You Don't Love Me (Willie Cobbs song)

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"You Don't Love Me"
Single by Willie Cobbs
B-side"You're So Hard to Please"
Released1960 (1960)
Recorded1960
StudioEcho, Memphis, Tennessee
GenreBlues
Length2:32
LabelMojo
Producer(s)Billy Lee Riley, Stan Kessler

"You Don't Love Me" is a rhythm and blues-influenced blues song recorded by American musician Willie Cobbs in 1960. Adapted from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "She's Fine She's Mine", it is Cobbs' best-known song and features a guitar figure and melody that has appealed to musicians in several genres.

Although it became a regional hit when it was released in Memphis, Tennessee, copyright issues prevented its further promotion and national chart success. The song inspired many adaptations, such as "Shimmy Shimmy Walk" by the Megatons and "

Allman Brothers Band popularized it with their extended jam concert performances, as captured on At Fillmore East
(1971).

Background

Willie Cobbs, an Arkansas native, moved to Chicago in 1947, where he began exploring the burgeoning blues scene centered around Maxwell Street.

blues harp from Little Walter and began an association with pianist Eddie Boyd.[1] In 1958, Cobbs recorded an unsuccessful single for Ruler Records and auditioned for James Bracken and Vee-Jay Records, who felt that he sounded too similar to their biggest artist, Jimmy Reed.[1]

Cobbs and Boyd eventually returned to Arkansas and began performing in the local clubs.[2] Cobbs claims that he heard a field hand singing "Uh, uh, uh, you don't love me, yes I know" to a haunting melody one morning and that inspired him to write a song.[3] Music journalist Rob Chapman calls "You Don't Love Me" "Willie Cobbs's 1961 adaptation and retitling of Bo Diddley's 1955 'She's Fine, She's Mine'."[4] Bo Diddley recorded the song in 1955 for Checker Records, a Chess subsidiary.[5]

Cobbs began performing "You Don't Love Me" to enthusiastic audiences and approached a record label in Memphis, Tennessee, with the hope of recording it.[2] The owner of the Home of the Blues record company turned him down—"He said, 'It's a damn good song but you can't sing'", Cobbs recalled.[2] However, two other producers, Billy Lee Riley and Stan Kessler, overheard the audition and offered to record him.[2]

Recording and composition

Cobbs and Boyd entered the Echo Studio in Memphis to record "You Don't Love Me" for Riley's Mojo Records.[6] Cobbs sang while Boyd accompanied him on piano.[7] According to Cobb and Boyd, Sammy Lawhorn, who later was a member of Muddy Waters' touring band, provided the distinctive guitar figure.[6][3][7] A Vee-Jay discography lists Rico Collins on tenor saxophone, Wilbert Harris on drums, and Cobbs on bass.[7] However, Cobbs claims that an unknown bassist performed for the session, after his regular bass player had quit.[3] Instead of the common twelve-bar blues arrangement, the verses are sung on the IV chord, while the instrumentation repeats the riff on the I chords:[8]

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

Cobbs' song uses Bo Diddley's guitar riff and melody, as well as many of the lyrics, including the key "you don't love me, you don't love me I know" line.[9] A review in Billboard magazine noted, "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".[10] Diddley uses a repeated figure on his tremolo-laden guitar and the first verses are sung without lyrics:

Ah ah ah, ah ah ah ah ah ah (2×)
Well you don't love me baby, you don't love me I know

The lyrics "she's fine she's mine" do not appear in the song (Diddley had 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). "She's Fine She's Mine" was included as the B-side to his second single, "Diddley Daddy".[11] Although "Diddley Daddy" became a hit, "She's Fine She's Mine" did not appear in the record charts.[12]

Releases and copyright issue

Almost immediately after Mojo Records issued the single, it became a number one hit in Memphis.[2] Hoping to reach a wider audience, Kessler and Riley sold the master recording to Home of the Blues Records, the label that had previously turned Cobbs down.[2] They subsequently issued the single and in an April 3, 1961, review of new records in Billboard, it was listed under "R&B Limited Potentials".[13] Home of the Blues also leased the single to Vee-Jay Records (who had also passed on recording Cobbs), who issued it; a review by Billboard on November 27, 1961, indicated that it had "strong sales potential".[14] (An additional release by Ruler Records has overdubbed organ.)[7]

Trouble ensued when Riley took the songwriting credit for "Shimmy Shimmy Walk, Part 1", an instrumental version of the song recorded by the Megatons, a Louisiana-based group.[2] According to blues historian Gerard Herzhaft, Riley asserts that he was the only guitarist at Cobbs' Mojo session, contrary to Cobbs' and Lawhorn's recollections.[15] Lawsuits were filed, Vee-Jay stopped promoting the single, and it failed to reach the Billboard charts.[2] Cobbs has revisited "You Don't Love Me" several times, including in 1998 for his Pay or Do 11 Months & 29 Days album.[16]

