"You Don't Know What Love Is" is a popular song of the Great American Songbook, with music by Gene de Paul and lyrics by Don Raye. It was written in 1941 for the Abbott and Costello film Keep 'Em Flying, in which Carol Bruce sang it during the shoot, but the song was cut before the film's release. It was then included in Behind the Eight Ball (1942), starring the Ritz Brothers, with Carol Bruce singing it again. Ella Fitzgerald's 1941 recording was the first release of the song. It was published in 1941 by MCA Music and became a jazz standard in the 1950s.
Miles Davis recorded an instrumental version in 1954, and Dinah Washington recorded a soulful vocal version a year later. Anita O'Day made a modern jazz version. Other notable recordings were made by Billie Holiday, with string arrangements by Ray Ellis, and by Sonny Rollins and Chet Baker.
