AIN'T NOBODY'S BUSINESS IF I DO
(aka "T'ain't Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do")
(Porter Grainger / Everett Robbins)


Anna Meyer with The Original Memphis Five - 1922
Sara Martin - 1922
Alberta Hunter - 1923
Bessie Smith - 1923
Frank Stokes - 1928
Mississippi John Hurt - 1928
Jimmy Witherspoon - 1949
Billie Holiday with Buster Harding & his Orch. - 1949
Ella Fitzgerald with Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five - 1950
Billie Holiday with Count Basie & his Orch. - 1954
Billie Holiday with Chico Hamilton's Quintet - 1956
Dinah Washington - 1957
Abbey Lincoln - 1958
Sondra Blinky Williams - 1969
Cher - 1979
Peggy Lee - 1988
Ardis - 1994
Willie Nelson - 2000

Also recorded by:  
Lowell Fulson; B.B. King; Freddie King; Bobby Blue Bland; 
Sam Cooke; James Cotton; Johnny Copeland; Susan Tedeschi; 
James Booker; Long John Baldry; Otis Spann; Eric Clapton; 
Hank Williams Jr.


There ain't nothing I can do
Or nothing I can say
That folks don't criticize me
But I'm going to do just as I want to anyway
And I don't care just what people say

If I should take a notion
To jump into the ocean
Ain't nobody's business if I do

If I go to church on Sunday
Then cabaret all day Monday
Ain't nobody's business if I do

If my man ain't got no money
And I say, "Take all of mine, honey"
Ain't nobody's business if I do

If I give him my last nickel
And it leaves me in a pickle
Ain't nobody's business if I do

I'd rather my man would hit me
Than for him to jump up and quit me
Ain't nobody's business if I do

I swear I won't call no copper
If I'm beat up by my papa
Ain't nobody's business if I do

Ain't nobody's business
Nobody's business
Nobody's business if I do


++++++++++


As recorded by JIMMY WITHERSPOON:


Lord, Lord, Lord
Lord, Lord, Lord
Ain't nobody's business if I do

Some of these days I'm goin'crazy
Buy me a shotgun, shoot my baby
Ain't nobody's business if I do

If I should take a notion
I'd go right down and jump in the ocean
Ain't nobody's business if I do

One day I have chicken and dumplings
Yes, the next day I don't have nothin'
Ain't nobody's business if I do

If I attend church all day Sunday
Yes, and cabaret all day Monday
Ain't nobody's business if I do

If I stay out all night
Spend my money, that's all right
Ain't nobody's business if I do

(Saxophone Solo)

One day we got ham and bacon
Next day, ain't nothin' shakin'
Ain't nobody's business if I do

If me and my baby fuss and fight
And the next minute we alright
Ain't nobody's business if we do

Lord, Lord, Lord
Lord, Lord, Lord
Ain't nobody's business if I do

I'm three times seven
And that makes twenty-one
Ain't nobody's business what I do







(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - May 2011)