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."
Ain't We Got Fun
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ain't we got fun?
Not much money, oh, but honey
Ain't we got fun?
The rent's unpaid, dear
We haven't a car
But anyway, dear
We'll stay as we are
Even if we owe the grocer
Don't we have fun?
Tax collector's getting closer
Still, we have fun
There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer
In the meantime, in between time
Ain't we got fun?
Don't we have fun?
Still, we have fun
Even if we owe the grocer
Don't we have fun?
Tax collector's getting closer
Mmm, what fun
There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer
In the meantime, in between time
Don't we have fun?
It's a ball
The lyrics of Peggy Lee's song "Ain't We Got Fun" reflect the spirit of the Roaring Twenties. The song is about a couple who are poor and struggling to make ends meet, but they remain optimistic and happy despite their struggles. The opening lines of the song, "Every morning, every evening, ain't we got fun?" suggest that the couple is living in the moment and finding happiness in the simple things in life.
The second stanza, which includes the lines "Even if we owe the grocer, don't we have fun? Tax collector's getting closer, still we have fun," reflects the economic hardships of the time. Many people in the 1920s were struggling to make ends meet, and the couple in the song is no exception. However, despite their financial struggles, they continue to find joy in their relationship and in the world around them.
The chorus, which repeats the line "Ain't we got fun?" emphasizes the couple's determination to remain happy and positive, even in the face of adversity. The song reminds us that even when life is tough, it's important to find joy in the little things and to appreciate the people we love.
Line by Line Meaning
Every morning, every evening
Despite our circumstances, we wake up each day and go to bed each night.
Ain't we got fun?
Nevertheless, we find joy in our lives.
Not much money, oh, but honey
Although we may not have a lot of money, my dear, we still have each other.
Ain't we got fun?
And that's something to celebrate.
The rent's unpaid, dear
We may be behind on our bills, my love.
We haven't a car
We may not even have a means of transportation.
But in any way, dear
Yet, in any case, my dear.
We'll stay as we are
We will remain content with our current situation.
Even if we owe the grocer
Even if we still owe the grocery store money.
Don't we have fun
Still, we choose to focus on the good things in life.
Tax collector's getting closer
We may also have a looming debt to the government.
Still we have fun
Yet, we find ways to enjoy ourselves.
There's nothing surer
It is a fact that.
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer
The wealthy continue to accumulate wealth while the less fortunate struggle to make ends meet.
In the meantime, in between time
As we wait for things to improve.
Ain't we got fun?
We must find happiness in the little things.
Lyrics © O/B/O DistroKid, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: RAYMOND B EGAN, GUS KAHN, RICHARD A WHITING
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
catatronic
Every morning, every evening
Ain't we got fun?
Not much money, oh, but honey
Ain't we got fun?
The rent's unpaid, dear
We haven't a car
But in any way, dear
We'll stay as we are
Even if we owe the grocer
Don't we have fun
Tax collector's getting closer
Still we have fun
There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer
In the meantime, in between time
Ain't we got fun?
Don't we have fun?
Still we have fun
Even if we owe the grocer
Don't we have fun?
Tax collector's getting closer
Ooh, what fun
There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer
In the meantime, in between time
Don't we have fun?
Kristian Amaya
“In all the days
In all the nights
Ain’t we got fun
Gotta stay inside
Not dark because you’re so bright
Ain’t we got fun
Light’s soon to be cut off
Laughing’s important in life
Cable could be shut off
I’d still marry you twice
Don’t we have fun
We won’t fear yet
Though everything’s not clear yet
Still we have fun
It’s guaranteed
People want their needs
Until the unrest stops
Put on a smile on at the rest stop
Ain’t we got fun
In all the days
In all the nights
Ain’t we got fun
Slinky’s and stress love
Are meant to compress love
Don’t we have fun
We just begun living
As Mr. and Mrs. Foo
To our neighbors we’re giving
Because that’s good neighbors do
Bill Collectors keep callin
Ain’t we got fun
Gosh this debt we’re all in
Still we have fun
It’s guaranteed
People want their needs
Until the unrest stops
Put on a smile on at the rest stop
Ain’t we got fun”
Imani M
I love the optimism in these lyrics, but unfortunately it's still a little depressing. I LOVE Peggy Lee's voice and music, and this song!!
Jamie Freed
You're the one who just found this style last year, aren't you? Nineteen? Anyway, I'm twelve. I love this so so much. It's so fitting for that time period, so big band, so great!
no NO
This song was stuck in my head since Jessica Jones
I love it
Seléne Lerman
Me too buddy
catatronic
Every morning, every evening
Ain't we got fun?
Not much money, oh, but honey
Ain't we got fun?
The rent's unpaid, dear
We haven't a car
But in any way, dear
We'll stay as we are
Even if we owe the grocer
Don't we have fun
Tax collector's getting closer
Still we have fun
There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer
In the meantime, in between time
Ain't we got fun?
Don't we have fun?
Still we have fun
Even if we owe the grocer
Don't we have fun?
Tax collector's getting closer
Ooh, what fun
There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer
In the meantime, in between time
Don't we have fun?
George Green
You stole these words from a song
Sicarius Peremo
@George Green 🤣
PAUL PETERSON
I wish Peggy had done every album with Nelson Riddle. The tracks she did with him are her best!!!
STUPENDOUS!!!! (course Peggy could sing the white pages and I'd be happy)
A Krenwinkle
Peggy was asked if she were stranded on a desert island and could have only one arranger, who would it be? She said Billy May because he could do anything, had experience in so many different types of songs.
Jim Harrison
one of the best,always great to play,bring back all these stars of the past,just beautiful