"Ain't Nobody's Business" or "'Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness if I Do" is an eight-bar vaudeville blues song that became an early blues standard. It was written in the 1920s by pianist Porter Grainger

Porter Grainger

Porter Grainger was an African-American pianist, songwriter, playwright, and music publisher.-Biography:...

, who had been Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...

's accompanist, and Everett Robbins. The song was first recorded October 19, 1922 by Anna Meyer with the Original Memphis Five. Other early versions include Sara Martin

Sara Martin

Sara Martin was an American blues singer, in her time one of the most popular of the classic blues singers. She was billed as "The Famous Moanin' Mama" and "The Colored Sophie Tucker"...

 (with Fats Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...

 on piano) (December 1, 1922 OKeh 8043), Alberta Hunter

Alberta Hunter

Alberta Hunter was an American blues singer, songwriter, and nurse. Her career had started back in the early 1920s, and from there on, she became a successful jazz and blues recording artist, being critically acclaimed to the ranks of Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith...

 (February 1923 Paramount 12016), and Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...

 (April 26, 1923 Columbia 3898). Porter Grainger's lyrics to the song were copyrighted in 1922, thus they are now in the public domain.

Later versions

In addition to the early versions, the song has been recorded by numerous artists, including Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

, Dinah Washington

Dinah Washington

Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones , was an American blues, R&B and jazz singer. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues"...

, Ardis

Ardis Fagerholm

Ardis Fagerholm, born 8 March 1971, is a Swedish pop singer.-Biography:At the age of thirteen Ardis moved from the West Indian island Dominica to settle down in Sweden...

, Diana Ross

Diana Ross

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...

 (for the film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 Lady Sings the Blues), Hank Williams Jr., Freddie King

Freddie King

Freddie King , thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert...

, Frank Stokes, Mississippi John Hurt

Mississippi John Hurt

John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...

, Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

, Otis Spann

Otis Spann

Otis Spann was an American blues musician, who many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style....

, Susan Tedeschi

Susan Tedeschi

Susan Tedeschi is an American blues and soul musician, who has received multiple Grammy Award nominations, and is well-known for her singing voice, guitar playing, stage presence, and marriage to blues guitarist Derek Trucks...

, Taj Mahal, Wingnut Dishwasher's Union and Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

. In some of the earliest versions, a theme of violence against women

Violence against women

Violence against women is a technical term used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women...

 is made explicit. For example, Dinah Washington specifically identifies her then-husband bandleader Eddie Chamblee in her version, "If me and Eddie fuss and fight..." and follows with this verse included in the earlier Bessie Smith recording:

If I should get beat up by my poppa

That don't mean you should call no copper

Cause it ain't nobody's business if we do

The biggest hit on the number came with Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...

's version in 1949, with the blues shouter

Blues shouter

A blues shouter is a blues singer, often male, capable of singing with a band. The singer must project, or "shout", to be heard over the drums and musical instruments of the band. Blues shouting was a major pathway by which jazz music edged over into rock and roll...

 booming out the opening line:

One day, we got ham and bacon

Next day, ain't nothing shakin'

But it ain't nobody's business if we do

The song was a career cornerstone for Witherspoon, reaching number one on the R&B charts, but he received only limited royalties from his record company. Witherspoon later ruefully argued that losing those royalties was the price he paid for a long show business career.

Author Peter McWilliams

Peter McWilliams

Peter Alexander McWilliams was a writer and self-publisher of best-selling self-help books. He was an advocate for those suffering from depression. And, in his later years, he was a cannabis activist. Terminally ill with AIDS and cancer, he became a vocal campaigner for the legalization of medical...

 used the song and its theme as the title of his libertarian

Libertarianism

Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

book, Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in our Free Country.