Adaptations by other artists

The Megatons

In 1961, the Megatons, a Louisiana-based instrumental combo (under the direction of Riley), recorded "Shimmy, Shimmy Walk, Part 1" an instrumental version of "You Don't Love Me".[17] It was released as a two-part single by Dodge Records, based in Feriday, Louisiana. A singles review in Billboard described it as "A rousing medium tempo rocker with a teen dance sound and a rousing r.&b. flavor receives a strong performance from the instrumental group. Side I is the hot side, it swings."[18] The single was later distributed by Checker Records (#1005) and reached number 88 on the Billboard Hot 100.[19] Albert King recorded "Shimmy, Shimmy Walk" for the 1969 Years Gone By album, although some releases list it as "You Don't Love Me (instrumental)".[20]

Junior Wells / Buddy Guy / Magic Sam

"You Don't Love Me" was a staple of Junior Wells and Buddy Guy's repertoire.[21] In 1965, the duo recorded the song as "You Don't Love Me Baby" for their influential album Hoodoo Man Blues.[22] 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 (2×)
If you leave me baby, don't you know you're gonna hurt me so

Junior Wells later recorded the song for his album Coming at You (1968);[23][24] Buddy Guy also recorded it for Hold That Plane! (1972).[25][26] Magic Sam, another Chicago blues player, recorded his version of the song for his second album Black Magic in 1969.

Al Kooper / Stephen Stills

In 1968,

phasing' that gave it an eerie jet-plane effect."[21] AllMusic critic Lindsay Planer noted in an album review: "Updating the blues standard 'You Don't Love Me' allows Stills to sport some heavily distorted licks, which come off sounding like Jimi Hendrix."[27][a]

Dawn Penn

Jamaican singer Dawn Penn recorded "You Don't Love Me" in 1967.[29] She was introduced to the song by producer Coxsone Dodd, who imported American rhythm and blues records to play for his sound system entertainment businesses.[30] Most of the Bo Diddley/Willie Cobbs melody and lyrics were used, however, her version featured a rocksteady backing arrangement instead of the guitar riff.

No no no, you don't love me and I know now (2×)
'Cause you left me baby, and I got no place to go now

In 1994, she remade it as the

Beyoncé Knowles for the I Am... World Tour
live CD/DVD in 2010 .

Allman Brothers Band

The

WPLJ-FM. It was first released on the band's Dreams compilation in 1989, and later on Live from A&R Studios
in 2016. [33]

John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers

The track was recorded by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers on their 1967 album, A Hard Road. It is one of only two tracks on the original release that featured Peter Green on lead vocals. It followed the Wells/Guy version of the song.[34]

Recognition and legacy

Blues historian Gerard Herzhaft notes that "the riff of 'You Don't Love Me' has inspired quantities of bluesmen".[35] The song has been interpreted and recorded by artists in a variety of styles, with some following the Diddley/Cobbs versions and others following the Wells/Guy versions. Gary Walker recorded a version that reached number 26 in March 1966 on the UK Singles Chart.[36]

Notes

  1. phasing, sometimes identified as "flanging".[28]

References

  1. ^ a b c Dahl 1996, p. 55.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Willie Cobbs". Blue Heaven Studios. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c Living Blues 2000, p. 19.
  4. ^ Chapman 2015, eBook.
  5. ^ Malvinni 2013, p. 29.
  6. ^ a b O'Neal & van Singel 2002, pp. 267–268.
  7. ^ a b c d Leadbitter & Slaven 1987, p. 269.
  8. ^ Titon 2008, p. 198.
  9. ^ Jones 2012, p. 363.
  10. ^ Billboard 1955, p. 47.
  11. ^ "Diddley Daddy" / "She's Fine She's Mine", Checker Records 819
  12. ^ Whitburn 1988, p. 118.
  13. ^ Billboard 1961a, p. 36.
  14. ^ Billboard 1961b, p. 31.
  15. ^ Herzhaft 2003, p. 412.
  16. ^ "Willie Cobbs: 'You Don't Love Me' – Appears On". AllMusic. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  17. ^ "The Megatones: 'Shimmy Shimmy Walk' – Appears On". AllMusic. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  18. ^ Billboard 1961c, p. 23.
  19. ^ Billboard 1962, Cover.
  20. ^ "Albert King: As Years Go By – Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  21. ^ a b Kooper 2008, p. 134.
  22. ^ Harper 2016, p. 38.
  23. ^ Dahl, Bill. "Junior Wells: Coming at You – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  24. ^ Wells's Coming at You album liner notes list the songwriter as "Willie C. Cob" [sic].
  25. ^ Dahl, Bill. "Buddy Guy: Hold That Plane – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  26. ^ Guy's Hold That Plane LP label lists "Ellis McDaniel" as the songwriter.
  27. ^ a b Planer, Lindsay. "Al Kooper/Mike Bloomfield/Stephen Stills: Super Session – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  28. BBC.com
    . Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  29. ^ a b Henderson, Alex. "Dawn Penn – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  30. ^ Moskowitz 2005, eBook.
  31. ^ Harper 2016, p. 58.
  32. ^ "Allman Brothers Band: New York, NY – Sunday, August 15, 1971, Academy of Music, Setlist". allmanbrothersband.com. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  33. ^ "The Allman Brothers Band Live from A&R Studios: Limited Edition Vinyl LP Release". allmanbrothersband.com. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  34. ^ "John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers: 'A Hard Road' - Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  35. ^ Herzhaft 1992, pp. 195, 478.
  36. ^ "Gary Walker – Singles". Official Charts. Retrieved June 22, 2019.

Bibliography