You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)

The 1994 single credits Dawn Penn, Bo Diddley and Willie Cobbs. Cobbs recorded his "You Don't Love Me" in Memphis in 1960 for release in 1961, adapting Diddley's "She's Fine, She's Mine" (1955). Penn recorded her reggae version at Studio One in 1967; the Gleaner lists the musicians as Tommy McCook, Johnny Moore, Lloyd Brevett, Roland Alphonso, Lloyd Knibb and Jackie Mittoo, who was musical director, and Johnny Moore is credited with the two-note introduction. Penn says the lyrics came about because she was in love like everyone else and had a broken heart in the process; she told the Guardian in 2017, as the Quietus quotes it, that she used to sing a gospel song, "Yes, yes, yes, Jesus loves me", and so she sang "no no no". She has said she wrote it and helped compose the music.

Over fifty years it was recorded five times by four producers: Studio One in 1967 and again in 1968, Jammys in 1990, Trojan in 1992 and Steely & Clevie in 1993, according to the Gleaner. The 1994 single came out on Big Beat on February 17, 1994 by Wikipedia's dating, with the Quietus putting Atlantic's release in May, and runs 4:37, produced by Steely & Clevie at the Mixing Lab in Kingston. The refrain of U-Roy's "Wake the Town" opens it. Clevie told the Jamaica Observer in 2022 that Penn had come to the studio to sell a two-inch tape, and they decided instead to ask her to re-record it. The UK edition appeared in six mixes, from a 3:19 radio edit to a 6:07 instrumental, so which one our upload is was not established.

It entered the UK chart at number nine in the week of June 11, 1994 and peaked at number three, reached number one on the UK dance chart, number 58 on the US Hot 100, and charted across Europe; Spin put it 11th among 1994's singles. Music Week's Andy Beevers called it a reggae masterpiece, and Q listed it at 477 of its 1001 best songs ever in 2003. Renee Johnston directed the video, with Penn singing in a nightclub. The Specials' "Ten Commandments" bassline is mentioned as related by the Quietus; later covers and samples include Aswad's "You're No Good" (1994), Rihanna and Vybz Kartel (2005), Lily Allen's "Shame for You" (2006) and Mary J. Blige's "Amazing" (2021).