Washington was born Ruth Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As she was growing up in Chicago, she played piano and directed her church choir. Later, she studied in Walter Dyett's renowned music program at DuSable High School. For a while, she split her time between performing in clubs as Dinah Washington while singing and playing piano in Salle Martin's gospel choir as Ruth Jones.
Washington began performing in 1942 and soon joined Lionel Hampton's band. In 1943, she began recording for Keynote Records and released "Evil Gal Blues", her first hit. By 1955, she had released numerous hit songs on the R&B charts, including "Baby, Get Lost", "Trouble in Mind", "You Don't Know What Love Is" (arranged by Quincy Jones), and a cover of "Cold, Cold Heart" by Hank Williams. In 1958 she made a well-received appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival.
With "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" 1959, Washington won a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Performance; the song was her biggest hit, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The commercially driven album of the same name, with its heavily reliance on strings and wordless choruses, was slammed by jazz and blues critics as being far too commercial, not keeping with her blues roots. Despite this, the album was a huge success and Washington continued to favor more commercial, pop-oriented songs rather than traditional blues and jazz songs. She also dealt in torch songs; her rendition of The Platters' "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was well-regarded.
She was married seven times, and divorced six times while having several lovers, including Quincy Jones, her young arranger. She was known to be imperious and demanding in real life, but audiences loved her. In London she once declared, "...there is only one heaven, one earth and one queen...Queen Elizabeth is an impostor", but the crowd loved it.
Dinah Washington died from an accidental overdose of diet pills and alcohol at the age of 39 in 1963.
You Don't Know What Love Is
Dinah Washington Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Until you've learned the meaning of the blues
Until you've loved the 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
You don't know what love is
Do you know how a lost heart feels
The thought of reminiscing
And how lips lips that taste of tears
They lose their taste for kissing
You don't know how hearts burn
For love that cannot live yet never dies
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
You don't know what love is
Do you know how a lost heart feels
The thought of reminiscing
And how lips lips that taste of tears
They lose their taste for kissing
You don't know how hearts burn
For love that cannot live yet never dies
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
You don't know what love is
"You Don't Know What Love Is" is a heartbreaking ballad that showcases Dinah Washington's incredible voice and ability to convey emotions through her music. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of the pain and agony that comes with love, and why one cannot truly understand what love is until they have experienced heartbreak.
The song's opening line sets the tone for the rest of the lyrics, as Washington sings, "You don't know what love is until you've learned the meaning of the blues." This line suggests that love and heartbreak go hand in hand, and until one has experienced the pain of losing someone they love, they cannot truly understand the full depth and meaning of love.
The second verse delves deeper into the physical and emotional toll that heartbreak takes on a person. Washington sings about how lips can hurt and lose their taste for kissing when they have tasted tears, and how hearts can burn for love that cannot live yet never dies. These lines paint a picture of a person who has been through the pain of heartbreak, and how it affects them physically as well as emotionally.
Line by Line Meaning
You don't know what love is
Love is a complex, emotional experience that cannot be understood until it is personally experienced.
Until you've learned the meaning of the blues
To truly understand love, one must also comprehend the melancholic lows associated with it.
Until you've loved the love you've had to lose
A part of loving someone is accepting the possibility of losing them, and learning to cherish the time spent together.
You don't know how lips hurt
The physical pain of love- the aches and the swelling- is indescribable until it is experienced firsthand.
Until you've kissed and had to pay the cost
The consequences that follow loving someone can be heavy to bear and is something one can only truly learn through experience.
Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost
Losing someone you love, who you thought would always be by your side, is one of the most painful experiences one can go through.
Do you know how a lost heart feels
The aftermath of losing love, of feeling lost and without direction, is something that needs to be felt before it can be fully comprehended.
The thought of reminiscing
Memories have the power to both comfort and hurt, and the thought of revisiting them is a complex mix of emotions.
And how lips that taste of tears, they lose their taste for kissing
Tears shed for lost love can change the way we perceive things, even something as simple as a kiss.
You don't know how hearts burn
The emotional pain of loving someone who you cannot be with is intense, like a fire deep within one's being that never seems to quell.
For love that cannot live yet never dies
Even though love may not be able to exist in the physical world, it remains eternal and forever alive in the heart.
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
Loving someone without being able to be with them can lead to restless nights and exhaustion, a struggle that only the heartbroken fully understand.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DON RAYE, GENE DE PAUL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Daniela Cárdenas Ramos
You don't know what love is
Until you've learned the meaning of the blues
Until you've loved a love you had to loose
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 you're heart and you have lost
You don't know what love is
Do you know how a lost heart fears
The thought of reminiscing
And how lips have taste of tears
Loose the taste for kissing
You don't know how hearts burn
For love that cannot live, yet never dies
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
You don't know what love is
You don't know how hearts burn
For love that cannot live, yet never dies
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
How could you know what love is, what love is
What love is
Te C-Jones
My favorite version of this song, and my favorite song by her. One of her best covers in my opinion!
Thomas Lombardo
What a voice ! Barry Galbraith on guitar.😊😊😊
Ropati Dee
I was wondering who was on guitar, thanks!
Andre Brown
@Ropati Dee the voice that pounce towards to you awesome...I was puzzled /I was dumb found I thought is was Nancy Wilson!
Andre Brown
Class songstress!! Timeless voice...!
Daniela Cárdenas Ramos
You don't know what love is
Until you've learned the meaning of the blues
Until you've loved a love you had to loose
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 you're heart and you have lost
You don't know what love is
Do you know how a lost heart fears
The thought of reminiscing
And how lips have taste of tears
Loose the taste for kissing
You don't know how hearts burn
For love that cannot live, yet never dies
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
You don't know what love is
You don't know how hearts burn
For love that cannot live, yet never dies
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
How could you know what love is, what love is
What love is
Marcelo Visconti
Beatiful vibrato. Great Trombone!
D Shey
She was one of the very best jazz vocalists. So sad she died young. Nancy Wilson's style was heavily influenced by Dinah Washington. They sound so much alike.
J H
Her voice makes my heart dance 3
geoff garfield
Just love this version
Dinah Washington was a secret to.many
She lived fast and died young But what a singer
She however has always been my choice of a vocalist