You Don't Love Me (Willie Cobbs song)
| "You Don't Love Me" | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Willie Cobbs | |
| B-side | "You're So Hard to Please" |
| Released | 1960 |
| Format | 7-inch 45 rpm record |
| Recorded | Memphis, Tennessee, 1960 |
| Genre | Blues |
| Length | 2:55 |
| Label | Mojo (no. 2168) |
| 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. 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. Derived from an earlier song by Bo Diddley, it has inspired many popular adaptations, including "Shimmy Shimmy Walk" by the Megatons and "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)" by Jamaican singer Dawn Penn.
Willie Cobbs, an Arkansas native, moved to Chicago in 1947, where he began exploring the burgeoning blues scene centered around Maxwell Street. While in Chicago, he learned the blues harp from Little Walter and began an association with pianist Eddie Boyd. 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. Cobbs and Boyd eventually returned to Arkansas and began performing in the local clubs. 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. However, similar verses (along with the melody and guitar figure) are found in "She's Fine She's Mine", a song recorded by Bo Diddley in 1955 for Checker Records, a Chess subsidiary. 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. 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. However, two other producers, Billy Lee Riley and Stan Kessler, overheard the audition and offered to record him.
Cobbs and Boyd entered the Echo Studio in Memphis to record "You Don't Love Me" for Riley's Mojo Records. Cobbs sang while Boyd accompanied him on piano. According to Cobb and Boyd, Sammy Lawhorn, who later was a member of Muddy Waters' touring band, provided the distinctive guitar figure. A Vee-Jay discography lists Rico Collins on tenor saxophone, Wilbert Harris on drums, and Cobbs on bass. However, Cobbs claims that an unknown bassist performed for the session, after his regular bass player had quit. 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: {{poemquote|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. 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". Diddley uses a repeated figure on his tremolo-laden guitar and the first verses are sung without lyrics:
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