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Released in 1982

What's That You're Doing?

Written by Paul McCartney • Stevie Wonder

Last updated on July 11, 2020

Album This song officially appears on the Tug Of War Official album.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1982

Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1981, when Paul McCartney was 39 years old)

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related interviews

“What’s That You’re Doing” is a song from 1982 album “Tug Of War” co-written with Stevie Wonder. From an interview with Club Sandwich, 1982:

Andy Mackay – “What’s That You’re Doing?” is a great track. Just the riff in the title obviously like that, linked together. I wondered whether the title came from the riff, or did you have the title…

Paul – It originally just started off with Stevie Wonder jamming – Stevie is an inveterate jammer, as they say – and he was on the Yamaha CS80 synthesiser and started playing.

Andy – It sounds like, you know, the way Jimmy Hendrix used to make his guitar say, “Thank you.” If you listen you can actually hear the riff saying, “What’s that you’re doing?”

Paul – He’s an incredible controller. He started off on the riff and he built most of the song up actually just from a jam.

‘What’s That You’re Doing?’ is me and Stevie collaborating. He’s doing the sort of funky riff, and I’m putting the song together. My memory of that is, because he’d only just come up with the lyrics, and he was still writing them as we were recording, he couldn’t remember all the words easily. He had his manager. Stephanie – who I think is still his manager, I run into her when I see Stevie, so she still looks after him – help out. She had a copy of the lyrics. This was a great idea: she would be in an adjoining booth and would prompt him in his headphones. With each line, she would say it through to him, just before he sang.

Paul McCartney, in Tug Of War Archive Collection, 2015
From Instagram – Linda McCartney

Lyrics

What's that you're doing?

Girl I like what you do to me

What's that you're doing?

‘cos it makes no kind of sense to me

You can make me feel so proud

You can make me holler ow!

Girl you make me want to dance and sing

My mind is blown and you're the blame

I say it's sunnin' when there's rain

I jump by leaps and bounds, just call my name

What's that you're saying?

Girl I like the way you talk to me.

What's that you're saying?

Even if it's wrong girl I do agree

Girl you make me feel so small

Though I might stand six feet tall

What you've got cuts me right down to size

I'll be the last, you'll be the first

I'll do my best to quench your thirst

I'm the lucky one who keeps the prize

Girl I like what you're doing

Baby do it some more

Girl I like what you're doing

Baby do it some more

Girl I like what you

Do to me, do to me

Do it some more

Do it to me, do it to me

Do it some more

What's that you're doing?

Girl I like what you do to me.

What's that you're doing?

‘cos it makes no kind of sense to me

You can fill my appetite

Without me taking up a bite

Never knew that love could fill you up

You're much too good for me to pass

I'm for the taking, you just ask

We can make it stick with love and luck

Girl I like what you're doing

Baby do it some more

Girl I like what you're doing

Baby do it some more

Girl I like what you

Do to me, do to me

Do it some more

You know I like what you're doing

Girl I like what you're doing

Baby do it some more

What's that I'm feeling?

That sensation's such a mystery

I know that it's thrilling

And I hope this feeling last eternally

Girl you make me scream and shout

Tell me what it's all about

You make me give in without a fight

I don't have no words to say

You can fill it anyway

And everything you do will turn out alright

Girl I like what you're doing

Baby do it some more

Girl I like what you're doing

Baby do it some more

She loves you yeah yeah yeah,

She loves you yeah yeah yeah yeah

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “What's That You're Doing?”

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

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Paul McCartney writing

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