Uploaded September 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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"Why Don't You Do Right?" (originally recorded as "Weed Smoker's Dream") is an American blues and jazz-influenced pop song written by Joseph "Kansas Joe" McCoy in 1936. A minor key twelve-bar blues with a few chord substitutions, it is considered a classic "woman's blues" song and has become a standard.

One of the best-known versions of the song was recorded by Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman on July 27, 1942, in New York. Featured in the 1943 film, Stage Door Canteen, it sold over 1 million copies and brought her to nationwide attention.

Lee often stated that Green's recording was influential to her music. In a 1984 interview she said, "I was and am a fan of Lil Green, a great old blues singer, and Lil recorded it. I used to play that record over and over in my dressing room, which was next door to Benny's. Finally he said, 'You obviously like that song.' I said, 'Oh, I love it.' He said, 'Would you like me to have an arrangement made of it?' I said, 'I'd love that,' and he did."

"Why Don't You Do Right?" was not Goodman and Lee's biggest hit. However, it reached number four on the Billboard charts and defined Lee's sultry and rich vocal style early on in her career. Lee married guitarist Dave Barbour and left Goodman in 1943. She intended to retire from the music industry and focus on homemaking, but she continued receiving offers to return to the music world, largely due in part to the success of "Why Don't You Do Right?" Ultimately she returned to singing, and collaborated off and on with Goodman throughout her career. They recorded an alternate version of "Why Don't You Do Right?" in 1947.