"You Don't Know Me" (originally titled "U Don't Know Me") is a song by American record producer Armand van Helden featuring vocals from German-American singer

Duane Harden Duane Harden (born August 5, 1971) is a German-born American dance music vocalist and songwriter who has sung on several hits by various producers. Harden is particularly famous in the United Kingdom, having sung on two best-selling dance singl ...

. It was released on January 25, 1999, as the lead single from his third studio album, ''

2 Future 4 U ''2 Future 4 U'' is the third studio album by American record producer Armand Van Helden. It was released on November 30, 1998, by Tinted and includes the singles " U Don't Know Me" and "Flowerz "Flowerz" is a song by American record produce ...

''. The creation of the song came about when Helden created a looping track composed of several music samples and left Harden to write and record the lyrics alone. The song peaked at number two on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart and reached number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in February 1999. "You Don't Know Me" additionally reached the top 10 in France, Greece, and Italy, and topped the Canadian ''RPM'' Dance chart.

Content

The strings featured in this song are courtesy of

Carrie Lucas Carrie Lucas (born November 5, 1945) is an American R&B singer, born in Carmel, California. In 1976, she was signed to Soul Train Records. Lucas released six studio albums over seven years, with Soul Train and Solar Records. Lucas was married ...

's "Dance with You", also used in

Phats and Small Phats & Small are a British electronic dance music duo formed in Brighton, in 1998, and composed of Jason "Phats" Hayward and Russell Small. They are best known for their single " Turn Around", which became an international hit in 1999. Musica ...

's "Music for Pushchairs". The drums are sampled from

Jaydee Robin Albers (born 1956), who uses the stage name Jaydee, is a Dutch house music producer and DJ. Biography After a degree in commercial studies, Albers played in the Dutch national baseball team and was triple Dutch arm-wrestling champion ...

's "

Plastic Dreams "Plastic Dreams" is the debut single by Dutch producer Jaydee, and is generally considered to be one of the classics of the house music genre (initially released on R&S Records). It was successful in European countries and also achieved success i ...

". The full version of the track features a dialogue from the ''Dial M for Monkey'' segment of

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

's ''

Dexter's Laboratory ''Dexter's Laboratory'' is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It follows Dexter, a short, enthusiastic boy-genius with a hid ...

''. The episode was "Simion", where the title character (voiced by

Maurice LaMarche Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian voice actor, comedian, and impressionist. He has voiced the Brain in '' Animaniacs'' as well as its spin-off '' Pinky and the Brain'', Big Bob in ''Hey Arnold!'' (1996–2004), and a variety of ...

) provided the spoken intro. It was also very heavily influenced by "The Captain" by Johnick which was released the year prior on the Henry Street record label.

Track listings

US maxi-CD single # "U Don't Know Me" (original mix) # "Alienz" # "Rock da Spot" featuring

Mr. Len Mr. Len (Leonard "Lenny" Smythe) is a hip hop DJ born in the Bronx, New York. He moved to Hillside, NJ when he was 12 years old. He was a member, with Bigg Jus and El-P, of the underground hip hop trio Company Flow, which disbanded in the lat ...

# "U Don't Know Me" (dubstrumental) # "U Don't Know Me" (radio edit) Canadian maxi-CD single # "U Don't Know Me" (radio edit) # "Alienz" # "Rock da Spot" featuring

# "U Don't Know Me" (dubstrumental) # "U Don't Know Me" (original mix) US 12-inch single :A. "You Don't Know Me" :B. "You Don't Know Me" (Raw mix) UK CD and cassette single, Australasian CD single # "You Don't Know Me" (radio edit) – 3:59 # "You Don't Know Me" – 8:10 # "Rock da Spot" featuring Mr. Len – 5:50 UK 12-inch single and European CD single # "You Don't Know Me" – 8:10 # "Rock da Spot" featuring Mr. Len – 5:50

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1998 songs 1999 singles Armand Van Helden songs Songs written by Armand Van Helden Songs written by Duane Harden FFRR Records singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles