Play "Don't Know Why" Your Way! (PIYW #11, October 2026)

rsl12

PIYW #11: Play "Don't Know Why" Your Way

Play It Your Way is a quasi-monthly event for beginners, professionals, classical, jazz, or pop pianists and everyone in between! We are starting work on "Don't Know Why" by Jesse Harris. Use the links below to find the sheet music you like, and when you are ready, post your performance in the submission thread. Perfection is not expected!

Previous PIYWs:

PIYW #10: Play "Last Song" Your Way (there is still plenty of time to participate in this one!)
PIYW #9: Play Chopin's "Wiosna (Spring)" Your Way
PIYW #8: Play "How Long Blues" Your Way

Full List of Previous PIYWs

Thanks to Rsl12 for this month's selection! Please suggest pieces for future "Play It Your Way" events by using the suggestion box. The theme of the next PIYW (to be announced in October 2026) is "Winter Holiday", but feel free to submit good ideas across all genres.

Guidelines

This is not a contest! It is meant to be a casual and fun event.
You can use this thread to discuss your preparation of the piece, or anything else related to PIYW. To submit a recording of your performance, go to the submission thread.
All PIYW submissions will remain hidden from public view until 15 October 2026. However, there is no deadline for when you need to submit your performance. Although most participants submit their recording before that date, you may submit at any time.
Use the recital schedule to plan your participation in future recitals!

"Don't Know Why" by Jesse Harris (1999)

Norah Jones' version (2002) is best known...

...but the original version (1999) was written and performed by Jesse Harris

From Wikipedia:

"Don't Know Why" is a song written and composed by American singer-songwriter Jesse Harris that originally appeared on his 1999 album, Jesse Harris & the Ferdinandos. A cover of the song later appeared on Norah Jones' debut studio album, Come Away with Me (2002), and was released as her debut single on January 28, 2002.

Jones' piano-playing has been compared to that of Floyd Cramer, having a "style and grace, a musical maturity not found in many keyboard players today."

From an interview with Jesse Harris:

Expressiveness on the whole is not Harris' forte. His lyrics are slippery and ambiguous, rarely confronting anything head-on. Sometimes this makes them seem merely vague, but in his better moments he manages to be evocative without exactly defining the thing he's evoking. The songs are mostly about relationships of one kind or another, and they tend to involve someone or something fading or leaving or not arriving at all (as in "Don't Know Why"). Who or what is actually at stake is left to the listener to decide.

"Songs kind of exist in an abstract place," Harris says. "I've never been one who wrote autobiographically. I keep a journal, and so maybe because of that I don't feel a need to articulate things in my life, I don't need to find expression for them. So songs can kind of exist in a world of their own, and they don't have to bear the burden of me talking about my personal life.

He finds the best analog for his method in blues songs, with their succinct metaphors and repetition. "Great blues tunes are quite abstract and sort of universal," he says. "It doesn't have to be that person's story, you know?"

At the same time, Harris resists categorization as a traditionalist of any stripe. His sepia-toned cover photo notwithstanding, he insists he's not trying to revive anything. "I don't know, it seems any time you try to do something in a 'traditional' way, it seems kind of hokey, or like a put-on," he says. "I don't see myself as doing anything in a traditional way -- just making music that appeals to me in the best way I know how to do it."

Links to Sheet Music / Lead Sheet

You are not limited to only the music linked below. Feel free to find or create your own version.
You do not have to complete or perfect the piece to submit it, and don't be afraid to simplify or shorten the piece.
Improvisation, backing tracks, and backing humans are all allowed.

Sheet music (special thanks to ShiroKuro for providing many of these links!):

Easy:
https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/lisa-donovan-lukas/dont-know-why-easy/MN0289472
https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/dietmar-steinhauer/dont-know-why-easy/MN0285295

Early Intermediate:
https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/jennifer-eklund/dont-know-why-early-intermediate/MN0231564

Intermediate:
https://www.musicnotes.com/marketplace/sheetmusic/MK0104779
https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/lisa-donovan-lukas/dont-know-why-intermediate/MN0289399
https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/william-haviland/dont-know-why/MN0239920
Piano with Johnny Version #1 (Video Link)
Piano with Johnny Version #2
Jennifer Eklund's version (Video link)
Christian Fuchs' version (Video Link)

Lead Sheet
Lead Sheet (Beginner's Guide to Lead Sheets)

ShiroKuro

rsl12 yay, really looking growth to getting started on this!!

