“Ain’t Nobody’s Business”—Learn a Jazzy Blues Classic for Solo Ukulele
BY FRED SOKOLOW | FROM THE FALL 2024 ISSUE OF UKULELE
Two pianist-composers of popular songs, Porter Grainger and Everett Robbins, wrote “Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness if I Do” in 1922. Though the song has sophisticated chord changes, it became a blues standard, covered by Bessie Smith and nearly every blues singer you can name, as well as by such diverse artists as Jimmy Witherspoon, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Cher, Hank Williams Jr., and Amy Winehouse.
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Like many songs of the 1920s–’40s, “Ain’t Nobody’s Business” has an introductory verse that is sung and played just once, followed by what used to be called the chorus, a 16-bar section that is repeated several times with different lyrics. The verse/intro has an entirely different melody and chords than the chorus.
Common in blues and many popular songs, a turnaround is a two-bar phrase that typically ends a statement and sets up the next one. In “Ain’t Nobody’s Business,” the second ending of the chorus is a common two-bar turnaround: I–I7–IV–iv–I–V7, or F–F7–Bb–Bbm–F–C7 in the key of F major. Play the turnaround and you’ll hear a series of smoothly descending notes within the chords: F–Eb–Db–C. Movement like this makes a harmonic progression more fun to listen to.
For bonus points, learn my accessible but satisfying instrumental solo (bars 33–43), which mixes four- and three-note voicings and single notes; be sure to hold each chord shape for as long as possible.
Also, notice the typical blues ending, on the I7 (F7) chord inflected with tremolo picking (rapid down-up) in the penultimate measure. Listen to any—and all—of the recordings referenced above for inspiration to create your own solo, or to modify my arrangement.
