"don'cha go 'way mad" is a popular song composed by illinois jacquet and jimmy mundy, with lyrics written by al stillman. it was originally recorded by illinois jacquet and his orchestra as an instrumental on april 6, 1949 as "black velvet". al stillman later added lyrics and harry james recorded it as "don'cha go 'way mad" on december 12, 1949 (released in 1950) on columbia 38682.