YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS- A TRUE TORCH SONG

You Don't Know What Love Is-A True Torch Song.  In 1943, Gene  Depaul, a fim composer wrote a searing love ballad with lyrics by Don Raye.( The same year they had also written " I'll Remember April ." ) Although , it is not written in the accepted format of the classic blues song, it is about the blues and the despair of failed romance .The lyric even suggests that " You Don't Know What Love Is, Until you've Learned the Meaning of the Blues"   According to the song, you have to endure the suffering that everyone must undergo if one is to know and experience the meaning of the blues.
The song is unrelenting in its insistence that despair is almost inherent in any love relationship with few ever escaping without some emotional scars before achieving some degree of harmony.
It is sung by Anne Phillips, a relatively unknown New York based singer who recorded a fine album in 1959 called " Born to Be Blue". The recording is still available having become somewhat of a cult classic for lovers of mature ballads from The Great American Songbook, artfully arranged for strings and a jazz ensemble. A mature woman singing a mature song is a welcome respite from the the over-the-top shreiking heard so often on American Idol and  pop music stations.

LINK:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZOdcc7HUr0