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."
A Doodlin' Song
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Cy Coleman / Carolyn Leigh
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo do-de-oo-de-oo
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo do-de-oo-de-oo
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo do-de-oo-de-oo
Why don't you join the group?
It's better than being a party-poop
Obbligato, pizzicato
Guy Lombardo, it's the craziest
When you noodle with a doodlin' song
Two, three, four
Like it so much, I'll doodle some more
Little softer, Perry Como
Even softer, pianissimo
Say you love me with a doodlin' song
be, see, D
Ooo, what you doodle-de-do to me
Say you love me, really love me
Say you love me true
Say you love me, please believe me
When you do, that makes two who
Go together, bet your boodle
Like the apples in a strudel do
When you noodle with a doodlin' song
What you call a real ball
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo do-de-oo-de-oo
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo, I love you
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo do-de-oo-de-oo
Here we go now, bet your boodle
Like the apples in the strudel do
When we noodle with a doodlin' song
All through, thank you
The lyrics of Peggy Lee's "A Doodlin' Song" are playful and whimsical in nature. The song speaks of the joy of doodling while listening to music, and how it makes one feel. The lyrics invite the listener to join in and become a part of the group, stating that it is better than being a party-pooper. The song refers to musical terms, such as obbligato and pizzicato, and mentions Guy Lombardo, a Canadian-American bandleader and violinist. The lyrics indicate that noodling with a doodlin' song is crazy, and the singer loves it so much that she wants to doodle some more. The lyrics then take a romantic turn, with the singer asking to be told that she is loved through a doodlin' song, which is also referred to as a real ball.
The lyrics of "A Doodlin' Song" are light-hearted and fun, embodying the spirit of jazz music from which it originated. The reference to musical terms such as obbligato and pizzicato, and musicians like Guy Lombardo, speaks to the musical knowledge and appreciation of the intended audience. The song also speaks to the romantic aspect of jazz, with the singer asking to be told of love through a doodlin' song. The lyrics provide a glimpse into the culture and society of the time, where jazz music was a prominent feature.
Line by Line Meaning
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo do-de-oo-de-oo
Let's get into a fun, upbeat mood.
Why don't you join the group?
Why not come and join us and be a part of the fun?
It's better than being a party-poop
Being a part of this lively group is way better than being a stick in the mud.
Obbligato, pizzicato
Playing the instruments in a unique and fun way!
Guy Lombardo, it's the craziest
Having the craziest and most fun time like Guy Lombardo would have.
When you noodle with a doodlin' song
When you play around with a fun and playful song while singing about love.
Two, three, four
A counting down to start the fun!
Like it so much, I'll doodle some more
Loving it so much that we'll keep playing around and having fun.
Little softer, Perry Como
Let's take it down a notch to be more like a Perry Como song.
Even softer, pianissimo
Lower the volume even more, to a pianissimo.
Say you love me with a doodlin' song
Tell me you love me, but in a playful way like a doodle.
be, see, D
Playing around with words like 'be', 'see', and 'D' - no particular meaning here.
Ooo, what you doodle-de-do to me
Feeling the love and excitement from the playful words and doodling.
Say you love me, really love me
Tell me you love me, truly and deeply.
Say you love me true
Tell me you love me without any falsehood or doubt.
Say you love me, please believe me
Believe me when I say that I want to hear you say you love me.
When you do, that makes two who
When we both express love for each other, that's true love.
Go together, bet your boodle
Like two things that go together perfectly, like the ingredients in an apple strudel.
Like the apples in a strudel do
Everything has its perfect place when it works together.
When you noodle with a doodlin' song
Having a blast while playing around with a fun, happy song.
What you call a real ball
This is what true happiness feels like!
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo do-de-oo-de-oo
Let's keep the good times rolling!
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo, I love you
Playing around with the melody and adding the love element into the song.
Do do-de-oo do-de-oo do-de-oo-de-oo
Having a blast and feeling the love through the music.
Here we go now, bet your boodle
Let's start the fun and happiness with confidence!
All through, thank you
Thank you for joining the fun and playing around with the doodling song! Let's do it again sometime!
Lyrics © WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Carolyn Leigh, Cy Coleman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Anonymous
on Why Don't You Do Right (Get Me Some Money Too)
Why Don't You Do Right - Casey Abrams - Lyrics
You had plenty money 1922
You let other women make a fool of you
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
You're sitting there wondering what it's all about
You ain't got no money, they will throw you out
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
Musical Interlude
You had plenty money 1922
You let other women make a fool of you
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too?
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?