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."
As Long As I'm Dreaming
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Life isn't long enough baby, but I can love you as long as I live.
Maybe I can't give you diamonds and things like I want to,
But I can promise you, baby, I'm gonna want to as long as I live.
I never cared, but now I'm scared, I won't live long enough.
That's why I wear my rubbers when it rains and eat an apple every
What if I can't live to love you as long as I want to.
Long as I promise you, baby, I'm gonna love you as long I live.
I'll even wear long underwear, when winter breezes blow
I'm gonna take good care of me because, a sneeze or two might mean the flu,
And that would never never do
What if I can't live to love you as long as I want to.
Long as I promise you, baby, I'm gonna love you as long I live.
The song "As Long As I Live" by Peggy Lee expresses a deep commitment to love someone as long as possible, regardless of the limitations that life brings. From the very first lines, the song conveys a bittersweet nostalgia for fulfilling all the desires of her beloved, such as living longer and providing expensive gifts like diamonds. Nonetheless, she promises to love her partner with all her heart and soul as long as she lives. While she understands that it's humanly impossible to fulfill all desires and live forever, she vows to take care of herself to be with her lover as long as possible.
In the second verse, the singer illustrates the fear that arises when we love someone too much, and we realize that life is too short to express and enjoy that love. She acknowledges that she never cared before, but now that she has found someone, she fears that she will not have enough time to love them entirely. Thus, she is taking preventative measures to keep herself healthy and safe to ensure that she and her lover can stay together as long as possible. Throughout the song, she highlights the importance of taking care of oneself to express all the love that one has.
Line by Line Meaning
Maybe I can't live to love you as long as I want to.
I may not be able to love you for the entire duration of my life due to its limitations, but I'll love you for as long as I'm alive.
Maybe I can't give you diamonds and things like I want to,
I may not be able to shower you with expensive gifts like I wish, but I will always want to do so.
I never cared, but now I'm scared, I won't live long enough.
In the past, I didn't worry about my life's length. But now, I've become frightened that I might not get to live for as long as I'd like.
What if I can't live to love you as long as I want to.
I'm worried that I might not be around long enough to love you the way I'd like to.
I'll even wear long underwear, when winter breezes blow
I'll bundle up and take good care of myself - even wearing layers - to avoid getting sick during cold winter months.
What if I can't live to love you as long as I want to.
Again, I worry that I might pass away before I've had a chance to love you as much as I'd like to.
Life isn't long enough baby, but I can love you as long as I live.
Though life is short, I will love you for every moment of my life.
But I can promise you, baby, I'm gonna want to as long as I live.
Even if I can't get you expensive presents, I will always want to spoil you with such items.
That's why I wear my rubbers when it rains and eat an apple every Day then see the doctor anyway.
I do all I can to keep myself healthy, including wearing rain boots, eating an apple every day, and regularly seeing a doctor.
Long as I promise you, baby, I'm gonna love you as long I live.
I vow to love you as long as I am alive.
And that would never never do
Getting sick would not be good, so I must take precautions to avoid doing so.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Roy Acuff
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@adriaartannale8962
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 (you give me fever) when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight (you give me fever)
Fever in the mornin'
Fever all through the night
Sun lights up the day time
Moon lights up the night
I light up when you call my name
'Cause I know you're gonna treat me right
You give me fever (You give me fever) when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight (You give me fever)
Fever in the mornin'
Fever all through the night (Wow!)
Everybody's got the fever
That is somethin' you all know
Fever isn't such a new thing
Fever started long time ago
Baby, turn on your love light (Yeah, yeah)
Let it shine on me (Yeah, yeah)
Well, baby, turn on your love light (Yeah, yeah)
And let it shine on me (Yeah, yeah)
Well, just a little bit higher (Yeah, yeah)
And just a little bit brighter, baby (Yeah, yeah)
Ow!
You give me fever (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
You give me fever (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
You give me fever (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
You give me fever
Romeo loved Juliet
Juliet she felt the same
When he put his arms around her
He said, "Julie baby you're my flame"
Thou givest fever when we kisseth
Fever with thy flaming youth
Fever I'm on fire
Fever yea 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
We give you fever when we kiss you
Fever if you live and 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
@jessicalargiu6884
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 mornin'
A fever all through the night
Sun lights up the day time
Moon lights up the night
I light up when you call my name
And you know I'm gonna treat you right
You give me fever when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the mornin'
A fever all through the night
Everybody's got the fever
That is somethin' you all know
Fever isn't such a new thing
Fever started long time 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 on fire
Fever yea 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 givess me fever with his kisses"
"Fever when he holds me tight"
"Fever, I'm his misses"
"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 and 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
@ВладиславЗапорожец-ц8у
Приятно Слушать Пегги Ли!!!
И Голос и Внешность, Вдохновляют...🔥
Ласкает Слух!!!
Старые, Добрые Времена...
Спасибо!!!
Very Best Song!!!
Nice to Listen to PEGGY LEE!!!
Voice and Appearance, Inspire... 🔥
Caress Hearing!!!
Old, Good Time...
Thanks!!!
P. S. With Love from Russia!!!
@ginamarie6977
Peggy Lee made this arrangement. Her record producers thought she was crazy to have only a bassist and fingersnaps to accompany her, but she stuck to her guns, and the result was this classic recording.
@swine74
percussion too
@upthedownescalator630
Well it's great
@Se7enevil
Gina Marie great info ! Thank you:)
@upthedownescalator630
@pyropulse Yeah? Maybe you're jealous you didn't know it first
@ginamarie6977
To pyropulse: No, I didn't make this up. It just speaks to how smart Peggy Lee was. A musical arrangement doesn't have to be lush to be beautiful and show off the "lead" instrument, in this case, her voice.
@MoosicandCritters
Nothing but a bass, drums, finger snaps, and her sweet voice. Absolutely beautiful! Perfection!
@trevorjennings721
Hello dear, how are you doing today, hope you’re fine and safe from the virus??
@LadyDeirdre
And she had to fight tooth and nail to get that arrangement; her producer kept trying to add more instruments to create a more lush sound.
@afifahsiregar8510
Here I am nostalgic, after The Queen's Gambit!