Tom Jones Didn’t Have the Heart to Ask for a Songwriting Credit on This Hit Single From 1994

Tom Jones said he helped write the melody for “If I Only Knew”, his 1994 single, but did not seek a songwriting credit. His account highlights how a song first recorded as a rap by the little-known group Rise Robots Rise was reshaped for Jones’s performance.

The track appeared on Jones’s album *The Lead and How to Swing It* and reached the Top 5 on Billboard’s Dance chart, his final Top 10 hit. Jones recalled being signed to Interscope after a successful charity performance with Sting at Carnegie Hall; producer Trevor Horn was involved in developing the song. Jones said he created the melody himself but chose not to ask for royalties because Rise Robots Rise were struggling.