Cole was exposed to the greats of jazz, soul and blues at an early age and began performing at the age of 11. Her debut album in 1975, Inseparable, won her immediate praise, with the smash single This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) (#1 R&B, #6 Pop) winning her a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female, a category that had been monopolized by Aretha Franklin, since its inception in 1967. She also was named the Grammys' Best New Artist of 1975. She attended the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, MA.
More hits followed through 1980, including her biggest Pop hit, 1977's I've Got Love On My Mind, as well as Sophisticated Lady (She's A Different Lady) (1976), Our Love (1978), and Someone That I Used To Love (1980). "I've Got Love On My Mind" and "Our Love" both earned certifications as Gold singles. But then her career hit a snag in the early 1980s due to a severe drug problem. By 1985, Natalie was clean, sober, and in fine voice, and ready to begin her comeback in earnest with the album Dangerous, released on the Modern label.
In 1987, she released Everlasting (on EMI Manhattan) which sold over 2 million copies in the U.S., and won Cole a Soul Train Award for Female Single of the Year for the #1 R&B ballad I Live for Your Love. This album was the one that put Natalie Cole firmly back in the spotlight, yielding three major hit singles: Jump Start, "I Live For Your Love" (#2 AC and #13 Pop as well as #1 R&B), and a successful remake of Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac (#5 Pop, #16 AC, and #1 Dance). The album also included a taste of things to come in her career with a remake of one of her father's signature hits, "When I Fall In Love," which did moderately well on the AC chart. In 1989, the aptly-titled Good To Be Back gave her another across-the-board smash with "Miss You Like Crazy" (#1 both R&B and AC, and #7 Pop).
However, it was her 1991 album, Unforgettable... with Love, featuring her own arrangements of her father's greatest hits, that gave her the most success. Ironically, when Natalie began her career, she was determined not to capitalize on her father's name and wanted to forge her own identity by going after the soul market in earnest. For many years, she also found the prospect of recording her late father's songs too painful on a personal level. But Unforgettable... With Love certainly paid off. The set sold over 5 million copies in the United States alone, and won Cole several Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. The album featured a duet, the title track, with her father, created by splicing a recording of his vocals into the track. As a single, it reached #14 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart, and went gold. The one sour spot in the album's success was that it strained Natalie's already-tumultuous relationship with her mother, Maria, who said in interviews at the time that she couldn't listen to the album or attend any of her daughter's concerts because she felt that the music really belonged to her late husband.
Natalie has released several more albums of pop standards in the years since; as a result of appealing to the "adult standards" audience, she has made only occasional forays onto the pop singles charts in that time (for example, "A Smile Like Yours," #8 AC and #84 Pop in 1997), although her albums still sell well. Her 1999 album Snowfall On The Sahara marked a return to the easy adult-contemporary soul that categorized her late-1980s hits, but for 2002's critically-praised Ask A Woman Who Knows, she turned more to the jazz side of the spectrum, covering songs made famous by Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Sarah Vaughan.
Battle With Drugs
In 2000, Cole released an autobiography, Angel on my Shoulder, which described her battle with drugs during much of her life. In the book, Cole admitted to using LSD, heroin and crack cocaine. Cole said she began experimenting with drugs while attending the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was arrested in Toronto, Canada for possession of heroin in 1975. Cole continued to spiral out of control - including an incident in which her young son Robert nearly drowned in the family swimming pool while she and her first husband, the late Reverend Marvin Yancy were on a drug binge - until she entered rehab in 1983.
In concert with the release of the book, her autobiography was turned into a made-for-TV movie, The Natalie Cole Story, which aired December 10, 2000 on NBC.
Natalie has been married three times and has a son Robert Yancy (by Marvin Yancy), born in 1977. She later married former Rufus drummer Andre Fischer, who co-produced the Grammy Award-winning Unforgettable... With Love, Natalie's love offering featuring songs made famous by her father, including a faux-duet between her and her father.
The marriage to Fischer ended in divorce a few years later, amidst rumors of domestic verbal and physical abuse.
It has also been reported that Natalie has recovered from a life-threatening hepatitis illness (most likely the cause of her years of drug abuse) by having a liver transplant.
Miss Cole went on to release more albums after Unforgettable...With Love, with most of them featuring jazz-oriented standard songs or pop-song remakes. None of the albums were nearly as successful as Unforgettable...With Love.
As of 2013, Natalie Cole spent most of her professional time covering the concert circuit entertaining audiences around the world with her hits.
On December 31, 2015, Natalie Cole died from congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was aged 65.
Why Don't You Do Right
Natalie Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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
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'
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
Natalie Cole's "Why Don't You Do Right?" is a song that exposes the lifestyle of a careless and undisciplined man who has consistently allowed himself to be exploited by other women. Cole highlights the lack of ambition and responsibility of this man with his wealth, which was achieved in 1922. She admonishes him to wise up and do what other men in his position would do — take responsibility, work hard, and earn a living.
The lyrics depict a woman who has taken in this man and fallen for his charms in the past but has realized his faults and does not wish to continue being exploited. Instead, now she wants him to leave and get some money for her as compensation for the time she has wasted on him. The lyrics suggest that the woman is tired of being with a man who is always 'wandering from door to door' looking for a quick fix instead of taking care of his responsibilities. In the end, the woman knows what she wants and demands that the man start acting like a responsible adult and do right by her.
Overall, "Why Don't You Do Right?" is a relatable song that emphasizes a critical lesson in taking responsibility, working hard, and being a responsible adult.
Line by Line Meaning
You had plenty money
You were once wealthy
1922
The year you had plenty money
You let other women
You allowed other women to take advantage of you
Make a fool of you
They made you look foolish
Why don't you do right
Why don't you straighten up and act correctly
Like some other men do?
Like the other men who don't fall for these traps
Get out of here
Leave right now
And get me
Procure for me
Some money too
Some wealth as well
You're sittin' down
You're idle
And wonderin'
Thinking about
What it's all about
What's the point of all this
You ain't got no money
You're broke
They will put you out
You'll be evicted
If you had prepared
If you had planned ahead
Twenty years ago
A long time in the past
You wouldn't be
You'd avoid being
A-wanderin'
Wandering aimlessly
From door to door
Looking for help everywhere
I fell
I was won over
For your jivin'
For your smooth talk
And I took you in
I let you into my life
Now all you got
But now all you have
To offer me's
To give me
A drink of gin
Just a drink of alcohol
Like some other men do?
Like the other men who provide more than just alcohol
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JOE MCCOY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
cjgaddy
The Incredible Natalie Cole! Thanks for posting. What a great jazz singer, AND what a great arrangement & cut of “Why Don’t you Do Right”. Per the credits listed at ArtistDirect, I’m 99% sure the Guitarist is John Chiodini, the Tenor Saxist is Pete Christlieb (I remember him dueling with Don Menza with the Louis Bellson Big Band!), and Alan Broadbent (ex-Woody Herman Thundering Herd) on Piano. I’m pretty sure Alan Broadbent arranged this one too. I could listen to this cut 1000 times in a row.
Missy Deyo
I love your knowledge!
Jean Smith
🎶🎷🎤🎹🎸🥁🎺
Angie Bellehumeur
Awesome! The amazing Ms Cole. Thanks for sharing! ❤️🎼🙏🏾
tabitha blanchard
Love it!go girl!-tab
Тамара Бантеева
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?
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'
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, baby
Like those other men do?
I said : Get out of here
And get me some money too
Скет
Do right by me