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."
After You
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How could you tell me that you're goin' away?
Don't say that we must part,
Don't break your baby's heart
You know I've loved you for these many years,
Loved you night and day,
Oh! honey baby, can't you see my tears?
After you've gone and left me cryin'
After you've gone there's no denyin'
You'll feel blue, you'll feel sad
You'll miss the dearest pal you've ever had
There'll come a time, now don't forget it
There'll come a time when you'll regret it
Someday, when you grow lonely
Your heart will break like mine and you'll want me only
After you've gone, after you've gone away
After you've gone and left me cryin'
After you've gone there's no denyin'
You're gonna feel blue, and you're gonna feel sad
You're gonna feel bad
And you'll miss, and you'll miss,
And you'll miss the bestest pal you ever had
There'll come a time, now don't forget it
There'll come a time when you'll regret it
But baby, think what you're doin'
I'm gonna haunt you so, I'm gonna taunt you so
It's gonna drive you to ruin
After you've gone, after you've gone away.
The lyrics of Peggy Lee's 'After You' tell the story of a woman begging her lover to stay with her, warning him of the regret and pain he will feel once he's gone. The beginning of the song sees the singer pleading with her lover not to leave and reminding him of the love that they share. She emphasizes that breaking up will shatter her heart and bring her to tears. The chorus repeats the phrase "after you've gone" and directly addresses the lover, suggesting that he will feel the effects of their separation just as strongly as she will. The tone of this section is almost accusatory, with the woman predicting that the man will come to regret leaving her and that he will soon feel the pain that she currently does.
In the second verse, the singer turns up the pressure on her partner, promising that he will miss her when he's gone. The verse is steeped in irony, as she refers to him as "the dearest pal you've ever had". The use of the word "pal" is precisely what distinguishes her from her lover's real pals — it is the connection he has with her that he cannot find elsewhere. She continues to warn him that he will eventually become lonely and regret leaving her behind. In the final verse, the woman takes on a haunting tone, promising to continue to torment him after he's gone. She suggests that he'll never find someone who understands him as well as she does, and that the pain of the breakup will be too much for him to handle.
Line by Line Meaning
Now won't you listen honey, while I say,
Please pay attention to me, my dear, as I have something important to share with you.
How could you tell me that you're goin' away?
I'm having a hard time believing that you're planning on leaving me.
Don't say that we must part,
I beg you not to say that we need to separate.
Don't break your baby's heart
Please don't cause me pain by breaking my heart.
You know I've loved you for these many years,
I have been deeply in love with you for years.
Loved you night and day,
I have loved you every moment, day and night.
Oh! honey baby, can't you see my tears?
My dear, can't you see that I am crying because of the thought of you leaving?
Listen while I say
Please listen to what I have to say.
After you've gone and left me cryin',
Once you have left me alone and in tears,
After you've gone there's no denyin',
There is no doubt that after you have left,
You'll feel blue, you'll feel sad
You will feel depressed and sorrowful.
You'll miss the dearest pal you've ever had
You will long for me, the best friend you've ever had.
There'll come a time, now don't forget it
There will be a future moment you will experience, don't forget this.
There'll come a time when you'll regret it
You will regret the decision you have made.
Someday, when you grow lonely
A day will come when you will feel lonely.
Your heart will break like mine and you'll want me only
You will go through the pain of a broken heart like I am now, and you will want me back in your life.
You're gonna feel blue, and you're gonna feel sad
You too will feel depressed and sorrowful.
You're gonna feel bad
You will feel guilty for causing pain to someone who loved you deeply.
And you'll miss, and you'll miss,
You will long for,
And you'll miss the bestest pal you ever had
And you will miss your best friend, the one who loved you dearly.
But baby, think what you're doin'
Please, my dear, consider carefully what you are planning to do.
I'm gonna haunt you so, I'm gonna taunt you so
I will be there to remind you of what you have done, and it will haunt and torment you.
It's gonna drive you to ruin
Your regret and guilt will consume you, and it will destroy you in the end.
After you've gone, after you've gone away.
Once you have left me and gone away.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Henry Creamer, Turner Layton, Ray Sherman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@MumblzDelusional
Never know how much I love you
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me
I get a fever that's so hard to bear
You give me fever,,, when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the morning
Fever all through the night
Sun lights up the daytime
Moon lights up the night
I light up when you call my name
And you know I'm going to treat you right
You give me fever,,, when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the morning
Fever all through the night
Everybody's got the fever
That is something you all know
Fever isn't such a new thing
Fever started long ago
Romeo loved Juliet
Juliet she felt the same
When he put his arms around her, he said
Julie Baby, you're my flame
Thou giveth fever
When we kisseth
Fever with thy flaming youth
Fever, I'm afire
Fever, yeah I burn, forsooth
Captain Smith and Pocahontas
Had a very mad affair
When her Daddy tried to kill him
She said, Daddy, oh don't you dare
He gives me fever
With his kisses
Fever when he holds me tight
Fever, I'm his missus
Daddy won't you treat him right?
Now you've listened to my story
Here's the point that I have made
Chicks were born to give you fever
Be it Fahrenheit or Centigrade
They give you fever when you kiss them
Fever, if you live you learn
Fever till you sizzle
What a lovely way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
@shaybennett5549
Little Willie John killed it but Peggy took it to another level!!! Still serving up fever! Incredible dancers!
@brendarice8427
She gives it a sultry-ness that's so sexy...
@NikolausGrammenoudis
Dr.Alban taketeam kokonbrum
@gfrastsackl...
One single Song better than a hand full bands !
..OLD BUT GOLD 🫦
@palmav10
The Queen's Gambit led me here! Great song.
@satanikbunny
i just read this song on a fanfiction. i'm speechless, she's amazing!
@captainbananapants7211
Was Is Sharp daggers 🗡️?? That’s how I found it as well LOL LOL so far I’m loving the story if we are talking about the same !
@satanikbunny
@@captainbananapants7211 Sadly no :( it's called "The House of Asmodeus" and it's an Omniscient Reader Viewpoint fic
What is the one you're reading about? I hope it's as cool as you say it is !
@atlantiana
Wow! The dancers and the choreography are incredible! They definitely lived up to this classic tune.
@Alanpoeme
Moon to atlantia : strong tide uniting us 3. Love