She is noted for her elegant interpretations of standards, ballads, and blues. Her characteristic inflections have sometimes prompted comparisons to stylistic devices employed by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Jones' recordings, particularly her debut record (Don't Go To Strangers, 1960), have earned wide admiration in a new generation of listeners.
She had three Grammy nominations, for the Don't Go to Strangers LP in 1960, Save Your Love for Me in 1981, and My Buddy in 1999.
Jones had a musical partnership of more than thirty years with tenor sax player Houston Person, who received equal billing with her. He also produced her albums and served as her manager.
Jones was born in Aiken, South Carolina, and raised in Harlem. She died at the age of 72 from cancer. She was survived by her husband, John Medlock, and a granddaughter.
You Don't Know What Love Is
Etta Jones Lyrics
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'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.
The lyrics of Etta Jones's song You Don't Know What Love Is speak of the pain and heartbreak that one feels when they have truly loved and lost. The lyrics suggest that until one has experienced the blues and the feeling of losing a love that they have invested in, they truly do not know what love is. They go on to describe the physical and emotional pain that comes with love - the hurt of lips when one has to pay the cost of a love that ends, the fear a lost heart feels at the thought of reminiscing, and the burning pain that comes with the loss of a love that cannot live yet never dies.
The lyrics also speak to the loss of innocence that comes with love. The idea that one does not truly know what love is until they have had to lose it suggests that there is a certain naivety that comes with experiencing love for the first time. Once that love is lost, one's perception of love changes forever.
Overall, the lyrics of You Don't Know What Love Is encapsulate the pain and heartbreak that comes with love, but also suggest that this pain is necessary in order to truly understand and appreciate what love is.
Line by Line Meaning
You don't know what love is
Love is an emotion that transcends all feelings, until you have actually experienced it, you cannot fully comprehend its true nature.
'Til you've learned the meaning of the blues
Learning the true meaning of an emotion that is dark and depressing helps you fully comprehend the opposite emotion of love.
Until you've loved a love you've had to lose,
Only when you have loved deeply and lost that love can you truly understand the full range of emotions that come with love.
You don't know how lips hurt
Experiencing the pain of losing a love that you once had is similar to the pain of cutting your lips.
Until you've kissed and had to pay the cost,
Until you have lost love, you do not understand the cost of truly experiencing love.
Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost,
Until you have turned your entire being over to love only to have it taken away, you do not understand what love is.
You don't know how hearts burn
The heartache that comes with love is an intense, burning pain that consumes you wholly.
For love that can, not live yet never dies.
The love that you may have lost, still lives on inside of you, and never truly dies.
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes,
When you are consumed and cannot sleep due to the pain and heartache of love, you finally understand what love really is.
Do you know how a lost heart fears
A broken heart is full of fear, unsure if the love lost will ever return.
At the thought of reminiscing,
The mere thought of remembering past love is terrifying when you have lost that love.
And how lips that taste of tears
Tasting the salt from tears on your lips is a reminder of the pain that comes with love.
Lose their taste for kissing?
After losing love, the desire to kiss and love again is lost.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DON RAYE, GENE DE PAUL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind