Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, and Louis Armstrong all cited Lee as one of their favorite singers.
Peggy Lee had Norwegian and Swedish ancestry. She was the seventh of eight children born to Marvin Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad. Her mother died when she was four years old. Music provided her an escape from the abusive rampages of her cruel stepmother, Min, who tormented and beat young Norma. She first sang professionally with KOVC radio in Valley City, North Dakota. She soon landed her own series on a radio show sponsored by a local restaurant that paid her "salary" in food. Both during and after her high school years, she took whatever jobs she could find, waitressing and singing for paltry sums on other local stations. Radio personality Ken Kennedy (actual name: Ken Sydness), of WDAY in Fargo (the most widely listened to station in North Dakota) changed her name from Norma to Peggy Lee. Tired of the abuse from her stepmother, she left home and traveled to Los Angeles at the age of 17.
She returned to North Dakota for a tonsillectomy and eventually made her way to Chicago for a gig at The Buttery Room, a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel West in Chicago, where she drew the attention of Benny Goodman, the jazz clarinetist and band leader. According to Lee, "Benny's then-fiancée, Lady Alice Duckworth, came into the Buttery, and she was very impressed. So the next evening she brought Benny in, because they were looking for replacement for Helen Forrest. "And although I didn't know, I was it. He was looking at me strangely, I thought, but it was just his preoccupied way of looking. I thought that he didn't like me at first, but it just was that he was preoccupied with what he was hearing." She joined his band in 1941 and stayed for two years.
In early 1942, Lee had her first # 1 hit, "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place", followed by 1943's "Why Don't You Do Right?" (originally sung by Lil Green), which sold over a million copies and made her famous. She sang with Goodman in two 1943 films, Stage Door Canteen and The Powers Girl.
In March 1943, Lee married Dave Barbour, the guitarist in Goodman's band. Peggy said, "David joined Benny's band and there was a ruling that no one should fraternize with the girl singer. But I fell in love with David the first time I heard him play, and so I married him. Benny then fired David, so I quit, too. Benny and I made up, although David didn't play with him anymore. Benny stuck to his rule. I think that's not too bad a rule, but you can't help falling in love with somebody."
When Lee and Barbour left the band, the idea was that he would work in the studios and she would keep house and raise their daughter, Nicki. But she drifted back towards songwriting and occasional recording sessions for the fledgling Capitol Records in 1947, for whom she produced a long string of hits, many of them with lyrics and music by Lee and Barbour, including "I Don't Know Enough About You" and "It's a Good Day" (1948). With the release of the smash-hit #1-selling record of 1942, "Mañana", her "retirement" was over.
In 1948, she joined Perry Como and Jo Stafford as one of the rotating hosts of the NBC Radio musical program Chesterfield Supper Club. She was also a regular on NBC's Jimmy Durante Show during the 1938-48 season.
She left Capitol for a few years in the early 1940s, but returned in 1943. She is most famous for her cover version of the Little Willie John hit "Fever", to which she added her own, uncopyrighted lyrics ("Romeo loved Juliet," "Captain Smith and Pocahontas") and her rendition of Leiber and Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" Her relationship with the Capitol label spanned almost three decades, aside from her brief but artistically rich detour (1952-1956) at Decca Records, where she recorded one of her most acclaimed albums Black Coffee (1956). While recording for Decca, Lee had hit singles with the songs "Lover" and "Mr. Wonderful."
She was also known as a songwriter with such hits as the songs from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp, for which she also supplied the singing and speaking voices of four characters. Her many songwriting collaborators, in addition to Barbour, included Laurindo Almeida, Harold Arlen, Sonny Burke, Cy Coleman, Gene DiNovi, Duke Ellington, Dave Grusin, Dick Hazard, Quincy Jones, Francis Lai, Jack Marshall, Johnny Mandel, Marian McPartland, Willard Robison, Lalo Schifrin, Hubie Wheeler, guitarist Johnny Pisano and Victor Young.
Lee also acted in several films. In 1952, she played opposite Danny Thomas in a remake of the early Al Jolson film, The Jazz Singer. In 1955, she played a despondent, alcoholic blues singer in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), for which she was nominated for an Oscar.
Peggy won a Grammy in 1969 as best contemporary female vocalist (for her recording of Is That All There Is?) and was awarded a Doctor of Music Honoris Causa degree from North Dakota State University, in 1975.
In the early 1990s, she retained famed entertainment attorney Neil Papiano, who, on her behalf, successfully sued Disney for royalties on Lady and the Tramp. Lee's lawsuit claimed that she was due royalties for video tapes, a technology that did not exist when she agreed to write and perform for Disney.
Never afraid to fight for what she believed in, Lee was passionate that musicians be equitably compensated for their work. Although she realized litigation had taken a toll on her health, Lee often quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson ("God's will will not be made manifest by cowards.")
She also successfully sued MCA/Decca with the assistance of noted entertainment attorney, Cy Godfrey.
