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."
Black Coffee When the World Was Young
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I must admit I like it quite well.
It's something to be the darling of all;
Le grande femme fatale, the belle of the ball,
There's nothing as gay as life in Paris,
There's no other person, I'd rather be,
I love what I do, I love what I see,
But where is the schoolgirl that used to be meâ?¦.
Ah, the apple trees,
Where at garden teas,
Jack-o-lanterns swung:
Fashions of the day,
Vests of applique,
Dresses of shantung,
Only yesterday.
When The World Was Young
While sitting around we often recall,
The laugh of the year ' the night of them all,
The blonds who was so attractive that year,
Some opening night that made us all cheer;
Remember that time we all got so tight,
And Jacques and Antoine got into a fight,
The gendarmes who came, passed out like a light,
I laugh with the rest ' it's all very bright.
Ah, the apple trees,
Sunlight memories,
Where the hammock swung,
On our backs we'd lie;
Looking at the shy,
'Til the stars were strung,
Only last July,
When the World Was Young.
You'll see me in Cape D'Antibes , or in Spain ,
I follow the sun by boat or by plane,
It's any old millionaire in a storm,
For I've got my mink to keep my heart warm:
And sometimes I drink too much with the crowd,
And, sometimes I talk a little too loud,
My head may be aching, but it's unbowed,
And sometimes I see it all through the cloudâ?¦
Ah, the apple trees,
And the hive of bees,
Where we once got stung,
Summers at Bordeau:
Rowing at bateau,
Where the willow hung,
Just a dream ago,
When the World Was Young
In the song "When the World Was Young", Peggy Lee recollects her past life as a coquette and a mademoiselle, and how she loved being the centre of attention. She remarks that being the belle of the ball and the grande femme fatale in Paris is something she enjoyed. The song's lyrics convey the idea that the singer misses her past life and fantasizes about going back in time to revisit the memories that once made her young. The apple trees and garden teas represent her innocence and childhood, so is the hammock where she used to spend summer days with her lover, looking at the star-studded sky.
Peggy Lee reveals her love for the sunny side of life, the opportunity to follow the sun through her travels, and being able to live her life luxuriously as a millionaire. She recalls drinking and partying with the crowd, the noise of the night, and how some memories still feel just like yesterday. But ultimately, she misses the schoolgirl that she used to be, and the reminiscence of her past makes her nostalgic.
"When the World Was Young" is a song that reflects on bittersweet recollections of life's passing through intervals. It portrays the desire for a time machine to relive past memories, savoring each moment that once made the singer young.
Line by Line Meaning
They call me coquette, and mademoiselle,
People call me flirt and miss, and I rather enjoy it.
And I must admit I like it quite well.
I like being called that way.
It's something to be the darling of all;
It's wonderful to be everyone's favorite.
Le grande femme fatale, the belle of the ball,
Being an attractive and alluring woman who steals men's hearts and is the most beautiful at a gathering is fascinating.
There's nothing as gay as life in Paris,
Life in Paris is the most enjoyable, fun-filled and lively experience.
There's no other person, I'd rather be,
There's no one else that I prefer to be than myself.
I love what I do, I love what I see,
I love my job and all the wonderful visuals it provides me.
But where is the schoolgirl that used to be me….
But I often wonder about the young and innocent girl I used to be.
Ah, the apple trees,
The apple trees, oh what fond memories they bring to me.
Where at garden teas,
Where we used to host garden receptions.
Jack-o-lanterns swung:
Jack-o-lanterns were hanging overhead.
Fashions of the day,
The styles of clothing that were popular at that time.
Vests of applique,
Vests adorned with ornamental needlework.
Dresses of shantung,
Silk fabrics dresses made from shantung.
Only yesterday.
It feels as if it was just yesterday.
When The World Was Young
When things were simpler and easier, and my heart was unscathed.
While sitting around we often recall,
When reminiscing, we often talk about the past.
The laugh of the year ' the night of them all,
The most humorous memory of the year, the night that outshone all nights.
The blonds who was so attractive that year,
That attractive blonde person who caught everyone's eye that year.
Some opening night that made us all cheer;
A particular opening night that we all enjoyed and cheered for.
Remember that time we all got so tight,
Remember the time we all got drunk,
And Jacques and Antoine got into a fight,
And Jacques and Antoine engaged in a fight.
The gendarmes who came, passed out like a light,
The police who arrived got unconscious quickly.
I laugh with the rest ' it's all very bright.
I laugh along with everyone because it was all quite amusing.
You'll see me in Cape D'Antibes, or in Spain,
You can find me enjoying myself in Cape D'Antibes or Spain.
I follow the sun by boat or by plane,
I chase the sun using airplanes or boats.
It's any old millionaire in a storm,
Any rich person can afford to do the same.
For I've got my mink to keep my heart warm:
I have a mink coat that keeps me warm and comfortable in cold weather.
And sometimes I drink too much with the crowd,
Occasionally I consume an excessive amount of alcohol with others.
And, sometimes I talk a little too loud,
At times, my voice becomes loud and noisy.
My head may be aching, but it's unbowed,
Although my head is aching, I am still not ashamed.
And sometimes I see it all through the cloud…
Occasionally, I feel everything is clouded and unclear.
And the hive of bees,
The hive of bees, a place where honey is produced.
Where we once got stung,
Where my friend and I got stung by bees.
Summers at Bordeau:
Spending summertime at Bordeaux, enjoying the sunshine.
Rowing at bateau,
Rowing a boat at Bateau.
Where the willow hung,
Where the willow tree was located, with its branches hanging.
Just a dream ago,
It feels like it was just a dream only some time ago.
When the World Was Young
Back when my years were golden and everything was within my reach.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Michel Philippe-Gerard, Marie Vannier, Johnny Mercer
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?