"Since I Don't Have You" is a song written and composed by Jackie Taylor, James Beaumont, Janet Vogel, Joseph Rock, Joe Verscharen, Lennie Martin, and Wally Lester. It was first a 1958 hit single for the

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

group the Skyliners on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Ronnie Milsap Ronnie Lee Milsap (born Ronald Lee Millsaps; January 16, 1943) is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country music's most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s. Nearly completely blind from birth, h ...

had a hit with the song in 1991. American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

also had some success in 1994 with their version of the song which reached the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart.

The Skyliners version

Background

Taken from their self-titled album and released in late 1958, the single reached number 12 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and number seven on the ''Cash Box'' Top 100. It was also a top five hit on the 1959

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

Charts

Don McLean version

Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Known as the "American Troubadour" or "King of the Trail", he is best known for his 1971 hit "American Pie (song), American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minut ...

's 1981 rendition reached number 23 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number six on the Adult Contemporary chart. In Canada, it peaked at number two on its AC chart.

Charts

Ronnie Milsap version

Background

artist

's version was a number six hit on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart in 1991. The single was taken from his album '' Back to the Grindstone'', released on RCA Nashville. It was produced by Milsap, Rob Galbraith, and Richard Landis.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Guns N' Roses version

Background

The song was covered by

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

for their fifth studio album, ''

"The Spaghetti Incident?" ''"The Spaghetti Incident?"'' is the fifth studio album by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. The album is composed of covers of older songs mostly in the punk rock and hard rock genres. ''"The Spaghetti Incident?"'' is the only stud ...

'' (1993). This was Guns N' Roses' 18th single release overall, and the second single released from ''"The Spaghetti Incident?"''. The single was released in early 1994, reaching No. 69 on the US Hot 100 and the top ten in the UK. The music video features actor

Gary Oldman Sir Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Gary Oldman, various accolades, including an Academ ...

– then a popular casting choice for Hollywood villains – as a smiling demon who is constantly mocking singer

Axl Rose W. Axl Rose ( ; born William Bruce Rose Jr., February 6, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its inception in ...

. The video was the last to feature original members

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the b ...

and

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

as well as drummer

Matt Sorum Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. ...

and rhythm guitarist

Gilby Clarke Gilbert J. Clarke (born August 17, 1962) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is known for having a three-year tenure as the rhythm guitarist of Guns N' Roses, replacing Izzy Stradlin in 1991 during the Use Your ...

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

'' magazine wrote, "Here to compete with the successful "Estranged" (taken from the ''

Use Your Illusion ''Use Your Illusion'' is the name of two releases by American rock band Guns N' Roses: a 1998 compilation album, drawing from the ''Use Your Illusion I'' and ''Use Your Illusion II, II'' studio albums featuring songs without explicit lyrics, an ...

'' opus) is this swaying cover of the Skyliners' pop classic. Guns N' Roses, with its own inimitable slash'n'burn delivery, leaves its marks all over it. All would be fine if only Axl could just once refrain from launching his voice into earsplitting, upper-octave shrilling. But hey, that's what makes 'em Guns N' Roses, right?"

Personnel

* W. Axl Roselead vocals, keyboards *

lead guitar *

bass *

drums * Dizzy Reedpiano *

acoustic guitar

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Other notable versions

*In 1964,

Chuck Jackson Charles Benjamin Jackson (July 22, 1937 – February 16, 2023) was an American R&B singer who was one of the first artists to record material by Burt Bacharach and Hal David successfully. He performed with moderate success starting in 1961. Hi ...

went to No. 47 on the Hot 100 with his recording. * Jay and the Americans remade "Since I Don't Have You" for their April 1969 '' Sands of Time'' album release, their rendition serving as

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 ...

for their Top Ten single "

This Magic Moment "This Magic Moment" is a song composed by lyricist Doc Pomus and pianist Mort Shuman. It was first recorded by The Drifters, with Ben E. King singing lead. Original Drifters version It was recorded first by Ben E. King and the Drifters, at ...

" released November 1968. *

The Vogues The Vogues are an United States, American Pop music, pop/rock and roll group from Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The original lineup consisted of Bill Burkette (lead baritone), Don Miller (baritone), Hugh Geyer (first tenor) ...

remade "Since I Don't Have You" for their 1968 album release ''Memories'': the track would also be included on the 1970 album release ''The Vogues Sing the Good Old Songs and Other Hits'' from which it was issued as a fourth single in December 1970 to reach #8 on the ''Billboard'' Easy Listening hit ranking, marking the Vogues last Top Ten appearance on a national chart. *Released in 1978, the motion picture American Hot Wax, a biographical picture about one day in the life of legendary Rock and Roll DJ, Alan Freed, has a fictional character, named Teenaged Louise (a thinly veiled teenaged Carole King; played by Laraine Newman) who demonstrates at the piano one of “her” song-writing compositions, Since I Don’t Have You, to the astonishment of her parents. *

Art Garfunkel Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, actor and poet who is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, Garfunkel became acquainte ...

reached No. 38 on the UK singles chart in July 1979 with his cover, while peaking at No. 53 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 5 on the adult contemporary chart in the US. * Dorothy Moore's 1979 ''Definitely Dorothy'' album release included the medley "Since I Don't Have You"/" Since I Fell for You". *

Peter Weller Peter Francis Weller (born June 24, 1947) is an American actor and television director. He has appeared in more than 70 films and television series, including ''RoboCop'' (1987) and its sequel ''RoboCop 2'' (1990), in which he played RoboCop ( ...

sang the first part of the song to his future love interest in the movie '' The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension'' (1984). *

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

recorded a version of the song for her 1974 album ''

ButterFly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

''. *Taiwanese singer Fong Fei-fei recorded the Chinese version of the song in 1982. *In 1965, The British rock group

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. They were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann (musician), Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The group had two l ...

recorded the song and was placed on their 2nd studio album Mann Made. *In 2018 Joe Hawley of

Tally Hall Tally Hall (sometimes stylized as tallyhall) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in December 2002, and publicly active until the conclusion of their Good & Evil (album), ''Good & Evil'' tour in 2011. The band is ...

recorded the song as a single for his YouTube and Bandcamp pages *it also made an appearance in the 1973 movie

American Graffiti ''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1958 songs 1958 debut singles 1959 singles 1991 singles 1994 singles The Skyliners songs Guns N' Roses songs Art Garfunkel songs Don McLean songs Ronnie Milsap songs Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions Song recordings produced by Richard Landis Number-one singles in Iceland RCA Records Nashville singles Geffen Records singles Millennium Records singles Doo-wop songs Torch songs