When If I Only Knew hit airwaves in 1994, it wasn’t asking for permission. It demanded attention. From the first second—that scream—Tom Jones didn’t just enter the track. He tore it wide open. Blazing through layers of funk, brassy chaos, and pounding rhythm, Jones sounded less like a crooner from the ‘60s and more like a prophet warning the world: wake up or get left behind.
But here’s the twist—while the UK embraced the track as a bold, genre-bending reinvention, U.S. radio stations mostly turned their heads. They didn’t know what to do with it. It wasn’t Vegas lounge Tom. It wasn’t sentimental ballad Tom. This was something different. This was dangerous Tom.
Produced by the Dust Brothers and featuring a thunderous brass section that practically sweated funk, If I Only Knew was a call to action dressed as a love song. Its message? If love is what makes us human, why do we wait until it’s too late to express it? But Jones didn’t croon that message—he howled it, punctuated by a scream that still cuts through time like a blade. That scream wasn’t just a vocal flourish. It was a soul cracking open.
In America, the song barely made a dent. It didn’t fit the boxes. It didn’t whisper; it shouted. And in an era dominated by sanitized pop and grunge introspection, maybe the world just wasn’t ready to hear a 50-something icon throwing down the funk gauntlet like a man half his age.
But the passage of time reveals what trends can’t hide: If I Only Knew was—and still is—a monster of a track. It was Tom Jones refusing to be boxed in by nostalgia. It was rage, lust, and revelation all wrapped in a horn section and lit on fire.
Now, in 2025, with Jones still a towering force in music, younger audiences are rediscovering this masterpiece. They don’t hear a misfire—they hear revolution. They hear a voice that won’t sit down, won’t grow quiet, won’t fade politely into the background. That scream at the start? It’s not just a note—it’s a warning.
You don’t ignore Tom Jones when he has something to say.
America may have missed the moment back then, but the moment never missed its mark. If I Only Knew didn’t go away—it waited. And now it’s back, louder than ever.
Because when Tom Jones opens his lungs, time stops.
And the world listens.
