Born in Providence, RI, Jeffrey Osborne was the youngest of 12 children and was constantly bombarded with music as he was growing up. He had five brothers and six sisters, some of whom went on to have music careers. His father, Clarence "Legs" Osborne, was a popular trumpeter who played with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington, and died when Jeffrey was only 13. His mother, Wanita, is ancestored by a Pequot Indian sachem. His oldest brother, Clay Osborne, is a singer and pianist, and Billy, another brother, is a songwriter and producer in Los Angeles. But Osborne's father had the greatest influence on his musical career; Clarence "Legs" Osborne turned down many top band offers during his career to be with his family. It was only after receiving his mother's encouragement that Jeffrey left for Los Angeles to play with L.T.D. At the age of 15, he sat in with the O'Jays when the drummer was too tired to play, and went on to play with them for two weeks. It was at a Providence nightclub that fate brought him together with the band Love Men Ltd. in 1969.
Osborne's solo career has brought him five gold and platinum albums, including Stay With Me Tonight, Aymuk, and Only Human. He also recorded an album of duets with popular singer James Ingram, and scored an international hit with "On the Wings of Love" in 1982. Osborne's touring and recording continue to keep him busy much of the time, but he also devotes some of his time to charity work.
I Don't Know
Jeffrey Osborne 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
You don't know what love is
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 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
You don't know, knooo-ow what love is
In Jeffrey Osborne's song "You Don't Know What Love Is," the lyrics express that one cannot truly understand what love truly is until they have experienced the pain of loss and heartbreak. The opening lines assert that the meaning of love can be discovered through the experience of the blues, which commonly refers to the melancholic musical genre born out of African American music traditions. This suggests that love and the blues are intertwined and love can bring feelings of sadness and heartbreak. Osborne emphasizes that love can only truly be understood if one has loved someone they have had to lose, emphasizing the importance of experiencing heartbreak in order to gain a true understanding of love.
Further on in the lyrics, Osborne makes it clear that love is not just about the good times, but the pain that can come with it. He notes that lips can hurt after kissing someone who ultimately causes one pain, and that a heart can be flipped and lost. Osborne's lyrics also talk about how the longing and memory of love can haunt someone so intensely that they are unable to appreciate the present, and how the taste of tears can make someone numb to the pleasure of kissing. The song concludes with Osborne telling the listener that they truly cannot understand what love is, until they have experienced burning hearts and dawn with sleepless eyes, further reiterating that love involves more than just simply being happy and in love.
Line by Line Meaning
You don't know what love is
Love is not just a simple emotion that everyone can understand, it takes much more than that to know what true love truly is.
'Til you've learned the meaning of the blues
You cannot comprehend love completely until you have experienced how painful and sorrowful it could be.
Until you've loved a love you've had to lose
True love comes with a possibility of losing it at some point, and only those who have loved and then lost, truly understand what love is.
You don't know how lips hurt
The pain that comes with love is beyond just emotional, it's physical too, and those who never felt that soreness in their lips can't understand love.
Until you've kissed and had to pay the cost
Love always comes with a cost, and paying that price is a must for anyone who wants to truly know what love is.
Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost
Sacrificing and giving all of yourself to love, even if that means losing yourself is a sign of love, and only then can you know what love is.
Do you know how lost I've been
Love can make you lose your sense of self and clarity, and only by experiencing it can one know the feeling of being lost in love.
At the thought of reminiscing
Memories of love, although may seem happy, can also bring back the pain and suffering that comes along with love, that's the true reflection of love.
And how lips that taste of tears
Through loving someone, you get to see their true selves, their vulnerabilities, and yes, tears, and you learn to accept and love them even more.
Lose their taste for kissing
The physical aspect of love, like kissing, becomes associated with sadness rather than happiness, and only then can you say you have lost love.
You don't know how hearts burn
Love can cause immense pain and burning sensation inside your heart, and only then can you say that you have truly loved.
For love that cannot live yet never dies
Despite the impermanence of love, the feelings and memories never really die, and only those who've experienced it can know the eternal essence of love.
Until you've faced each dawn with sleepless eyes
Thoughts of love can keep you up all night and make it hard to face everyday life, and only those who have gone through it can know that feeling.
You don't know, knooo-ow what love is
True love is beyond words and phrases, it's a feeling that can only be felt, and only those who have experienced it truly know what love is.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DON RAYE, GENE DE PAUL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind