The Isley Brothers are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati… Read Full Bio ↴The Isley Brothers are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that started as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over eight decades, the group has enjoyed one of the "longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music".

Together with a fourth brother, Vernon, the group performed gospel music until Vernon's death a few years after its formation. After moving to the New York City area in the late 1950s, the group had their first successes during these early years, first coming to prominence in 1959 with their fourth single, "Shout", written by the three brothers. Initially a modest charted single, the song eventually sold over a million copies. In the 1960s, the group recorded songs for a variety of labels, including the top 20 single "Twist and Shout" and the Motown single "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)", before recording and issuing the Grammy Award-winning hit "It's Your Thing" on their own label, T-Neck Records.

Influenced by gospel and doo-wop music, the group began experimenting with different musical styles incorporating elements of rock and funk as well as pop balladry. The inclusion of younger brothers Ernie Isley (lead guitar, drums) and Marvin Isley (bass guitar), and Rudolph's brother-in-law Chris Jasper (keyboards, synthesizers), in 1973 turned the original vocal trio into a complete band and reached the height of their success. For the next full decade, they recorded a string of top-selling albums from 3 + 3 to Between the Sheets, including the number one album The Heat Is On.

The six-member band splintered in 1983, with Ernie, Marvin, and Chris Jasper forming the short-lived spinoff group Isley-Jasper-Isley. The oldest member, O'Kelly, died in 1986 and Rudolph and Ronald released a pair of albums as a duo before Rudolph retired to a life in the Christian ministry in 1989. Ronald reconvened the group two years later in 1991 with Ernie and Marvin; five years later, in 1996, Marvin Isley left the group due to complications of diabetes. The remaining duo of Ronald and Ernie achieved mainstream success with the albums Mission to Please (1996), Eternal (2001) and Body Kiss (2003). Eternal spawned the top twenty hit "Contagious". As of 2019, the Isley Brothers continue to perform under the lineup of Ronald and Ernie.

The Isley Brothers have sold over 18 million units in the United States alone. They have had several hit songs including four Top 10 singles on the United States Billboard chart. With their first major hit charting in 1959 ("Shout"), and their last one in 2001 ("Contagious"), they are among the few groups ever to have hit the Billboard Hot 100 with new music in five different decades. Sixteen of their albums charted in the Top 40 and thirteen of those albums have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the RIAA. The brothers have been honored by several musical institutions, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted them in 1992. Five years later, they were added to Hollywood's Rockwalk, and in 2003 they were inducted to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. They received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Isley_Brothers

Studio albums
Shout! (1959)
Twist & Shout (1962)
Twisting and Shouting (1963)
This Old Heart of Mine (1966)
Soul on the Rocks (1967)
It's Our Thing (1969)
The Brothers: Isley (1969)
Get into Something (1970)
Givin' It Back (1971)
Brother, Brother, Brother (1972)
3 + 3 (1973)
Live It Up (1974)
The Heat Is On (1975)
Harvest for the World (1976)
Go for Your Guns (1977)
Showdown (1978)
Winner Takes All (1979)
Go All the Way (1980)
Grand Slam (1981)
Inside You (1981)
The Real Deal (1982)
Between the Sheets (1983)
Masterpiece (1985)
Smooth Sailin' (1987)
Spend the Night (1989)
Tracks of Life (1992)
Mission to Please (1996)
Eternal (2001)
Body Kiss (2003)
Baby Makin' Music (2006)
Power of Peace (2017)

What'cha Gonna Do
The Isley Brothers Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

All night and day, just chippin' away
It's all in a day's work
Tryin' hard to defend
The time that I spend alone

The crown that you lose, exploiting the blues
Won't get the job done
As hard as it bites

I'm keepin' my sights on you

What'cha gonna do for me?
What'cha gonna do for me?
What'cha gonna do for me?
When the chips are down, in the cool of the night

When nothing seems right
The feeling can take you
Strange as it seems
You make your own dreams come true

If you try to conceal
The way that you feel
You're asking for trouble
Just as sure as I cry, I'm keeping my eye on you

What'cha gonna do for me?
What'cha gonna do for me?
What'cha gonna do for me?
When the chips are down, in the cool of the night

What'cha gonna do for me?
What'cha gonna do for me?
What'cha gonna do for me?
When the chips are down, in the cool of the night

You don't have to tell me
I'm to blame for this

'Cause what you hold against me
Is what I miss

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of The Isley Brothers’ song “What’cha Gonna Do” speak about determination in the face of adversity. The song starts off by painting a picture of someone who is constantly working to defend the time they spend alone. The first verse uses the metaphor of chipping away to describe the hard work this person is doing, implying that they are slowly building or achieving something tangible.

The next verse refers to the crown that someone loses by exploiting the blues, which appears to be a reference to exploiting hardship and suffering. This implies that the singer of the song is determined to succeed without compromising their values, even if it may be harder than taking shortcuts. The chorus then poses the question “What'cha gonna do for me?” and repeats it several times. The questions seem to imply that the singer is not asking for help, but rather challenging someone to step up and prove themselves in a similar way to how they are working hard to defend their time and values.

Line by Line Meaning

All night and day, just chippin' away
I work hard day and night

It's all in a day's work
Working hard is just a normal part of life

Tryin' hard to defend
I struggle to protect

The time that I spend alone
The moments I have by myself

The crown that you lose, exploiting the blues
You can't achieve anything by just being sad

Won't get the job done
Being sad won't help the situation

As hard as it bites
Even though it's difficult

I'm keepin' my sights on you
I'm watching you closely

What'cha gonna do for me?
What are you going to do to help me?

When the chips are down, in the cool of the night
When things get tough, in the calm of darkness

When nothing seems right
When everything is going wrong