Tom Jones – “I Know”: The Song That Predicted His Own Heartbreak
Before he became the roaring voice behind It’s Not Unusual or Delilah, Tom Jones was a young man singing with his heart rather than fame in mind. Among his earliest recordings, “I Know” (1964) stands out — not for its commercial success, but for its haunting sincerity. Listening to it now feels like reading a letter from a man who already sensed the storms that fame would bring into his love life.
A Voice Born from Longing
At the time of “I Know”, Tom was still Thomas Woodward, performing in small Welsh clubs with his band Tommy Scott & The Senators. He had already married his teenage sweetheart, Linda Trenchard, and become a father at 17.
But while the world hadn’t yet discovered him, he was already learning that love and ambition rarely coexist peacefully.
The lyrics — “I know that someday you’ll want me back again” — carry a mix of defiance and sadness, as if he was trying to convince himself that distance and success wouldn’t destroy what they had. That fragile belief, captured in this song, would later echo throughout his career.
The Prophecy of a Lonely Heart
When It’s Not Unusual shot Tom to global fame a year later, his marriage began to feel the weight of separation, temptation, and touring life.
In hindsight, “I Know” feels almost prophetic. It’s not the swaggering Tom Jones we’d see later — the one surrounded by flashing lights and screaming crowds — but the man who already knew that fame would demand a heavy emotional price. The trembling soul in his voice was not acting. It was premonition.
Linda: The Silent Anchor
Linda Trenchard remained his wife for nearly six decades, through rumors, separations, and years when the tabloids painted him as a playboy. But those close to the couple often said that Tom always returned to her, no matter how far the road took him.
When she passed away in 2016, Tom described it as “losing part of my soul.” Looking back, “I Know” almost reads like a farewell written decades in advance — the young man confessing, “I’ll still be here when you change your mind.”
He was. And she did. But life had already moved them into different worlds.
A Song Few Remember, But None Should Forget
“I Know” never made the charts, but it carries something deeper than success — a glimpse into the emotional DNA of a man who would later become one of the greatest performers in British history. Long before he learned to control the stage, he was learning to control heartbreak.