"If You Don't Know Me By Now" is a man explaining himself one last time. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes recorded it in 1972, Teddy Pendergrass singing lead as a man who has spent years trying to be understood by someone who refuses to see him. about the specific exhaustion of loving someone who does not trust your intentions no matter what you do. After everything, she still does not know him. The statement is not an accusation. It is a surrender.