Perfect Song: You Don't Know My Name
Do you remember your first crush? How did that person make you feel? If you’re like me, there was a flurry of movement in your stomach every time you saw them A bit of nervousness mixed with the elation of excitement.
My first crush was Ashley Banks of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Yes, I get it, Will Smith was the main character, the perfect protagonist, a symbol of Blackness in the 90s. Will was the reason that so many tuned into that show weekly, but I am a contrarian. I was there for Ashley Banks.
I related to her duality of being both the coolest and most awkward person in the room. Her love of her Blackness yet constantly surrounded by the whiteness around her. I knew the name of her friends, the school she went to, what type of music she liked. I felt like I knew everything. The saddest part of it all was, she did not know my name.
Welcome to the Perfect Song. A once a month newsletter on the Mesh Point where we discuss the perfect songs. This month’s song is “You Don’t Know My Name” by Alicia Keys
It’s getting cold outside. We’re talking that first step outside and immediately saying something that would get you slapped by your grannie cold. Yet, Alicia Keys 2003 hit “You Don’t Know My Name” feels like a warm blanket. Once we start to see condensation coming out of the exhaust pipe, I come to the Diary of Alicia Keys.
“You Don’t Know My Name” begins an all time run on that album with the following tracks being “If I Ain’t Got You” and “Diary” Three of Keys’ best songs in her entire discography. This perfect song already feels like it has reached the pantheon of timeless Black soul songs. A song that will come on in twenty years and I will look at some youngin and say “what y’all know about this” while my body and mind are transported back to the ways this song made me feel in 2003.
In 2003, I didn’t have the slightest idea of what love was or probably even how to properly express it to anyone outside of my parents but I knew the instant I heard this song it felt like someone was in love.
In part, this is due to the sampling done by Ye (the artist previously known as Kanye West). Samples are at their best when they keep the original feel of the song they are sampling. Great samples add a slight texture or layer that brings the original to the present day and give space for the artist to showcase their talents. Ye chops up the 1975 song "Let Me Prove My Love to You" by the Main Ingredient, adds his quintessential drums then backs it with vocals from John Legend and Harold Lily is a masterclass. A top tier Ye beat.
I’ve waxed poetic about the beauty of this song and have yet to get to (arguably) the best part of the whole thing: the music video and story within the lyrics. If you have not watched the music video, please stop and watch.
The ATL movie director Chris Robinson directed this music video. The video tells the lyrical story with both beauty and comedy. The video looks just like it sounds. Yes, I am aware of how that statement both makes little sense and makes perfect sense.
You both adore and resonate with the love that strikes Alicia as she falls for someone the first time she sees them (I’m looking at you Ashley Banks.) But still you watch with slight humor (or pity) knowing that there is no way Alicia Keys’ story ends with a Disney storybook ending. She sees this man, falls in love, later runs into him at a house party as a fight breaks out, then later sees him again only to never call him to tell him how she feels. As sad as this is, it’s not the saddest part of the song, nor is it what gives the song its Black mystique that makes it so damn good. It’s what the love interest orders at the diner.
In the spoken interlude we learn that Michael Harris, played by Yasin Bey, likes to order the special with hot chocolate. This sounds quite normal until in the music video we learn that the special is “fried fish with yams and greens.” Mr. Harris is not simply drinking some cheap watered down hot chocolate with this meal but is fact having his hot chocolate made with milk and cream, despite the managers reluctance all because Alicia Keys feels like our man is special.
On one hand, game recognize game. On the other hand, if she truly loves him, why is she setting him up for the shit of a lifetime? If I ate fried fish, yams, greens and then washed it down with steaming hot chocolate made with milk and cream my stomach would sound like a Michael Bay film. I know they say love requires you to make sacrifices and take risk but damn, she is out here committing war crimes on my mans stomach. For the record: I would have never done that you, Ashley Banks. I can’t tell you how many times I have listened to this song and that line still makes me laugh and question the love interest’s dietary choices. But again that’s just another beautiful part of this song that will remain timeless and unknown.
Another great mark of a timeless soul song, is how it is eventually reworked or sampled. Earlier this year, DC rapper Foggie Raw showed the influential power this song has on Black millienals by taking the same concept but flipping it in an ever so creative way. An automatic 10/10 for trying to spit game in the middle of waffle house. What is more romantic than someone telling you how beautiful you are over the All-Star special? At least in the 4th grade that is the way I thought I would have told Ashley Banks, but remember, she still doesn’t know my name
This is my favorite piece you've published here yet! Can you do a perfect song on TONY by Solange? That song is impeccable.