London's 35-year acting career began in films in 1944 and included playing opposite Gary Cooper in Man of the West (1958) and Robert Mitchum in The Wonderful Country (1959). She achieved continuing success in the TV medical drama Emergency! (1972–1979), co-starring her real-life husband, Bobby Troup, and produced by her ex-husband, Jack Webb, in which London played the female lead role of nurse Dixie McCall. She and Randolph Mantooth, who played one-half of her medical students, a paramedic, in the series, were very close to her family, until her death in 2000.
Born in Santa Rosa, California, she was the daughter of Jack and Josephine Peck, who were a vaudeville song-and-dance team. When she was fourteen the family moved to Los Angeles. Shortly after that, she began appearing in movies. She graduated from the Hollywood Professional High School in 1945.
London began singing under the name Gayle Peck in public in her teens before appearing in a film. She was discovered by talent agent Sue Carol (wife of actor Alan Ladd), while working as an elevator operator. Her early film career, however, did not include any singing roles.
London recorded 32 albums in a career that began in 1955 with a live performance at the 881 Club in Los Angeles. Billboard named her the most popular female vocalist for 1955, 1956, and 1957. She was the subject of a 1957 Life cover article in which she was quoted as saying, "It's only a thimbleful of a voice, and I have to use it close to the microphone. But it is a kind of oversmoked voice, and it automatically sounds intimate."
London's debut recordings were for the Bethlehem Records label. While shopping for a record deal, she recorded four tracks that would later be included on the compilation album Bethlehem's Girlfriends in 1955. Bobby Troup backed London on the album, for which London recorded the standards "Don't Worry About Me", "Motherless Child", "A Foggy Day", and "You're Blasé".
London's most famous single, "Cry Me a River", was written by her high-school classmate Arthur Hamilton and produced by Troup. The recording became a million-seller after its release in December 1955 and also sold on reissue in April 1983 from the attention brought by a Mari Wilson cover. London performed the song in the film The Girl Can't Help It (1956), and her recording gained later attention in the films Passion of Mind (2000) and V for Vendetta (2006). The song "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was featured on the HBO television series Six Feet Under and appears on its soundtrack album. London's "Must Be Catchin'" was featured in the 2011 premiere episode of the ABC series Pan Am. Her last recording was "My Funny Valentine" for the soundtrack of the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine (1981).
Other popular singles include "Hot Toddy", "Daddy", and "Desafinado". Recordings such as "Go Slow" epitomized her career style: her voice is slow, smoky, and playfully sensual.
She was married to Jack Webb, of Dragnet fame. Her obvious beauty and self-poise (she was a pinup girl prized by GIs during World War II) contrasted with his pedestrian appearance and stiff-as-a-board acting technique (much parodied by impersonators). This unlikely pairing arose from his and her love for jazz; their marriage lasted from July 1947 to November 1953. They had two daughters, one who was killed in a traffic accident in the 1990s and one who survived London. In 1954, having become somewhat reclusive after her divorce from Jack Webb, she met jazz composer and musician Bobby Troup at a club on La Brea Blvd. They married on December 31, 1959 and remained married until Troup's death in February 1999. Together, they had one daughter and twin sons.
London suffered a stroke in 1995, and was in poor health until her death in Encino, California, at the age of seventy-four, survived by four of her five children. She died on18th October 2000, and was buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Easy Street
Julie London Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nobody works on easy street
Just lie around all day, just sit and play the horses
Life is sweet for folks who live on easy street
No weekly payments you must meet
That makes your hair turn gray
You just keep on with your rockin'
'Cause you know your fortune's made
And if the sun makes you perspire
There's a man that you can hire
To plant trees so you can have shade
On easy street, I'm telling everyone I meet
If I could live on easy street I'd want no job today
So please, go 'way
The song Easy Street by Julie London is a satirical take on a world where no one works and everything comes easy. The lyrics explore the daydream of living on Easy Street where life is sweet, you can lie around all day and the opportunity comes knocking at your door without any effort. The song presents the pleasures and joys associated with living a life without responsibilities, where weekly payments do not have to be met, and the stress that comes with it is absent. The lyrics also suggest a desire for power, fortune and luxury without actual effort in achieving them. The line "just sit and play the horses" represents a carefree nature of life on Easy Street, arguably the opposite of this fantasy is the struggle and labor that comes with reality. The character singing the song dreams of a life without a job, trivializing the privilege of having a paying job with the assumption that it is difficult.
The song's satirical approach to life is seen in the line "That makes your hair turn gray." which is often attributed to the stress that a person encounters in the working world. The lyrics also feature the use of irony, as the line "And if the sun makes you perspire, there's a man that you can hire to plant trees so you can have shade" emphasizes the resources that those living on Easy Street have, compared to the scarcity of opportunities and resources experienced in the real world.
Line by Line Meaning
Easy street, I'd love to live on easy street
Living a luxurious life on Easy Street can be everyone's dream
Nobody works on easy street
No busy routine, just spare time for relaxations
Just lie around all day, just sit and play the horses
Amusement without exertion, just indulging in leisure activities
Life is sweet for folks who live on easy street
Easy-going life can be pleasant and enjoyable
No weekly payments you must meet
No financial stress, no pressure to pay for weekly dues
That makes your hair turn gray
Stressful payments can be a major cause of worry and anxiety
When opportunity comes knockin', you just keep on with your rockin', 'cause you know your fortune's made
Living on easy street means having less worries, so you can respond more confidently to opportunities
And if the sun makes you perspire, there's a man that you can hire, to plant trees so you can have shade
On easy street, you don't have to worry about sun exposure or landscaping as you can hire professionals to do the job
On easy street, I'm telling everyone I meet
Living on Easy Street can be so great that one can't help but brag about it
If I could live on easy street I'd want no job today, so please go 'way
Living on Easy Street would be a dream come true for many and mean avoiding any sort of employment in the future
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JOHN JAMES, PETER FRANK BERRYMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind