Written by lead singer Jack Blades, "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" was the breakout song for Night Ranger, and it remains the favorite of their fans. Dawn Patrol was the band's first album, and their only one recorded for Boardwalk Records, which went out of business, leaving Night Ranger to sign with MCA.
"We had already started working on our first album, and I came up with this song. I was just thinking of the idea of how it's really great, and it's really fun, but just don't tell me you love me – let's not go there. Let's just keep it fun and happy and everything like that. I wrote the chorus first, (singing) 'Don't tell me you love me, don't tell me you love me, don't tell me, I don't want to know.' And then I wrote these verses, 'It ain't the way you move, it ain't the way that you move me,' '25 years, I'm a kid on the run,' and all that kind of stuff. And I didn't think I'd written enough lyrics, because it seemed like it was so easy, but there wasn't a lot of words. And I always thought, Man, am I shortchanging the song? Shouldn't there be more lyrics? But my producer goes, 'No, man, it's fine the way it is.' He said, 'What you've succeeded in doing is conveying the whole idea of the song in a minimum amount of words, without having to write four verses, a bunch of choruses, a bridge, and everything like that, and it totally gets what the message is in the song with what you've done.' And he says, 'Congratulations. A lot of people have a hard time doing that.'"
Lyrics
It ain't the way you move It ain't the way that you move me Oh no It ain't the way you shake It ain't the way that you shake me Oh no I've lived 25 years as a kid on the run I've got a pistol for action Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know I love the way you use I love the way that you use me Oh yeah I love the way you shoot I love the way that you shoot to kill me Oh yeah It's taken miles and lines to learn the right from the wrong I'll keep you hanging on Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me I don't want to know Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me (you love me, you love me) Don't tell me you love me (you love me, you love me) Don't tell me you love me (you love me, you love me) Don't tell me you love me Love me, love me, love me Yeah Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me, I don't want to know Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me you love me Don't tell me, I don't want to know