“Don’t Know Why”

March 18, 2015 • 8:00 am

Norah Jones‘s (b. 1979) real name is Geetali Norah Jones Shankar, and it’s well known that she’s the daughter of sitar virtuoso Ravi Shanker (her mother was Sue Jones). When I first heard this song in 2002, on her Come Away with Me album, I was blown away. It’s a beautiful jazz-infused song, with only five instruments (including her own piano) and a languid delivery that reminds me a bit of Billie Holiday.

“Don’t Know Why” was in fact written and first performed by Jesse Harris, but it was Jones who made it a huge hit. It nabbed her three Grammys in 2003: record of the year, song of the year, and best female pop vocal performance. Sadly, although maintaining a respectable performing and recording career, Jones never again rose to the standard of this song. She remains somewhat of a “one hit wonder.”

I’ve listened to this many times, as it’s on my iPod when I exercise, and I went back and forth on whether it’s about the death of love that’s coincident with bad sex.  But this morning I heard it again on my way to work, and concluded that it’s indeed salacious. But it’s still beautiful. This is a live version performed in Amsterdam.

The original recorded version is here, and there’s a wonderful solo version—just Jones and her piano—here (I almost put that one up).

 

36 thoughts on ““Don’t Know Why””

      1. Just like her voice, it is more complicated than that…there is a glass transition and I am pretty sure it is below 0 C. Nora typically sings at room temperature. 🙂

  2. It is a lovely song, whatever it is about. I like some of her other stuff, too, so I don’t agree about the “one hit wonder” bit. “Not Too Late” is a very good album, IMO. As is “After the Fall”.

    1. She is not a one-hit wonder in my estimation either. I like several other songs on Come Away With Me as well.

      1. That entire album, IMO, is excellent. Great songs, great versions, singing, great band.

        I tired of her style fairly quickly after the second album however.

  3. I heard a salacious double-entendre but then I pretty much always do. This song was one of “our” songs, the wife and I, from when we met.

    I always took the literal meaning of the song to be that she chickened out of running off with the love of her life.

  4. I get that Norah Jones is one of those rare gifted artists, but, (quoting Jann Arden in reference to her “one hit” Insensitive), my mother would have had a hit with that song.

    Here is Smokey, backed by God himself:

    2. Yes, wonderful. Clapton continues to amaze me. That is a gentleman who understands phrasing and the importance of the spaces between the notes.

      What a voice the Smokey still has, wow!

      1. I don’t always love EC, but in this take he turns Smokey’s solo song into a conversation, and never interrupts…..it’s a masterclass in listening while playing.

        Besides….it’s Smokey, what else do we need?

    3. I too quickly tired of Norah Jones style after listening to her first album scores of times – there is a sameness about all of her work.
      But Smokey! 55+ years and counting as the epitome of song styling.

      1. Okie-Dokie.

        I like her. I gather that she has the wherewithal and self-discipline to sing a song the same way at least two times in a row.

        Also, this is to put in a good word for her half-sister, Maud Maggart, for her rendering of “Moonlight” (Debussy’s “Clair de Lune”).

    4. “…backed by God himself”

      Coltrane played on that track? Funny, I couldn’t hear any sax.

      Just kidding, Slowhand sounded great. Smokey sounded great, too, though he does grow ever more epicene with the passing years.

      1. ” . . . though he does grow ever more epicene with the passing years.”

        Is that not-good?

        1. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! Meant solely as a neutral observation. Always great to see and hear Smokey, any time, any forum.

  7. And one more thing.

    I recently completed a history of the (American) Civil War, The Battle Cry of Freedom which I can highly recommend.

    And you’re wondering, what does this have to do with Norah Jones?

    She is a particularly excellent example of why the whole idea of miscegenation is completely moronic. (It was a big topic at the time of the Civil War and long after.)

    1. She’s a great argument on the pro- side. Hard to believe that less than 50 years ago the Commonwealth of Virginia (and a whole mess of other states) could have put the aptly named Mr. & Mrs. Loving in prison for the crime of living within its borders as husband & wife, huh?

  8. Alas, Norah Jones has more-or-less abandoned jazz influences in favor of her own simple three-chord country-style compositions. She said as much during an interview at Austin City Limits, where her set was very disappointing.

    1. She has a lovely voice. I just can’t understand this shift into a lower gear, though. The ACL show was not only musically dull, her performance was listless. She was on the same bill with the scrumptious Kat Edmonson, whose quirky jazz vocals really rang my bells.

  10. “…a languid delivery that reminds me a bit of Billie Holiday.”

    It does have a little “Tain’t Nobody’s Business” feel to it, doesn’t it? Never noticed that before.

  12. I saw her perform this, just her and her piano, in a tiny record store in Austin on her promo tour for the album, way before she won her Grammies.

    You could have heard a pin drop as she sang it, and when she finished I think everyone in the room had fallen in love with her.

  13. Here is a nice solo guitar instrumental version. (I hope this embeds okay, I have not tried this before)

  14. A very good song indeed. I wouldn’t call Nora Jones a one hit wonder though, she has some pretty excellent stuff.

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