Like Some Other Men Do

Quick: what is the most memorable animated song performance of all time? If you answered “Jessica Rabbit singing ‘Why Don’t You Do Right?,’” you are correct. Okay, who sang it? It was Kathleen Turner, who famously voiced Jessica, right? Wrong. The singing part was recorded by none other than Amy Irving.

Okay, now: who originally performed “Why Don’t You Do Right?” If you answered “Peggy Lee,” you’d probably be in the majority. But this answer, too, is incorrect. Peggy Lee’s version is the most well-known, but it is not the original, by a long-shot. The song is credited to Kansas Joe McCoy and was first recorded in 1936 with the title “Weed Smoker’s Dream” by the incredibly-named Harlem Hamfats. But this version is quite different from the more modern version. The lyrics are almost entirely different, although the musical structure and chords are definitely very similar. Give it a listen; it’s not my favorite version, but it’s definitely interesting to see the song’s evolution.

So although the Harlem Hamfats version is credited as the original, the first recorded version that sounds like the Jessica Rabbit version was recorded by Lil Green in 1941. The Lil Green version feels so authentic and it is so much fun. It just has a jaunty piano accompaniment with some guitar later in the song. It’s still sexy, but it gives you a wink or three. This is far and away my favorite version of “Why Don’t You Do Right?” It’s easy to envision a smoke-filled club in 1941 with people dancing and dressed fancy with Lil Green slinking on stage. I love songs where the only recordings are from vinyl records; it sounds so great.

Peggy Lee recorded the song with bandleader Benny Goodman the next year, in 1942, and it catapulted her to national stardom. I hate this, because as was very common for the time, she—a white woman—recorded a song by a Black artist that is somewhat inferior and made a whole career out of it. I like a lot of Peggy Lee’s later work, but this one just isn’t my favorite. I’m not posting it. Luckily there are some other good covers.

The aforementioned 1988 cover by Amy Irving for the film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” is also incredible. Amy Irving really incorporated the sexiness that I think is inherent in the song. If you haven’t seen “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” recently, this is your sign. It has remained one of my top 10 favorite movies for good reason. And who doesn’t love this performance? It’s such a classic. Watching Betty Boop push Bob Hoskins’s mouth closed is just perfection. And that high note at the end? Flawless. If you’ve never seen it or if you’ve seen it a million times, give this a watch.

I’m going to do one more cover version because I really like it. In what was perhaps the inspiration for Björk’s cover of Betty Hutton’s 1951 song “It’s Oh So Quiet” on her 1995 album Post. This version of “Why Don’t You Do Right?” has the same vibe as the later Björk song. On Sinéad O’Connor’s 1992 follow-up to her smash hit I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, entitled Am I Not Your Girl?, the album opens with a super fun cover of “Why Don’t You Do Right?” She changes the first two lines of the song to be a bit more biting toward the loser man who is the subject of the song’s lyrics. I love her voice so much and I miss her.

There you go. Four different versions of a classic song for your enjoyment!