"What'll You Do About Me" is a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

song written by

Dennis Linde Dennis Linde (pronounced LIN-dy, March 18, 1943December 22, 2006) was an American music songwriter based in Nashville who has had over 250 of his songs recorded. He is best known for writing the 1972 Elvis Presley hit, "Burning Love". Rarely wo ...

. It was originally recorded in 1984 by

McGuffey Lane McGuffey Lane is an American country rock band from Athens, Ohio, and/or Columbus, Ohio, United States. The group was formed in 1972 by Terry Efaw and Steve Reis, who played together under the name Scotch & Soda. After adding songwriter, lead sin ...

and then by

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...

. It has also been recorded by

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. Active from 1978 until being incapacitated by a stroke in 2013, he has recor ...

on his 1987 album, '' Always & Forever'',

The Forester Sisters The Forester Sisters were an American country music vocal group consisting of sisters Kathy, June, Kim, and Christy Forester. Having performed together locally in their native Lookout Mountain, Georgia, since the 1970s, the four sisters began si ...

in 1992, and

Doug Supernaw Douglas Anderson Supernaw (September 26, 1960November 13, 2020) was an American country music artist. After several years performing as a local musician throughout the state of Texas, he signed with BNA Records in 1993. Supernaw released four st ...

, the latter of whom took it to Top 20 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' country charts in early 1995.

Content

"What'll You Do About Me" is an uptempo describing a

stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...

who is singing to his object of affection. Specifically, what initially began as a

one-night stand A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...

between the narrator and the woman in question ultimately results in the narrator developing an obsessive behavior towards her that he shamelessly declares unstoppable regardless of any attempt on the woman's part to isolate herself from the narrator or to prevent his behavior from escalating.

Recording history

was the first artist or group to record the song in 1984 on their album '' Day by Day'' for

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

was the second artist to record the song, doing so also in 1984, on

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. Released as a single that year, Earle's rendition peaked at number 76 on the country charts. However, this version was not included on an album until 2005, when

Koch Records MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had b ...

included it on a reissue of the compilation album '' Early Tracks'' (1987). Other subsequent recordings of the song include John Schneider on his album ''Too Good to Stop Now'' (1984),

on his album '' Always & Forever'' (1987),

on their album ''I Got a Date'' (1992),

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. Between 1976 and 1981, the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band. Constant ...

on their album ''Not Fade Away'' (1992), and

on his album ''

Deep Thoughts from a Shallow Mind '' Deep Thoughts from a Shallow Mind'' is the second studio album by American country music artist Doug Supernaw. It was released on September 13, 1994 and it produced the singles "What'll You Do About Me", "You Never Even Called Me by My Name" (a ...

'' (1995). The Forester Sisters and Supernaw both released their versions as singles also. Supernaw's rendition was the highest-peaking of the three, peaking at number 16 on the U.S. country charts.

Critical reception

In his book ''Steve Earle: Fearless Heart, Outlaw Poet'', author David McGee describes Earle's rendition as having "a hard country edge and snarling, borderline confrontational vocal." He compared it to Travis's recording, saying that his interpretation showed a "cool, maybe even slightly goofy would-be paramour ��reating it as a humorous depiction of all-consuming love—no harm, no foul." In Richard Carlin's book ''Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary'', the author says that since Supernaw's version was released while the O. J. Simpson trials were underway, the trials "offered a somewhat creepy parallel to the song, which seemed to be sympathetic toward the abusive man." Due to concerns that the lyrics were overly favorable to the concept of a stalker in the wake of the O. J. Simpson trials, BNA Records sent out an alternate version which replaced the line "''I'm on the porch with a two-by-two''" to "''I'm on the porch with a dinner for two.''" This altered version still met negative reception from radio programmers, and fell swiftly from the number 16 position on the ''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts.

WTHI-FM WTHI-FM (99.9 MHz; "HI-99") is a radio station running a country music format in Terre Haute, Indiana. The station's studios and broadcast tower are located along Ohio Street in downtown Terre Haute. The station is owned by Midwest Communication ...

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

also withdrew the song from rotation after a woman in that city was murdered by a stalker. Supernaw had wanted to ask his label to release another single from the project, but the label instead chose to drop him due to the ensuing controversy.

Chart history

Steve Earle

The Forester Sisters

Doug Supernaw

"What'll You Do About Me" debuted at number 62 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of January 14, 1995.

References

{{Doug Supernaw 1984 singles 1992 singles 1995 singles Steve Earle songs John Schneider (screen actor) songs Randy Travis songs The Forester Sisters songs Nitty Gritty Dirt Band songs Doug Supernaw songs Songs written by Dennis Linde Epic Records singles Warner Records singles BNA Records singles Song recordings produced by Richard Landis 1984 songs Songs about stalking Music controversies