Wallace Daniel Pennington (16 November 1941 -) is an American singer, songw… Read Full Bio ↴Wallace Daniel Pennington (16 November 1941 -) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and sometime guitar player who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s including "Dark End of the Street" & "Do Right Woman" (with Chips Moman) and "Out of Left Field" & "Cry Like A Baby" (with Spooner Oldham). Penn has also produced hits such as "The Letter" by The Box Tops, amongst others. Though he is considered to be one of the great white soul singers, Penn has a meagre recorded output, preferring the relative anonymity of songwriting & producing.
Penn grew up in Vernon, Alabama and spent much his teens and early twenties in the Quad Cities/Muscle Shoals area. He was a regular at Rick Hall's FAME Studios as a performer, songwriter and producer. It was during his time with FAME that Penn cut his first record, "Crazy Over You" in 1960, and wrote his first hit, "Is a Bluebird Blue?" which was recorded by Conway Twitty in the same year. The success of "I'm Your Puppet," a #6 pop hit for James & Bobby Purify, convinced him that songwriting was a worthwhile (and lucrative) career choice.
In early 1966, Penn moved to Memphis, began writing for Press Publishing Company, and worked with Chips Moman at his American Studios. Their intense and short-lived partnership produced some of the best known and most enduring songs of the genre. Their first collaboration, the enduring classic "Dark End of the Street", was first a hit for James Carr and has been recorded by many others since, notably by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris and by Linda Ronstandt. A few months later, during the legendary recording sessions that saw Jerry Wexler introduce Aretha Franklin to FAME Studios and her first major success, the pair wrote "Do Right Woman" in the studio for her. In early 1967 Penn produced "The Letter" for The Box Tops. He and long-time friend and collaborator Spooner Oldham also wrote a number of hits for the band, including "Cry Like a Baby"
Penn continued writing & producing hits for numerous artists during the 60s and finally released a record of his own, Nobody's Fool, in 1972. He was coaxed into the studio again in 1993 to record the acclaimed "Do Right Man" which saw him reunited with many of his friends and colleagues from Memphis & Muscle Shoals.
He now lives in Nashville and continues to write with Oldham and other contemporaries such as Donnie Fritts, Gary Nicholson & Norbert Putnam. He and Carson Whitsett have had their collaborations recorded by Irma Thomas and Johnny Adams and often teamed with writers Jonnie Barmett and later, Hoy Lindsey. The Penn/Whitsett/Lindsey team are responsible for Solomon Burke's "Don't Give Up On Me", and Penn produced 2005's Better to Have It by Bobby Purify that featured twelve songs from the team.

Ain't No Love
Dan Penn Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Ain't no love in this old town for me
Ain't no love in this old town for me
Since my baby has pulled up stakes on me
There ain't no love in this old town for me

There's barbecue and dinner on the grounds
Old folks prop me up or I'll fall down
But sympathy don't set a man's heart free

And there just ain't no love in this old town for me

Oh, when I think about leavin'
It seems so hard to find
Oh, the strength to say goodbye (Say goodbye)
And when I think about leavin'
Raindrops fill my eyes
It's hard to say goodbye (Say goodbye)

Ain't no love in this old town for me
Guess it's about time I faced reality
There's none so blind as he who will not see
And I see there just ain't no love in this old town for me

Ain't no love
This old town
This old town
It's got me, got me, got me down

Well, I think I better move on, move on, move on, move on
Yes, I gotta move on, move on, move on (Move on)
Yes, I gotta move on, move on (Move on, move on)
Well yes, I gotta move on, move on (Move on, move on)
'Cause this old town (Move on, move on, move on, move on)
It's got me, got me, got me, got me down (Move on, move on, move on, move on)
Alright (Move on, move on, move on, move on)
Alright (Move on, move on, move on, move on)
Alright (Move on, move on, move on, move on)

Alright (Move on, move on, move on, move on)
Alright (Move on, move on, move on, move on)

Overall Meaning

In Dan Penn's song "Ain't No Love," the singer is lamenting the fact that there is no love in his town since his partner left him. He describes how he receives sympathy and support from the community, but it doesn't do anything to heal his heartache. The singer is struggling to find the strength to leave town and start over, and he acknowledges that he needs to face reality and move on. The repetition of the phrase "move on" at the end of the song emphasizes his need to let go and leave behind the pain of his past relationship.

The lyrics of "Ain't No Love" speaks to the universal experience of heartbreak and the difficulties of moving on from a lost love. The line "there's none so blind as he who will not see" suggests that the singer is aware of his own reluctance to leave, even though he knows it's necessary for his own emotional wellbeing. The imagery of "raindrops fill my eyes" conveys the depth of the singer's sadness and the struggle he faces in moving on. Overall, the song is a poignant meditation on the complexities of love and loss.

Line by Line Meaning

Ain't no love in this old town for me
I am not receiving any love from anyone in this town

Since my baby has pulled up stakes on me
Ever since my partner left me

There's barbecue and dinner on the grounds
Even though there are community events happening

Old folks prop me up or I'll fall down
Elderly people help me stay strong

But sympathy don't set a man's heart free
However, receiving sympathy does not heal the emptiness in my heart

And there just ain't no love in this old town for me
And I have not found love in this town

When I think about leavin', It seems so hard to find
When I consider leaving, it appears difficult to do

The strength to say goodbye (Say goodbye)
To find the courage to say farewell

Raindrops fill my eyes
My eyes begin to water

It's hard to say goodbye (Say goodbye)
Saying goodbye is difficult

Guess it's about time I faced reality
I should accept the truth now