"Why Don't You Do Right?"

Which is the best recording of the song "Why Don't You Do Right?" with Peggy Lee in front of the Benny Goodman band?

Is there a recording of this song by, I think it was Belinda Carlisle, as a 1940's nightclub singer in the movie 'Swing Shift' ?

 

Peggy Lee vs. Belinda Carlisle? Peggy's gone and it's still not a fair fight

ED

 

Give me Peggy over Belinda any day, but..........

I gotta admit, when I read the thread title, my first thought was of the Mothers of Invention singing "Why Don't You Do Me Right". I was briefly fascinated that there might be a cover version of THAT song.

 

Does it have to be an either or situation??

When "covers" are done in a different style (take Pat Barber for example) they can be very interesting.

I would love to see some innovative covers done of 30's- 40's material other than the usual sound alike copy-cat versions. With the recording and reproductive technology we have today (SACD for example) we could have some really great sounding and entertaining music. Just because somebody recorded a hit in back in 300 BC or whatever doesn't mean it has to become a sacred cow so to speak and never be revisited.
One could argue that there is a vast base of music that could be "revisited" and "reworked" with both musically interesting, satisfying and very "salable" results.

 

Steve H. says:
Why would you want Belinda Carlisle singing it when you can have Peggy Lee????

Agreed, of course! But I've always been partial to Lil Green's version of the song, which definitely predates Peggy's version. I have it on an RCA Vintage reissue from the early 1970s, RCA also did a good Hot Lips Page
lp in this series, too.

JD

 

My favorite is Jessica Rabbit's version from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, voiced by Amy Irving (!).

 

Uncle Al, you're not alone. I thought perhaps the title was referring to that little Zappa tune...

Oh well.

 

What's the best mastering of this track? Been trying to find a compilation with it on with no luck so far. All the ones I've seen (with Benny & Peggy) don't seem to have this track.

 

great song I've had on '78 since around 1968. Great lyrics:
You had plenty money 1922
you let other people make a fool of you
Why don't you do right? Like some other men do
get out of here and get me some money too!

 

Can't find the one you mean, if anyone has any further info?

Thanks for posting those other versions, both of them are great!

 

There was! Alternative TV covered it as a punk song.


on 'The Image Has Cracked' and 'Live at Rat Club '77'

 

I don't think my copy is handy, but I believe it is the '47 version on this two cd set.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Reco.../tracks/B00000JBDW/ref=dp_tracks_all_1#disc_1

 

Thanks, what's the quality like? I picked up a single disc comp on Columbia/Legacy this week and it was done with the CEDAR noise reduction, sucking most of the life out of it.

 

I'm not the best one to answer that as I don't have as many problems with my system in those regards as some seem to. It's likely similar to what you've heard. . . I definitely don't feel "most of the life" has been sucked out of it.

 

This is one many songs Peggy Lee absolutely OWNS, i like the version on the CD below.

 

There's definitely just one recording by Goodman with Lee, and here is one funny little obscure fact about it. In addition to that master take (which was surprisingly released almost half a year after it had been recorded), there is a fairly well disseminated alternate take out there. The master first came out on 78 in 1942; the alternate showed up for the first time on a 1944 V-Disc. The master is the one most commonly found on LP and CD, of course, but the alternate has also shown up in a healthy number of LPs. Both musically and vocally, the alternate has some substantial differences from the master.

There are two additional alternates that seen the light thanks to LPs and CDs dedicated to Goodman alternates, but those are fairly similar to the master.

 

This version (Peggy's own, from 1947, without Goodman) is the one that Gramophonedzie sampled in 2010 and turned into a club hit. Some folks wrongly assume that it was the Goodman version.

 

the version i heard on the Fallout New Vegas soundtrack (not the OST, but the game files, they, unlike the predecessor's soundtrack, are not stored in a bsa archive).
it's not the common take, that's all i know. it's not on Spotify. it is genuine though. just a shame they used mp3s.

 

One little-known version that I enjoy quite a bit is by an one-album singer named Debby Moore. If you don't happen to care for her light-as-a-feather "chi chi" voice, skip to 1:40, so that you at least get to hear something else that she typically did in her records, besides singing.

 

I don't mind covers, even inferior ones.......but i hate sampling, more so in this case.

 

The version that you hear on Fallout New Vegas is from 1950. It is my favorite of all the versions that Peggy did. It probably illustrates the way that she approached the number in concert (rather than in the recording studio).

The reason why it is not easy to find, and why it might show up mostly through MP3 files: Peggy never recorded it in the studio. Instead, she made a video. The audio heard on MP3 and used on the Fallout New Vegas was probably lifted from the video:

 

it's fantastic. has a certain dirty nightclub atmosphere and Peggy sounds like pure venom.

Good call made by them.