"Ain't Understanding Mellow" is a song written by Homer Talbert and Herscholt Polk and performed by

Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (born December 8, 1939) is an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician. He was the original lead singer of the Rhythm and blues, R&B vocal group the Impressions, inducted into the Rock and Rol ...

and

Brenda Lee Eager Brenda Lee Eager (born August 8, 1947) is an American soul singer, songwriter and musical theatre performer who has written and performed several hits, including "Ain't Understanding Mellow", " Close to You", and "Somebody's Somebody". Life and c ...

. The song was arranged by James Mack and produced by Gerald Sims and

. It was featured on Butler's 1971 album ''The Sagittarius Movement''.

Chart performance

It reached #3 on the U.S. R&B chart and #21 on the U.S. pop chart in 1972. The song ranked #84 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Top 100 singles of 1972.

Certifications

"Ain't Understanding Mellow" was the second of two singles which were gold certified by the RIAA for Butler, selling over a million copies. The first was " Only the Strong Survive" in 1969.

Sampling

*The song was sampled in 2002 by

Angie Stone Angela Laverne Brown (born December 18, 1961) known professionally as Angie Stone, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as member of the hip hop trio The Sequence. In the early 1990s ...

for the song Bring Your Heart featured on the

Brown Sugar Brown sugar is unrefined or partially refined soft sugar. Brown Sugar may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Brown Sugar'' (1922 film), a 1922 British silent film directed by Fred Paul * ''Brown Sugar'' (1931 film), a 1931 ...

*The song was sampled in the 2012 song "4EvaNaDay (Theme)" by

Big K.R.I.T. Justin Lewis Scott (born August 26, 1986), better known by his stage name Big K.R.I.T. (a backronym for King Remembered in Time), is an American rapper and record producer. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, he started his musical career in 2005. Af ...

on his album ''

4eva N a Day ''4eva N a Day'' (pronounced as ''Forever and a Day'') is a mixtape by Mississippi rapper and producer Big K.R.I.T. It was released for free digital download on March 5, 2012 under independent record label Cinematic Music Group. The mixtape was ...

''.

References

1971 songs 1971 singles Jerry Butler songs Mercury Records singles {{1970s-song-stub