Song Lyric Sunday: Ral Donner, “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Until You Lose It)”

Song Lyric Sunday 1 Minute

Jim’s prompt for today is "can’t, don’t, shouldn’t, won’t," which sound really easy until you consider how anal I am about making sure my choices are unique. I looked through the year-end Hot 100’s until I found a song, and it’s actually pretty interesting…

Ral Donner, was born in Norwood Park, a Chicago neighborhood on the far northwest side, not far from O’Hare Airport. His voice was very similar to Elvis Presley’s, and in fact when his first single, an Elvis song called "The Girl Of My Best Friend," came out, many people thought it was Elvis. His biggest hit was 1961’s "You Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Until You Lose It)," a song by Paul Hampton and George Burton. It reached #4 on the Hot 100 and #25 in the UK.

The lyrics, from Genius:

You don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it
You gave me you-your love but I abused it
And now I’m sorry for the things I didn’t say
`cause I know now I acted in a foolish way
(oh yeah) uh-huh-huh (oh yeah) oh-oh-yeah

You don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it
You gave me you-your love but I misused it
I never knew how lonely loneliness could be
And now I need you, dear, as you once needed me
(oh yeah) uh-huh-huh (oh yeah) oh-oh-yeah

So now if you’d come to this lonely heart you own
I’d give you all my lovin’ like you’ve never known
(bung, bung, bung, bung)

You don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it
You gave me you-your love but I misused it
And now I’m sorry for the things I didn’t say
`cause I know now I acted in a foolish way
(oh yeah) uh-huh-huh (oh yeah) oh-oh-yeah

And that’s Song Lyric Sunday for February 13, 2022.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

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14 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Ral Donner, “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Until You Lose It)””

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  4. Wow! He does sound like Elvis. If you would have just put this on your blog, I would have thought this was Elvis. This must have helped and hurt his career. I looked him up and he died young too..so sad.

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