Why Don’t You Do Right | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: Cm7 Bb | Ab7 G7 :|| x4
Verse 1
| Cm7 N.C | Ab7 G7 | Cm7 N.C | Ab7 G7 |
You had plenty money, 1922, you let other women make a fool of you.
| Fm Bb | Ab7 G7 | Cm9 | Ab7 G7 |
Why don’t you do right, like some other men do?
| Fm N.C G7 | Fm N.C G7 | Cm9 | Abmaj7 G |
Get out of here and get me some money too.
Verse 2
| Cm7 Bb Abmaj7 Fm | Abmaj7 G7 |
You’re sittin’ there and wonderin’ what it’s all about,
| Cm7 Bb Abmaj7 Fm | Abmaj7 G7 |
you ain’t got no money, they will put you out.
| Fm Bb | Ab7 G7 | Cm9 | Abmaj7 G |
Why don’t you do right, like some other men do?
| Fm N.C G7 | Fm N.C G7 | Cm9 | (Eb D Eb E) |
Get out of here and get me some money too.
Solo
| Fm7 | Db7 C7 | Fm7 | Db7 C7 |
| Bbm | Db7 C7 | Fm7 | Db7 C7 |
| Bbm N.C C7 | Bbm N.C C7 | Fm Bb | (G Ab A Bb B) |
Verse 3
| Cm7 | Abmaj7 G | Cm7 | Abmaj7 G7 |
If you had prepared twenty years ago, you wouldn’t be a-wanderin’ from door to door.
| Fm | Abmaj7 G7 | Cm7 | Abmaj7 G |
Why don’t you do right, like some other men do?
| Fm N.C G7 | Fm N.C G7 | Cm7 | Abmaj13 G |
Get out of here and get me some money too.
Outro
| Cm7 | Ab7 G7 | Cm7 | Abmaj13 G |
Why don’t you do right, like some other men do?
| Cm7 | Ab7 G7 | Cm7 | Ab7 G7 |
Like some other men do? Yeah, mm-hm.
End
| (C G Eb C) | (G A B C) Cmmaj7 | Cmmaj7 |
Why Don’t You Do Right Chords: Learn the progressions
The intro sets up the general idea; a descending jazz blues progression. Both the IV and III chords are dom7, which looks like this in the key of Cm:
||: Cm (VI) Bb (V) | Ab7 (IV) G7 (IIIx) :||
Why Don’t You Do Right‘s verse progression uses the same descending pattern of VI – V – IV – IIIx, although now we start with some stops instead of Bb and later on, play an Abmaj7, not a dom7 chord, like this:
| Cm7 (VI) N.C | Ab7 (IV) G7 (IIIx) | Cm7 N.C | Ab7 G7 |
| Fm (II) Bb (V) | Ab7 G7 | Cm7 | Ab G |
| Fm N.C G7 | Fm N.C G7 | Cm7 | Ab G |
There is TAB available for the full arrangement here: Why Don’t You Do Right – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Verse 2 has new chords and no stops. Check that Abmaj7!
| Cm7 (VI) Bb (V) Abmaj7 (IV) Fm (II)) | Abmaj7 (IV) G7 (IIIx) |
| Cm7 Bb Abmaj7 Fm | Abmaj7 G7 |
| Fm Bb | Abmaj7 G7 | Cm7 | Ab G |
| Fm N.C G7 | Fm N.C G7 | Cm7 | (Eb D Eb E) |
The solo modulates up a 4th, to Fm. I play mainly the melody (check the TAB!)
| Fm7 (VI) | Db7 (IV) C7 (IIIx) | Fm7 | Db7 C7 |
| Bbm (II) | Db7 C7 | Fm7 | Db7 C7 |
| Bbm N.C C7 | Bbm N.C C7 | Fm7 | (G Ab A Bb B) |
Verse 3 has yet more variations in the chords.
| Cm7 | Ab G | Cm7 | Abmaj7 G7 |
| Fm | Abmaj7 G7 | Cm7 | Ab G |
| Fm N.C G7 | Fm N.C G7 | Cm7 | Ab G |
Finally, the outro is the “best of” combination.
| Cm7 | Ab7 G7 | Cm7 | Ab6 G |
| Cm7 | Ab7 G7 | Cm7 | Ab7 G7 | (C G Eb C) | (G A B C) Cmmaj7 | Cmmaj7 |
Here’s a chord chart I made for you, it’s over two pages.
Why Don’t You Do Right Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Why Don’t You Do Right Chord Chart PDF, page 1 and Why Don’t You Do Right Chord Chart PDF, page 2.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Why Don’t You Do Right You iReal Pro, page 1 and Why Don’t You Do Right You iReal Pro, page 2.
Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key and also play along with the virtual band. This works pretty well when it’s a jazz tune.
Why Don’t You Do Right is a Jazz Standard!
When playing Jazz standards, it’s important to listen to several versions, in this case by Julie London and Peggy Lee.
The solo I recorded for Why Don’t You Do Right is simply the melody, although modulated to Fm (that’s a 4th up from Cm).
When you play any jazz standard, you simply must learn the melody and all the chords in order to play around with it. This is the very foundation of jazz.
By seeing what notes the melody uses over the chords, you automatically find which are the most important intervals and therefore which modes will work.
If you do this to every song you learn, you will understand the music you play and how it applies to the guitar. It really is that simple, the hard part is to actually do it, jazz standard or not!
Why Don’t You Do Right Chords | Related Pages
Why Don’t You Do Right | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Why Don’t You Do Right? by Peggy Lee using TAB and chord analysis.
| Cm7 N.C | Ab7 G7 | Cm7 N.C | Ab7 G7 |
You had plenty money, 1922, you let other women make a fool of you…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- At Last chords by Etta James
- Call It Stormy Monday chords by T-Bone Walker
- Don’t Wait Too Long chords by Madeleine Peyroux
- Fever chords by Peggy Lee
- Summertime chords by Billie Holiday
Peggy Lee tunes
Peggy Lee was a very successful American jazz and traditional pop singer, songwriter, and actress.
Her most famous performances include Black Coffee, Big Spender, Fever, and Why Don’t You Do Right?
Peggy Lee on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Why Don’t You Do Right chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.