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."
Blue Prelude
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Let me cry
When I'm blue
Let me go away from this lonely town
Won't be long
'Til my song here is through
'Cause I know I'm on my last go round
All the love I could steal, beg or borrow
Cannot heal all the pain in my soul
What is love but a prelude to sorrow
With a heart break ahead for your goal
Here I go
Now you know
Why I'm leaving
I've got the blues
What can I lose?
Goodbye
Here I go
Now you know
Why I'm leaving
I've got the blues
What can I lose?
Goodbye
Adieu
To you
Goodbye
The lyrical content of Peggy Lee and George Shearing's "Blue Prelude" is filled with sorrow and longing. The lyrics are about a person who is feeling blue and wants to leave their lonely town. They articulate how life has been tough on them and how they know that their last go-round is coming up soon. The singer explains how they have tried everything possible to seek happiness, but nothing has been able to heal the pain in their soul. They believe that love is the prelude to sorrow and that heartbreak lies ahead. The singer is leaving with a heavy heart, accepting the loss and saying goodbye.
The song's mood is quite melancholic, and the lyrics demonstrate how the misery is overwhelming. The song’s melody only amplifies the pain in the lyrics, and Peggy Lee’s vocals are haunting and sad. The chorus repeats the line, "Here I go, now you know, why I'm leaving," which highlights the fact that the singer is leaving both their town and their pain behind.
Line by Line Meaning
Let me sigh
Allow me to express my sadness through audible exhalations.
Let me cry
Permit me to shed tears as a physical manifestation of my grief.
When I'm blue
During times of melancholy and sadness.
Let me go away from this lonely town
Allow me to escape from this place of isolation and emptiness.
Won't be long
It won't take much time.
'Til my song here is through
Until I have reached the end of my time in this location.
'Cause I know I'm on my last go round
Because I am aware that this is my final opportunity.
All the love I could steal, beg or borrow
Regardless of how much love I attain through deceit, pleading or borrowing,
Cannot heal all the pain in my soul
It cannot alleviate the complete anguish I feel within me.
What is love but a prelude to sorrow
Is love anything other than an introduction to heartache?
With a heart break ahead for your goal
Your objective will likely lead to heartbreak.
Here I go
Here I depart.
Now you know
You have been informed.
Why I'm leaving
The reason for my departure.
I've got the blues
I am filled with sadness and melancholy.
What can I lose?
Is there anything to forfeit?
Goodbye
Farewell.
Adieu
A final goodbye to you.
To you
To the person whom I am departing from.
Goodbye
Farewell.
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Joe Bishop, Gordon Jenkins
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@iamperpetuallyconfused1916
Let me sigh
Let me cry
When I'm blue
Let me go away from this lonely town
Wont be long
Til my song
Here is through
Cause I know I'm on my last go round
All the love I could steal beg or borrow
Can not heal all the pain in my soul
What is love but a prelude to sorrow
With a heart break ahead for your goal
Here I go
Now you know
Why I'm leaving
I've got the blues
What can I loose
Goodbye
Here I go
Now you know
Why I'm leaving
I've got the blues
What can I loose
Goodbye
I do
To you
Goodbye
@bluesman33
Peggy Lee that says it all. thanks for the upload.
@BloodyCatastrophee
What a pretty picture of Miss Peggy!!! Mmmmmm and lovely song., wow, i didn't know about it. Thanks for uploading!
@godisbollocks
Great song, great performance.
@TheJazzStreet
i love this song! thank you
@godisbollocks
George Shearing channelling Art Tatum at some points there.
@bluesman33
Listen more carefully stigtrace the pathos is there in the tone and vibrato in her throat. Her soft voice masks the depth sometimes.( you are not allowed to make even semi critical remarks) I have been in love with her since the 50's. However I will listen to some more Blue Prelude just to see what you mean.
@iamperpetuallyconfused1916
Let me sigh
Let me cry
When I'm blue
Let me go away from this lonely town
Wont be long
Til my song
Here is through
Cause I know I'm on my last go round
All the love I could steal beg or borrow
Can not heal all the pain in my soul
What is love but a prelude to sorrow
With a heart break ahead for your goal
Here I go
Now you know
Why I'm leaving
I've got the blues
What can I loose
Goodbye
Here I go
Now you know
Why I'm leaving
I've got the blues
What can I loose
Goodbye
I do
To you
Goodbye
@godisbollocks
I believe it's: "Adieu, to you, goodbye" at the end.
@jackrenglish
GREAT SONG BY GORDON JENKINS......JACK ENGLISH
@Snipervenomaz
i came here to see Blue Gloss Handa Prelude ??!!