Jackson was still in high school when country singer Hank Thompson heard her sing on an Oklahoma City radio show and asked her to record with his band in 1954. She dated Elvis Presley, who encouraged her to step away from the country-tinged gospel she had been performing since childhood and try her hand at rock and roll. She developed her own distinctive voice and performed in a variety of styles, from folksy traditional tunes to country twang and high yodels to throaty, suggestive ballads. She was a prolific singer of songs with wry lyrics such as "Fujiyama Mama," which contained many references to the World War II bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; ironically, it became a #1 hit in Japan. Her biggest hit was 1959's "Let's Have a Party."
Jackson achieved great and continuing success throughout Europe, Asia, and Australia, but has never found the same level of fame in her native United States. She toured with rock and roll pioneers such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly. She has been nominated for two Grammys, and has been awarded the Oklahoma Native Daughter Award. She has been inducted into the Oklahoma Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the International Hall of Fame, the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, and the German Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2009 was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influence.
A born-again Christian, Jackson and her husband/manager Wendell Goodman abandoned rock and roll in 1971 and spent the next 25 years performing gospel in churches.
In 1996, Jackson was invited by alt-country singer Rosie Flores to duet with her on an upcoming album. The two were so pleased with the results that Jackson joined Flores on a handful of promotional club dates which were soon extended into a five-week North American tour. Jackson, plesantly surprised to discover that she and her songs were known by a generation of rockabilly fans her grandchildren's age, soon assembled her own band and returned to clubs and festivals, where she continues to perform.
In recent years Jackson has recorded with such artists as The Cramps, Lee Rocker, Dave Alvin, and Elvis Costello. 2006 saw the release of a new Jackson album, I Remember Elvis.
In 2009, it was announced that Jackson would start work on new recordings with Jack White. The resulting album, The Party Ain't Over, was released on January 25, 2011. It included a cover of the Bob Dylan rockabilly song, "Thunder on the Mountain" and the Amy Winehouse song "You Know I'm No Good". On January 20, 2011, she performed with Jack White on The Late Show With David Letterman and again on January 25, 2011, on Conan.
I Wonder If She Knows
Wanda Jackson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The day she broke your heart and set you free
In your heart you'll never love another you're too blinded by her memory
Heaven only knows how much I love you though I know our love can never be
I wonder if she knows you're gettin' even you're taking all the hurt out on me
[ steel ]
I wonder if she knows how much you miss her
And you miss her more and more each day
Heaven only knows...
The lyrics to Wanda Jackson's song I Wonder If She Knows explore the theme of unrequited love and heartbreak. The singer of the song is in love with someone who has been hurt by another woman in the past. The lyrics express her empathy towards his pain and how she wishes she could ease his hurt. The lines "I wonder if she knows how much she hurt you" and "In your heart you'll never love another you're too blinded by her memory" show the depth of the singer's understanding of his past heartbreak. She knows that he is still in love with his ex and cannot move on.
The chorus of the song "Heaven only knows how much I love you though I know our love can never be/I wonder if she knows you're gettin' even you're taking all the hurt out on me" portrays the frustration that comes with being in love with someone who is still in love with someone else. The singer feels like she is bearing the brunt of his past hurt, as he takes out his pain on her. She yearns to help him heal and move on from the past.
Overall, I Wonder If She Knows is a poignant reflection on unrequited love and the pain of heartbreak. It conveys the hopelessness that comes with falling for someone who is still in love with someone else, and the sadness of not being able to ease their pain no matter how much you try.
Line by Line Meaning
I wonder if she knows how much she hurt you
I can't help but wonder whether the person who hurt you is aware of the extent of their actions and the pain they caused you
The day she broke your heart and set you free
On the day she ended your relationship and moved on, she caused you emotional distress and let you go
In your heart you'll never love another you're too blinded by her memory
You can't seem to get over her, and she still occupies your heart and mind even though you know that you'll never love anyone else as much as you loved her
Heaven only knows how much I love you though I know our love can never be
I love you very deeply, but I have come to accept the unfortunate fact that our love will never be reciprocated or come to fruition
I wonder if she knows you're gettin' even you're taking all the hurt out on me
I fear that you're using me as a means to get back at her for hurting you by unleashing all of your pain and anger on me
[ steel ]
This is an instrumental break or interlude with no lyrics
I wonder if she knows how much you miss her
I can't help but wonder whether she is aware of how much you yearn for her and miss her presence in your life
And you miss her more and more each day
Your feelings of longing and desire for her are intensifying with each passing day, making it even harder for you to move on
I wonder if she knows my heart is breaking I'm crying for the love she threw away
I'm struggling to cope with the fact that she chose to end our relationship and discarded the love we had, leaving me feeling heartbroken and in tears
Heaven only knows...
Only God or a higher power knows or understands the depth of our emotions and the consequences of our actions
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind