Why Don't You Do Right
Benny Goodman And His Orchestra Featuring Peggy Lee Lyrics


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My heart is sad and lonely
For you I sigh, for you dear only
Why haven't you seen it
I'm all for you body and soul

I spend my days in longing
And wondering why it's me you're wronging
I tell you I mean it
I'm all for you body and soul

I can't believe it
It's hard to conceive it
That you'd turn away romance
Are you pretending
It looks like the ending
Unless I could have just one more chance to prove, dear

My life a wreck you're making
You know I'm yours for just the taking
I'd gladly surrender myself to you body and soul

My life a wreck you're making




You know I'm yours for the very taking
I'd gladly surrender myself to you body and soul

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Benny Goodman's song "Body and Soul" express a deep sense of unrequited love and longing. The singer's heart is heavy with sadness and loneliness, as he pines for the object of his affections. He is all in, body and soul, but his beloved seems to be looking elsewhere for romance. The singer is left to wonder why he is being wronged, and if he'll ever have a chance to prove his love. He is willing to surrender everything, body and soul, to be with this person.


The lyrics to "Body and Soul" speak to a universal human experience: the pain of unrequited love. The singer's emotion is palpable in each verse, as he paints a portrait of a heart full of longing and a life that is full of misery. The song captures the essence of what it means to fall in love with someone who doesn't feel the same way, and the agony that comes with that realization. The singer's willingness to surrender everything, to give himself completely to this person, makes the emotions in the song all the more powerful.


Line by Line Meaning

My heart is sad and lonely
I am filled with sorrow and feel empty without you


For you I sigh, for you dear only
I long for you and crave only your affection


Why haven't you seen it
Why haven't you noticed my love for you


I'm all for you body and soul
My devotion to you is complete and all-encompassing


I spend my days in longing
Every day is consumed by my yearning for you


And wondering why it's me you're wronging
I question why I am being mistreated by you


I tell you I mean it
I am serious about my love for you


I'm all for you body and soul
My devotion to you is complete and all-encompassing


I can't believe it
I am having a hard time comprehending the situation


It's hard to conceive it
It is difficult to imagine why you are rejecting my love


That you'd turn away romance
I am surprised that you are rejecting my romantic advances


Are you pretending
Are you acting as if you don't have feelings for me


It looks like the ending
It seems like our relationship is going to come to an end


Unless I could have just one more chance to prove, dear
Unless I am given a chance to prove my love for you


My life a wreck you're making
You are causing chaos and turmoil in my life


You know I'm yours for just the taking
You know that I am ready and willing to be with you


I'd gladly surrender myself to you body and soul
I would willingly give myself to you completely, both physically and emotionally


My life a wreck you're making
You are causing chaos and turmoil in my life


You know I'm yours for the very taking
You know that I am ready and willing to be with you


I'd gladly surrender myself to you body and soul
I would willingly give myself to you completely, both physically and emotionally




Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC , CARLIN AMERICA INC , THE SONGWRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA , WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC INC
Written by: CHRISTOPHER NEVILLE EATON, SUSAN ASHTON, WAYNE KIRKPATRICK

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@kweejibodali3078

​@SteveBowen that is fascinating and well put ; he is leaning so close to her that it can look like like either leering or cadging or grabbing limelight

But I can believe it that he was just so into the music
And was always studying others and therefore improving himself

And no one better than Peggy how she holds the attention

I really am here for her



@miltonmoore8369

HOLY MOSES!
I AM 77 YEARS OLD, AND THIS WAS RECORDED THREE YEARS BEFORE I WAS BORN! SO THIS RECORDING IS 80 FREAKING YEARS OLD!😬😳😟

BORN NORMA DOLORES EGSTROM, THE SEVENTH OF EIGHT CHILDREN, IN 1920, OF SCANDINAVIAN IMMIGRANT PARENTS, IN THE TINY TOWN OF JAMESTOWN, NORTH DAKOTA, SHE MADE HER FIRST RECORDING IN 1941. SHE DIED AGED 81 IN 2002 FROM COMPLICATIONS OF DIABETES AND A HEART ATTACK.

WED FOUR TIMES,
SHE RECORDED OVER 1,100 MASTERS, AND WROTE 240 SONGS,
THE MOST WELL KNOWN BEING THE
LITTLE DITTY: "WE ARE SIAMESE IF YOU PLEASE" FOR THE WALT DISNEY
CLASSIC CARTOON FEATURE, "THE LADY AND THE TRAMP."

