"I Don't Know Why" (sometimes listed as "Don't Know Why I Love You") is a song by American singer-songwriter

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

, from the 1968 album ''

For Once in My Life "For Once in My Life" is a song written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records' Stein & Van Stock publishing company, and first recorded in 1965. It was written and first recorded as a slow ballad, in 1965 by Connie Haines, but the ...

''. It was released as a single on January 28, 1969, with " My Cherie Amour" on the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

. A few months later, the single was re-issued with sides reversed because of the growing popularity of "My Cherie Amour", which became a Top Ten hit. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' stated that "Wonder is softened just a trifle on this slower and more dramatically developing ballad."

Personnel

– vocals,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

– all other instruments

Charts

The single peaked at No. 39 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was recorded when Wonder was 18 years old, and became a moderate hit single, together with "You Met Your Match", another song from the album. It also showcases Wonder's talents on the

Rolling Stones version

A rendition of "I Don't Know Why" by

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

is included on their 1975 rarities compilation ''

Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and different ...

''. It was recorded on July 3, 1969, during the sessions for ''

Let It Bleed ''Let It Bleed'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 28 November 1969 by London Records in the United States and on 5 December 1969 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. Released during the ba ...

''. It was also the night that news broke of former guitarist

Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English musician and founder of the Rolling Stones. Initially a slide guitarist, he went on to sing backing vocals and played a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones r ...

' death, less than a month after he had been fired from the band. The song was also used as the B-side for their 1975 single " Try A Little Harder", and peaked at No. 42 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

References

{{authority control 1968 songs 1969 singles Stevie Wonder songs Songs written by Lula Mae Hardaway Songs written by Stevie Wonder Torch songs Song recordings produced by Stevie Wonder Tamla Records singles