay Charles, who took it to number 2 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart in 1962, after releasing the song on his number 1 albumModern Sounds in Country and Western Music. The first version to make theBillboard charts was recorded byJerry Vale in 1956, peaking at number 14 on the pop chart. Arnold's version charted two months later. It was released as an RCA Victor single, 47–6502, backed with "The Rockin' Mockin' Bird" which reached number 10 on theBillboard country chart.Cash Box magazine, which combined all best-selling versions at one position, included a version byCarmen McRae that never appeared in theBillboard Top 100 Sides listing.

In his bookEddy Arnold: Pioneer of the Nashville Sound, author Michael Streissguth describes how Arnold and Walker composed the song:^[2]

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 ofNashville's annual disc-jockey conventions. "I went up to the Victor suite to tellSteve Sholes good-bye," she explained, "and just as I was leaving, Eddy came in the door."

Arnold approached Walker, saying: "I got a song title for you... 'You Don't Know Me.'" Walker, in jest, replied "But I knowyou !" Arnold retorted that 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..."

"You Don't Know Me", in a basicthirty-two-bar form, is the 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 isgender-neutralized when sung by a woman), never knowing if she loves him back.

The best-selling version of the song is byRay Charles, who took it to number 2 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart in September1962, after releasing the song on his number 1 albumModern 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" byTommy Roe.^[3] This version also topped theEasy Listening chart for three weeks in 1962 and was used in the 1993 comedy filmGroundhog Day. The song was the 12th number one country hit forMickey Gilley in 1981.^[4]

The song has been performed or recorded by hundreds of artists, includingElvis Presley,Bob Dylan, andWillie Nelson. Charles re-recorded the song withDiana 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 byMeryl Streep in the 1990 filmPostcards from the Edge, byJohn Legend in the 2007Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "The Bat Mitzvah", byRobert Downey Jr. in the 1998 filmTwo Girls and a Guy, and byLizzy Caplan.

Artists that released versions of the song:

• Eddy Arnold: Pioneer of the Nashville SoundArchived 2016-12-20 at theWayback Machine

• 1955 songs
• 1962 singles
• 1981 singles
• Songs written by Cindy Walker
• Songs written by Eddy Arnold
• Eddy Arnold songs
• Ray Charles songs
• Mickey Gilley songs
• Van Morrison songs
• Willie Nelson songs
• Jerry Vale songs
• Elvis Presley songs
• Eva Cassidy songs
• RCA Victor singles
• Epic Records singles
• Columbia Records singles
• ABC Records singles
• Paramount Records singles
• Torch songs
• Harry Connick Jr. songs
• 1950s ballads

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