"Why Don't You Do Right?" (originally recorded as "Weed Smoker's Dream" in 1936) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

-influenced pop song usually credited to Kansas Joe McCoy. A

minor key In Western music, the adjectives major and minor may describe a chord, scale, or key. As such, composition, movement, section, or phrase may be referred to by its key, including whether that key is major or minor. Intervals Some intervals ...

twelve-bar blues The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based ...

with a few

chord substitution In music theory, chord substitution is the technique of using a chord in place of another in a progression of chords, or a chord progression. Much of the European classical repertoire and the vast majority of blues, jazz and rock music songs a ...

s, it is considered a classic "woman's blues" song and has become a standard. Singer

Lil Green Lil Green (December 22, 1919 (some sources give 1901 or 1910) – April 14, 1954) was an American blues singer and songwriter. She was among the leading female rhythm and blues singers of the 1940s, with a sensual soprano voice. Gospel singer R ...

recorded a popular rendition in 1941, which

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...

recorded the next year — accompanied by

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conc ...

— and made one of her signature songs.

Composition and lyrics

In 1936, the Harlem Hamfats jazz band recorded "The Weed Smoker's Dream". The original

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

release listed the songwriters as "McCoy-Moran" ( Joe McCoy and Herb Morand were members of the band). McCoy later rewrote the song, refining the composition and lyrics. The new tune, titled "Why Don't You Do Right?", was recorded by

in 1941, with guitar by William "Big Bill" Broonzy. The recording was an early jazz and blues hit. The song has its roots in blues music and originally dealt with a marijuana smoker reminiscing about lost financial opportunities. As it was rewritten, it takes on the perspective of the female partner, who chastises her man for his irresponsible ways, complaining that her other lovers provide her with more money: "Why don't you do right, like some other men do? Get out of here and get me some money too."

Peggy Lee recordings

One of the best-known versions of the song was recorded by

and

on July 27, 1942, in New York. Featured in the 1943 film, '' Stage Door Canteen'', it sold over one million copies and brought her to nationwide attention. Lee often stated that Green's recording was influential to her music. In a 1971 interview she said, "I had the record, and I used to play it over and over in my dressing room, which was next to Benny Goodman... Finally... he said, 'I think you really like that song.' I said, 'Oh, I love it.' He said, 'Would you like to sing it?'" Lee said yes, so Goodman had an arrangement made of it for Lee to sing. "Why Don't You Do Right?" was not Goodman and Lee's biggest hit. However, it reached number four on the ''Billboard'' charts and reached the same position on the Harlem Hit Parade charts.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1936 songs 1930s jazz standards Blues songs 1942 singles Benny Goodman songs Peggy Lee songs Songs about cannabis 1936 in cannabis Who Framed Roger Rabbit Disney songs

Composition and lyrics

Peggy Lee recordings

See also

References

External links