TRULY ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST LIGHTS AND MOST RESPECTED PERSONAGES IN THE HISTORY OF RECORDED MUSIC.
🌠Milton Moore🌠



@coppingtonfarnham7731

I went from 1943, listening to this recently..... to 2022 at a local gas station, where a car stereo was blasting what's not even sung, but popular/horrible now. Like my dad used to say, "I know all the words, but I don't use them."
Imagine what words they'd insert in this nowadays:

You had plenty money, 1922
You let other women 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
You're sittin' down and wonderin' what it's all about
You ain't got no money, they will put you out
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too
If you had prepared twenty years ago
You wouldn't be a-wanderin' now from door to door
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too
I fell for your jivin' and I took you in
Now all you got to offer me's a drink of gin
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Like some other men do



@ClassyOldMusic

Thanks for introducing me to that Dave Barbour version. But It seemed like Peggy was getting as bored and sleepy as I was while struggling to get through it. You could see it, Especially in the shots where she's  looking over toward Dave, looking like she couldn't wait for him to finish his anemic, lack-of-creative-spark solo bit. I always felt that music after '49 really began to go down the toilet.

By the way, before I forget, The camera work in this film was just above High School kid, amateur, and they mostly focused above her waist, or breast... and it seemed they only had limited movement or positioning of their equpment, or maybe because there wasn't anything worth filming... in fact, there was hardly any movement from Anybody! NO One Even Cracked a Smile, except for Peggy. Maybe because she knew she was getting paid for it anyway. There was no "Swing" or Life to any of this number at all. It's was more like some Bohemian bar scene than a Live Performance.

Look at this "Benny" number, Benny, Peggy, the Band, and the Audience are Swingin' Happy Cats! Any person with Any Life and/or Rhythm is going to have Fun with Benny's number... JUST Look at Benny! He IS the Quintessential Band Leader, Leading the whole Swinging Mess!

Maybe that's why Benny Goodman is  known as The KING OF SWING! And, You can see in Peggy's body language and hear it in her voice, that she agrees and is adoring her Fun with Him too.

On a List of Top Ten Big Bands of All Time, where Votes came from Real Swing Loving, Band Knowing, People, Consistently, between the Top 2 Bands, The Benny Goodman Orchestra was #2 after Glenn Miller #1. Consistently.

The Dave Barbour Band isn't on Any List, about Anything, Anywhere.

Look at Dave in the Barbour version, jeeeze! he's not having any fun neither, and his sleepy one note picked off the simple scale guitar playing and solos are tired, droopy, weak, like he's annoyed with the whole project. That huge oversized guitar was way too much guitar for the work he was doing. Way, waaayyy too much tool for the simple job.

Everybody around him looks Grumpy! The Piano Player seemed like the only one with life in him but I felt like he was holding back from what he really wanted to paste onto them 88's. Peggy looks like she's just remembering she forgot to feed the dog before she left the house.

The Benny version, when played off my 78 RPM's lights up the room and the people in it, and makes 'em smile and laugh and say things like "they don't play 'em like that anymore"... I can play it over and over on my 1959 Telefunken Verdi Phonograph/Radio console (awesomely made in W. Germany) forever and people get a Kick out of it...

If I wanted to impress anybody with an old 78 RPM record, and try to Promote the Music of the Golden Era, (like I do!) and to keep it from dying,  "Hands Down"! I'd play the Benny version, and No Way At All, for Any reason would I play that boring, Golden Era Killing, Dave Barbour lullabye.

"Get outta here, Give me some money too"



All comments from YouTube:

@cant144

"I knew I couldn't sing over them, so I decided to sing under them. The more noise they made the more softly I sang. When they discovered they couldn't hear me, they began to look at me. Then they began to listen. As I sang, I kept thinking, 'softly with feeling.' The noise dropped to a hum; the hum gave way to silence. I had learned how to reach and hold my audience -- softly, with feeling."Peggy Lee

@ruthiebelle1

A really smart girl to figure that out.

@upthedownescalator630

That's better than Hedy Lamarr who found out that "All a girl has to do to be glamours is just stand still and look stupid."

@williamheyman5439

And it was hard for her to look stupid, as she was a co-inventor of spread-spectrum radio, had a patent, and several inventions.

@RobCummings

Prettiest smack-down I ever saw.

@richardbenitez7803

Notice the super soft glance at here and there as if she singing just for you.... very brilliant. Perfect song forever

40 More Replies...

@kirkpatticalma7911

It almost shocks your ears to hear such a voice. So natural, so organic, and seemingly effortless.

@robertkemp8717

I know. I’ve already watched on repeat about six times. Breathtaking.

@gwynnielsen5081

If I had a choice, I would've been a singer in their era rather than ours. These people had such class.

@MJLeger-yj1ww

Peggy was only about 22 years of age here, and already a solid pro!  One of my favorite female singers for all time.

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