Need to finish Last song first…

ShiroKuro

P.S. Thanks for linking the Harris video. Jones’s version far excels IMO but it’s great to hear the original!

rsl12

Okay, I've been wanting to write a "How I practice a jazz tune" post for a while now, and I think this is the opportunity. I'm going to document my practice of this tune as a way of illustrating how to tackle any jazz tune.

If you want to follow along, the first step is to look at the lead sheet and do some of the exercises shown in the beginner guide to lead sheets. (You could also do this without the lead sheet, and figure out the melody/chords by ear.)

ShiroKuro

rsl12 I've been wanting to write a "How I practice a jazz tune" post for a while now, and I think this is the opportunity.

Awesome idea!

WieWaldi

Ok, I am in. Just bought and re-ordered, printed (onto 3 pages instead of 4) and ring bound the sheet music.

ShiroKuro rsl12 I've been wanting to write a "How I practice a jazz tune" post for a while now, and I think this is the opportunity.

Awesome idea!

Second this

Just don't know if I would count "Don't know Why" as a Jazz tune. For me it is more like a very calm pop song with lots of mellow tones. Anyway, I think it is the perfect pick for that PIYW, even if we had a Jazz or Ragtime as genre. Sticking to the genres isn't that important in my opinion. If it fits at least a little bit, it is fine.

ShiroKuro P.S. Thanks for linking the Harris video. Jones’s version far excels IMO but it’s great to hear the original!

Indeed. I wondered why Jesse Harris was quoted in the sheet music, despite the according tutorial refers to Norah Jones. I think, I will refer to Jesse Harris as composer in my video title screen.
Little nag: Yes - with Davinci Resolve you can set a title text. A composer, too. 😉

Sophia

Sigh.... I make no promises at all. But... I just purchased Christian's version. I made the "mistake" to listen when he (sorry that was confusing, I meant my husband) was in the room, and he didn't rest until I bought it - he fell in love with it instantly and kept saying things like "it's gorgeous! why not? (when I said I have no desire to learn it) and go on, get it!!" 😃

Again I make no promises... except I'll give it a go. I am sure that I won't be learning the entire piece, but perhaps I'll just go attempt the first part. I do like the sound of it.

rsl12

Because I think "Don't Know Why" could be popular with lots of different types of players, I posted the announcement to r/piano, r/pianolearning, and r/jazzpiano. (I'll just link to one in the interest of saving space):

rsl12

Sophia I just purchased Christian's version.

Oh no, but maybe he deserves something nice after putting up with "Cat Food" for so long!

Have you considered trying a simpler arrangement? Christian's is not the easiest. I know you could handle it (without the solo) if you like it, but it's a bit much for an arrangement you're not happy about.

rsl12

WieWaldi Just don't know if I would count "Don't know Why" as a Jazz tune. For me it is more like a very calm pop song with lots of mellow tones. Anyway, I think it is the perfect pick for that PIYW

I agree with both thoughts. It's similar to many Stevie Wonder tunes that I would classify as jazzy pop, but for the purposes of PIYW, I think it will work well as a tune that can handle fun jazz exploration, and many have already explored the tune in jazzy ways.

Sophia

rsl12 Cat Food

LOL! Now there's an in-joke 😃 Seriously though, I had a go at it and thanks to you and my new syncopated powers (which means the ability to count ONE and TWO AND THREE and FOUR), I actually managed to learn the first two bars, LH only. In one day! I mean, with the SC it took me a full week to learn a single bar beyond the "Cat Food" section 🤪

But, you are right, I'm not going to learn the entire piece. Just the gist of it, the exact amount to be determined but definitely <100% 🙂

WieWaldi

Sophia I actually managed to learn the first two bars, LH only. In one day!

Yes - same here: two bars. But only left hand.

ShiroKuro

I think I’m going to do the Piano with Jonny version, the easier of the two that I posted in the “vote” thread. (I’m not sure if those are linked above in this thread or and I didn’t check, sorry!)

This version is relatively easy note-wise, but I think getting the feel of it, the rhythm of it, will probably be challenging for me because most of what I play is “straight,” even when there’s syncopation. So i think that will be the real challenge.

Also I’m not planning on doing any improvising or playing from a lead sheet etc. Sorry @rsl12 ! 😅

diretonic

For those doing their own thing + borrowing there are some nice bluesy touches in this version. Impressive fluency and confidence on this and his other covers...