Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (will understand)

"Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" by Irma Thomas

New Orleans has always produced soul singers of uncommon depth, voices steeped in the gospel, blues, and rhythm of a city like no other. In the early 1960s, Irma Thomas was the reigning queen of that scene, a singer whose emotional power and impeccable phrasing made her one of the most gifted vocalists of her generation. This single found her delivering a ballad of aching tenderness, a performance so heartfelt that the song would find an extraordinary second life decades later in ways no one could have predicted.

The Soul Queen of New Orleans

Irma Thomas had built her reputation as a powerhouse of Southern soul, recording a string of singles that showcased her ability to convey deep emotion with restraint and grace. By 1964 she was an established name on the rhythm and blues scene, admired for a voice that could break your heart on a ballad and lift the roof on an uptempo number. Though she never achieved the massive crossover fame of some of her peers, her records were treasured by those who knew them, and her influence on later singers would prove immense. She was a singer's singer, valued for pure artistry above commercial spectacle.

A Ballad of Quiet Devastation

This song is a slow, deeply felt ballad that gives Thomas room to display her gift for emotional nuance. The arrangement is understated, built to frame her voice rather than compete with it, letting every subtle inflection register. The lyric speaks of love so profound that only those who have truly felt it can understand the narrator's devotion. Thomas delivers it with a controlled intensity that makes the restraint itself moving, never oversinging, always serving the emotion. It is a masterclass in the kind of soul balladry that values feeling over flash, the sound of a singer who trusts the song and her own instrument completely.

A Modest Showing on the Hot 100

On the national pop chart, the single achieved a respectable if unspectacular run, reflecting the difficulty soul singers often faced reaching the mainstream. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 82 on July 4, 1964, and made a gradual climb over the following weeks. The song reached its peak position of number 52 on August 1, 1964, and altogether it spent 6 weeks on the Hot 100. Those numbers placed it well outside the top tier, yet they hardly capture the song's quality or its eventual cultural reach. Like so many great soul recordings of the era, it deserved far more attention than the charts gave it at the time.

An Unexpected Second Life

The song's most remarkable chapter came many years later, when it was famously featured in an acclaimed science fiction film, introducing Thomas's haunting performance to a vast new audience who had never heard the original. That revival underscored the timeless quality of the recording, proving that great emotional truth never goes out of date. The video has gathered around 882,000 YouTube views, with many listeners discovering it through that later spotlight. It stands as a testament to the enduring artistry of one of soul music's most underappreciated voices.

The New Orleans Difference

Part of what makes Irma Thomas such a distinctive figure is the particular musical heritage she carried. New Orleans soul had a flavor all its own, shaped by the city's deep traditions of jazz, blues, and rhythm, and by a roster of songwriters and musicians who gave the local sound its character. Thomas embodied that heritage, bringing to her recordings a phrasing and emotional intelligence rooted in her hometown's rich culture. While singers from other cities often pursued bigger, more bombastic styles, the New Orleans approach favored subtlety and feeling, qualities perfectly suited to Thomas's gifts. This ballad showcases that sensibility beautifully, its restraint and emotional depth reflecting a tradition that valued genuine feeling over flashy display. She remains one of the great exemplars of that distinctive regional style, a singer whose work rewards close and repeated listening.

Press Play

Let Irma Thomas's tender, controlled voice draw you into this aching ballad, and you will understand why it has moved listeners across the decades. It is soul singing at its most quietly devastating.

"Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" — Irma Thomas's singular moment on the 1960s charts.