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."
Big Spender
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I could see you were a man of distinction, a real big spender
Good looking, so refined
Say, wouldn't you like to know what's going on in my mind?
So let me get right to the point
I don't pop my cork for every gay I see
Hey big spender!
Spend a little time with me
How's about a few laughs, laughs?
I can show you a good time
Let me show you a good time
The minute you walked in the joint
I could see you were a man of distinction, a real big spender
Good looking, so refined
Say, wouldn't you like to know what's going on in my mind?
So let me get right to the point
I don't pop my cork for every guy I see
Hey big spender!
Hey big spender!
Hey big spender!
Spend a little time with me
The lyrics to Peggy Lee's song "Big Spender" suggest a seductive invitation to a wealthy man. From the very beginning, the singer is attracted to the man's presence and makes it clear that he is a man of distinction and that she finds him alluring. She then implies that she has certain thoughts in her mind that she would like to share with him. The singer's decisive statement, "I don't pop my cork for every guy I see" reinforces the idea that she is selective and desires to spend time with a man of his stature.
The most striking aspect of the song is the repeated use of the phrase "Hey big spender!" as a way of attracting the man's attention. This phrase is the hook of the song and emphasizes the seductive tone of the lyrics. As a whole, the song captures the atmosphere of a nightclub or cabaret, with its jazzy rhythm and the suggestive lyrics conveying a message of flirtation and seduction. It is a playful and teasing tune that invites the listener, and in particular, the titular big spender, to indulge in a night of fun and pleasure.
Line by Line Meaning
The minute you walked in the joint
As soon as you entered the venue, I observed that you looked like a successful man with high standards.
I could see you were a man of distinction, a real big spender
Just by your appearance, I could tell that you had refined taste and spent lavishly on the things you wanted.
Good looking, so refined
You caught my attention because you are not only attractive, but you also display class and sophistication.
Say, wouldn't you like to know what's going on in my mind?
I wonder if you are interested in learning about my thoughts and desires.
So let me get right to the point
I don't want to beat around the bush, let's get straight to the purpose of why I approached you.
I don't pop my cork for every guy I see
I don't get excited over just any man who crosses my path.
Hey big spender!
I'm talking to you, the wealthy and elegant man who caught my eye.
Spend a little time with me
Would you be willing to invest some of your precious time with me?
Wouldn't you like to have fun, fun, fun?
I can guarantee a good time if you're interested in enjoying yourself.
How's about a few laughs, laughs?
We can share some amusing experiences and create memories that we can both look back on fondly.
I can show you a good time
Let me entice you with promises of entertainment and pleasure.
Let me show you a good time
I am eager to demonstrate how much joy and excitement I can provide to someone like you.
Lyrics © WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC, CTM Publishing, Lucky Libra Publishing
Written by: Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@marmar5993
The minute you walked in the joint
I could see you were a man of distinction,
A real big spender
Good lookin', so refined
Say, wouldn't you like to know
What's goin' on in my mind?
Well let me get right to the point:
I don't pop my cork for every guy I see
Hey Big Spender! Spend a little time with me.
Wouldn't you like to have fun, fun, fun?
We could have a few laughs, laughs
I could show you... good time!
Would you like to have a... good time?
The minute you walked in the joint
I could see you were a man of distinction,
A real big spender
Good lookin', so refined
Say, wouldn't you like to know
What's goin' on in my mind?
Well let me get right to the point:
I don't pop my cork for every guy I see
Hey Big Spender!
Hey Big Spender!
Hey Big Spender! Spend a little time with me.
@artboston4787
I'm here because I looked up Peggy Lee "big spender".
@M08J0
I can see you are a man of distinction.
@fatimahrahman6158
Me too! ❤️
@arcangelmaaze7804
Same
@Yottabee
I used to sing this in the shower...in college!
@pennidarrah4285
i sing it in the shower all the time :)
@missdee4927
still do
@larryn1929
This was one of my dad's favorite tunes. So joy and sadness at the same time listening to this.
@scottbrown8869
I can so relate to the joy and sadness that this tune brings- similar to your Dad, this was one of my mother's favorite tunes.
@obiwan2112
What a classic! It's also one of my favorite Las Vegas Bellagio fountain songs.