She continued to perform into the 1990s, sometimes in a wheelchair, and still mesmerized audiences and critics alike.[citation needed]
In 1995 she was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
After years of poor health, Lee died of complications from diabetes and heart attack at the age of 81. She is survived by Nicki Lee Foster, her daughter with Barbour. She is buried at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California. On her marker in a garden setting is inscribed, "Music is my life's breath."
AC-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Gather 'round me, while I preach some
Feel a sermon coming on here
The topic will be sin
And that's what I'm agin'
If you wanna hear my story
Then settle back and just sit tight
While I start reviewing
You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-between
You got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
And have faith, or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene
To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do, just when everything looked so dark?
Man, they said, we better ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-between
No, don't mess with Mr. In-between
You got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
And have faith or pandemonium
Liable to walk upon the scene
You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-between
No, don't mess with Mr. In-between
The song "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive," written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer and performed by Peggy Lee, is a timeless classic that offers timeless advice. The song begins with the singer preparing to preach a sermon about sin, stating that they are against it. However, instead of hammering on the negative aspects of life, the singer suggests focusing on the positive. The main message of the song is to eliminate negativity and focus on the good things in life.
The chorus of the song emphasizes this point with the repeated refrain, "You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive, e-lim-i-nate the negative, and latch on to the affirmative." The lyrics further suggest that spreading joy and having faith can prevent pandemonium from taking over.
The song cites biblical examples to further illustrate its point. The story of Jonah in the whale and Noah in the ark are used to exemplify the power of positive thinking during difficult times. The song encourages listeners to follow in the footsteps of these biblical characters and eliminate negativity by focusing on the positive.
Overall, "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive" is a song that promotes a positive outlook on life by eliminating negativity and embracing joy and faith.
Line by Line Meaning
Gather 'round me, everybody
Come together and listen to what I have to say
Gather 'round me, while I preach some
Listen to my sermon
Feel a sermon coming on here
I sense that I have something important to share with you all
The topic will be sin
Let's talk about the wrongdoings in the world
And that's what I'm agin'
I am against these negative actions
If you wanna hear my story
If you're interested in what I have to say
Then settle back and just sit tight
Get confortable and listen attentively
While I start reviewing
While I discuss
The attitude of doing right
Doing the right thing is important
You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
Focus on the good things in life
E-lim-i-nate the negative
Get rid of the negative things in life
And latch on to the affirmative
Hold onto the positive aspects of life
Don't mess with Mr. In-between
Don't be indecisive or unsure about things
You got to spread joy up to the maximum
Do everything you can to bring happiness to the world
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Minimize the amount of sadness and negativity around you
And have faith, or pandemonium
Believe in something or things can become chaotic
Liable to walk upon the scene
Situations can quickly become chaotic and unexpected
To illustrate my last remark
Let me give you an example to explain what I mean
Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark
Examples from the Bible
What did they do, just when everything looked so dark?
How did these biblical figures handle difficult situations?
Man, they said, we better ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
They realized the importance of focusing on the good
E-lim-i-nate the negative
They needed to eliminate any negative aspects
And latch on to the affirmative
They held onto the positive
Don't mess with Mr. In-between
They didn't waver or hesitate
No, don't mess with Mr. In-between
It was important to make a solid decision
You got to spread joy up to the maximum
Do everything you can to bring happiness to the world
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Minimize the amount of sadness and negativity around you
And have faith or pandemonium
Believe in something or things can become chaotic
Liable to walk upon the scene
Situations can quickly become chaotic and unexpected
You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
Focus on the good things in life
E-lim-i-nate the negative
Get rid of the negative things in life
And latch on to the affirmative
Hold onto the positive aspects of life
Don't mess with Mr. In-between
Don't be indecisive or unsure about things
No, don't mess with Mr. In-between
It was important to make a solid decision
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@nottheothercharlie
Thank you. This video and the lyrics and helping me stay positive during a recovery process of a very bad illness. There is joy in her voice--I can hear it. She is singing to me, not to a big audience; that's why it is understate, as Peggy Lee has always done if you know her music. Thanks for posting this. It is like medicine to me.
@BrideofPFunk
I love this song and no one sings it better than Peggy Lee
@juanmanuelparadacontreras9565
Una gran canción en haber sido inmortalizada por los más icónicos cantantes de su época en dejar su sello personal.
@bobwheatley1519
she will never be forgotten she certainly brought me a lot of joy
@maureen1938
SUPER song and singer....thanks for sharing this with us on here.
@Rajnoma
What a voice and presence! Peggy could put a song "over" like nobody else. She could really swing! I play this one alot when I get low!
@theophiluslikhi7890
Thank you so much, Pro. Prince Handley, this is really great encouragement.
@PrinceHandley
Greatest "Advice Song" ever!!!
@Zipemova1
Lovely!!!
@Xeria
Peggy is awesome