Born in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she attended George Westinghouse High School and studied music at the Filion School of Music in Pittsburgh. Later she performed regularly in the Hill District, a jazz hotspot, as a vocalist with the Joe Westray Orchestra, a popular Pittsburgh orchestra. She next spent several years in the nightclub circuit in such cities as Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland and St. Louis. While in New York, she was noticed singing at a Harlem nightclub called the Baby Grand by Dave Cavanaugh, a producer for Capitol Records. She was signed and released several singles, her success leading her to win Down Beat magazine's "Most Promising Newcomer" award in 1955. In 1958, Staton wed Talib Dawud, a black Antigua-born Ahmadi Muslim trumpeter and noted critic of Elijah Muhammad. She subsequently converted to Islam and used the name Aliyah Rabia for some time. The marriage ultimately ended in divorce.
She released several critically acclaimed albums in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including: The Late, Late Show (1957), whose title track was her biggest hit, In the Night (1957), a collaboration with pianist George Shearing, Dynamic! (1958) and Dakota at Storyville (1961), a live album recorded at the Storyville jazz club in Boston. In the mid-1960s Staton moved to England, where she recorded the album Dakota ′67. Returning to the US in the early 1970s, she continued to record semi-regularly, her recordings taking an increasingly strong gospel and blues influence. She suffered a stroke in 1999, after which her health deteriorated. Staton died in New York City aged 76 in 2007.
You Don't Know What Love Is
Dakota Staton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
'Til you've learned the meaning of the blues
Until you've loved a love you've had to lose,
You don't know what love is.
You don't know how lips hurt
Until you've kissed and had to pay the cost,
Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost,
Do you know how a lost heart fears
At the thought of reminiscing,
And how lips that taste of tears
Lose their taste for kissing?
You don't know how hearts burn
For love that can, not live yet never dies.
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes,
You don't know what love is.
In Dakota Staton's song "You Don't Know What Love Is," the singer is warning someone that they cannot fully understand love until they have experienced the pain of loss and heartbreak. The lyrics suggest that this pain is what gives love its true meaning. The singer uses vivid imagery to convey the physical and emotional toll that love can take on a person. For example, the line "You don't know how lips hurt until you've kissed and had to pay the cost" suggests that a person might feel physical pain after being intimate with someone they love, but who does not return their affections.
The lyrics also suggest that love can be all-consuming, causing a person to lose their sense of self. The line "Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost" implies that love can make a person feel as if they have lost control over their own emotions. The song also explores the theme of nostalgia, with the lines "Do you know how a lost heart fears at the thought of reminiscing" and "how lips that taste of tears lose their taste for kissing?" suggesting that memories of lost love can be bittersweet and painful.
Overall, "You Don't Know What Love Is" is a poignant portrayal of the complexities of romantic love, and the ways in which it can shape and transform us.
Line by Line Meaning
You don't know what love is
You cannot truly understand what love is.
'Til you've learned the meaning of the blues
Unless you have experienced heartache and pain, you cannot comprehend the true essence of love.
Until you've loved a love you've had to lose,
Until you have loved someone and then lost them, you don't fully grasp what love truly means.
You don't know what love is.
Without experiencing the ups and downs of love, you cannot truly understand the depth of this powerful emotion.
You don't know how lips hurt
One cannot realize the true pain of love until they experience the physical pain of heartbreak.
Until you've kissed and had to pay the cost,
Only when you have loved and lost, and had to deal with the consequences, can you truly understand the weight of love.
Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost,
Only when you have taken the risk to open up your heart and then lost it all can you truly grasp the true nature of love.
You don't know what love is.
Without experiencing the ups and downs of love, you cannot truly understand the depth of this powerful emotion.
Do you know how a lost heart fears
One who has lost their love knows the fear that comes with change and uncertainty.
At the thought of reminiscing,
A person who has lost their love feels pain when they think about their past memories.
And how lips that taste of tears
One who has experienced heartbreak knows what it's like to cry endlessly.
Lose their taste for kissing?
The flavor of kisses lose their appeal.
You don't know how hearts burn
Only when one suffers from heartbreak, they can experience the feeling of torment and pain inside them.
For love that can, not live yet never dies.
Love cannot be kept in a box. It cannot live, but it will never die.
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes,
One who has gone through heartbreak knows the feeling of not being able to sleep because of pain and emptiness.
You don't know what love is.
Without experiencing the ups and downs of love, you cannot truly understand the depth of this powerful emotion.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DON RAYE, GENE DE PAUL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind