What You’re Doing

Background and Commentary

“Side two [of the debut album] opens with ‘What You’re Doing,’ a strong all-out rocker. The lyrics sound as if they were written in 15 minutes, but that’s part of the fun.”—Bill Banasiewicz, Rush Visions

“‘What You’re Doing’ pulverizes Zep-like, housing the album’s most combative celebrations of red-hot riffery.”—Martin Popoff, Contents Under Pressure

“For me the one which stands out [on the debut album] is the scorching ‘What You’re Doing,’ a powerhouse rocker built around a reworked version of Zeppelin’s ‘Heartbreaker’ riff. Pass me an air guitar!”—The Lone Groover, Progressive Ears

“The original [All the World’s a Stage] CD left off ‘What You’re Doing.’ This was due to time constraints (CDs could only hold 75 minutes at the time), but by the time the remasters came out, CDs could hold up to 80 minutes of music. ‘What You’re Doing’ was thus re-inserted, along with the post-show chatter and door closing.”—Rush Wiki

Two “What You’re Doing” tribute versions.

Lyrics

Well, I see you standin’ there
With your finger in the air
Everything we do, you wanna leave it up to you

Who do you think you are?
You think you are a star?
Tryin’ to run the town
Always tryin’ to put us down

Well, you think that you’re right
You think you’re out of sight
Tell me something, mister
Why’d you have to make us so uptight?

Well, you say you’ve been tryin’
You know that you’re lyin’
I think you need some groovin’
Who do you think you’re foolin’, now?

Well, you better start changin’
Your life needs rearrangin’
You better do some talkin’
Or you better do some walkin’ now

Yeah, you think that you’re right
You think you’re out of sight
Tell me something, mister
Why’d you have to make us so uptight?

I know what you’re doing
All that you been doin’ wrong
I don’t know what you’re feelin’
Oh, but you been feelin’ long

Well, you think that you’re right
Tell me something, mister
Why’d you have to make us so uptight?

Tablature

By Branden Robinson, Sean Jones and Jimmy Pena (jimmy@walrus.com)

Excerpted from Fretplay.

+ Tab Legend +
+——–+——————————————————-+
| Symbol | Explanation |
+——–+——————————————————-+
| | | Bar line separating measures of music |
| h,s | Hammer on, Slide |
| \ | Slide down from/into infinity |
| = | Tremolo picking; Play the note rapidly and repeatedly|
+——–+——————————————————-+
Rhythm:
w = whole note W = dotted whole
h = half note H = dotted half
q = quarter note Q = dotted quarter
e = eighth note E = dotted eighth
s = sixteenth note S = dotted sixteenth
t = 32nd note T = dotted 32nd
x = 64th note X = dotted 64th
^ = triplet

Song progression:

[Verse]:

e q E s s s e q E s E s s s e s E
e:—-|——————————–|——————————-|
B:—-|——————————–|——————————-|
G:—-|——————————–|——————————-|
D:—-|——————————–|———————5———|
A:—-|———————5—7——|————————-7—–|
E:-7\-|-0——-3—–4-5h7————|-0—–0-3—–4-5h7——-7\–|

q E s s s e q E s E s s s e s E
e:———————————|——————————-|
B:———————————|——————————-|
G:———————————|——————————-|
D:———————————|———————5———|
A:———————5—7——-|————————-7—–|
E:-0——-3—–4-5h7————-|-0—–0-3—–4-5h7——-7\–|

A5
q q q q
e:—————————————————————–|
B:—————————————————————–|
G:—————————————————————–|
D:——7—————-7—————7————-7———–|
A:——7—————-7—————7————-7———–|
E:——5—————-5—————5————-5———–|
Well I see you standing …

G5
q q q s E
e:—————————————————————–|
B:—————————————————————–|
G:—————————————————————–|
D:——7—————-7—————7————-7-5———|
A:——7—————-7—————7————-7-5———|
E:——5—————-5—————5————-5-3———|
Everything we do, …