Review
Genre and Mood
Tez Cadey made Why Don’t You Do Right - Tez Cadey Remix from a record that was already a reworking: Cab Canavaral’s electro-swing version of a blues standard, sung by Nina K Lucas. The label tagged the result electro swing, with jazz, soul, funk and trip hop beside it, and the mood that suits it is playful and nostalgic, an old complaint dressed for a new dancefloor.
Song Summary
The song began in Chicago in 1936, when the Harlem Hamfats recorded it as Weed Smoker’s Dream. Kansas Joe McCoy later rewrote it as Why Don’t You Do Right?, sung from a woman’s side about a man who wastes his chances; Lil Green recorded that version in 1941, and Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman’s orchestra made it a million-selling hit in 1942. Cab Canavaral’s recording keeps McCoy’s song with Lucas singing and Cab Canavaral on saxophone. Tez Cadey’s remix, posted in August 2012, was, in his words, his remix of Cab Canavaral’s interpretation of an old classic.
Musical Breakdown
No source we found describes this remix section by section or times it, so this guide stays with what the credits and the release state.
The Voice
Nina K Lucas is the credited vocalist, so the woman’s complaint of the lyric stays at the centre.
The Saxophone
Cab Canavaral plays saxophone on the original, credited again on the remix: the instrument that ties the track to the swing era it borrows from.
The Length
The remix runs 3:14 against the original’s 4:15 on the same album, the shortest version of the song there.
Concepts in Focus
A cover version is a new recording of a song by someone other than its first performer. Why Don’t You Do Right? has been covered so often that it became a standard; Cab Canavaral’s is one more, and this track is a remix of that cover, a third layer on a 1936 song. A remix starts from the recorded parts of another track, so the singer and saxophonist are still credited here even though the producer is someone else.
The <a href=“https://korczis.github.io/sonic-playground/concept/featured-artist/” class=“concept-link font-medium text-primary-700 underline decoration-dotted underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-solid dark:text-primary-400” data-concept=“featured-artist” title=“A guest performer credited on another artist’s track, usually as “feat.”: a rapper’s verse, a singer’s hook or a second voice. Features bring together different styles and audiences and are central to hip-hop, R&B and dance music.“>featured artist credits show the layers too: Tez Cadey is the main artist on his remix, with Nina K Lucas and Cab Canavaral featured.
Artistic Context
Billybong Records, a Vienna net-label that concentrates on electro swing and swing, released Cab Canavaral Remixed on 12 December 2012: remixes of I Dance Charleston and Why Don’t You Do Right, with both originals. Its notes hear the other versions of this song as a sultry bass groove, a dubstep mix and a slick two-step. Tez Cadey, born Malo Brisout in 1993, would release Seve in 2014. Compare Caravan Palace – Lone Digger and Swing Republic, The Mills Brothers – Moanin’ for You for the wider scene.
Impact and Reception
We found no review of this remix. Its interest is as an early record: Seve, re-released on Ultra Music in 2015, has since passed 300 million streams. Play this one to hear a producer’s beginnings, and a 1930s song that keeps finding new rooms.
