Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)

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"Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)"
Single by Van Halen
from the album Balance
ReleasedJanuary 9, 1995 (1995-01-09)[1]
Length
  • 5:56 (album version)
  • 3:52 (single version)
Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Bruce Fairbairn
Van Halen singles chronology
"Dreams (live)"
(1993) 		"Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)"
(1995) 		"The Seventh Seal"
(1995)

"Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)" is a song by American

Vulture.com ranked it the 67th-best Van Halen song, calling it "the best song off the worst Van Halen album that isn’t Van Halen III."[2]

Theme and references

When I heard that Kurt Cobain had taken his own life, the first thing I thought of was I wish I were there and could have tried to save him. The original title for these lyrics were "I want to show you what love can do," but because it was such a dark horrible thing I just couldn’t shine a light on it. So I changed the final line to "Don't tell me what love can do."

P.S. It was also the time of the breaking up of Van Halen, our last album and tour so it added a lot of emotion, negativity and pain in the original vocal performance which surfaced the second I started singing this song for the first time since 1995.

Sammy Hagar[3]

The song's main theme is about the power of universal love. Sammy Hagar says in his autobiography that he wanted the song to be uplifting, for the chorus to be 'I wanna show you what love can do', but that his relationship with the Van Halen brothers was becoming strained and that they were very critical of the lyrical treatment, wanting something with more attitude.

In addition, the story about the death of Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain, is also told in the song through the lyrics "Is it right to take the easy way" and ends with "I can't tell you what's right for you" with the bridge, repeated towards the end of the song, saying "I see the damage done, yeah/oh Lord, I heard the shotgun".[4]

Music video

The song's music video tells of the young husband from the video of "

knifing
, and more while the band is shown playing the song.

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[5] 36
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[6] 60
Finland (
Suomen virallinen lista)[7]
 5
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[8] 34
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[9] 31
Scotland (OCC)[10]
 22
UK Singles (OCC)[11]
 27
UK Rock & Metal (OCC)[12]
 1
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[13] 1

References

  1. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. January 7, 1995. p. 13.
  2. Vulture.com
    . Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  3. ^ Sammy Hagar. "Sammy Hagar & The Circle- "Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)" Van Halen (Circle @Home Sessions No. 9)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
  4. ISBN 9780595166695
    . Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  5. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 7748." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  6. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles". Music & Media. Vol. 12, no. 4. January 28, 1995. p. 19.
  7. ISBN 951-31-2503-3
    .
  8. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 8, 1995" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  9. ^ "Van Halen – Don't Tell Me" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  10. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  11. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  12. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  13. ^ "Van Halen Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
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