Jeannie Seely’s New Success With An Old Song

March 15, 2017

Grand Ole Opry star Jeannie Seely has been part of the country music scene for decades -- but one of her biggest (and earliest) songwriting hits is winning her new fans thanks to a hit series on Netflix.

“Black Mirror” is a sci-fi anthology show which originally aired in the U.K. And while each episode tells a different story, with a different cast, a certain song appears in various forms. That song is, “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is.”

Seeley discussed the song with Gary James of ClassicBands.com.

At the Imperial office I had this idea for a song, so I stayed after work to use the piano and was working on it. At the same time Eddie Ray, who was a producer there, had stayed late working on something. He heard me writing this song and he liked what he heard. The next morning at the A&R meeting they were looking for material for Irma Thomas, who was an R&B legend from New Orleans. He called me to come into the meeting and sing it for him. Irma liked the song, so they recorded it.

“It was the first song I ever had recorded, which is kind of funny because here I am a little Country singer/songwriter and my first recording is done by an R&B legend. That was 1963.”

Check out the different versions of the song - including Seely’s performance.

Irma Thomas - “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is”?

Jeannie Seely - “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is”

Clip from “Black Mirror” performed by Jessica Brown-Findlay