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."
Blues in the Night
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Exchanging glances
Wandering the night
What were the chances
We'd be sharing love
Before the night was through?
Something in your eyes
Something in your smile
Was so exciting
Something in my heart
Told me I must have you
Strangers in the night
Two lonely people
We were strangers in the night
Up to the moment
When we said our first hello
Little did we know
Love was just a glance away
A warm embracing dance away
And ever since that night
We've been together
Lovers at first sight
In love forever
It turned out so right
For strangers in the night
We've been together
In love forever
It turned out so right
For strangers in the night
The Peggy Lee song "Blues in the Night" is a powerful love story that tells about two strangers who meet each other at night and end up falling in love. The first two lines describe how they meet: “Strangers in the night, exchanging glances, wandering the night, what were the chances?” Despite the fact that they are strangers, there is a certain connection between them that is expressed through their glances.
In the lines “Something in your eyes was so inviting, something in your smile was so exciting, something in my heart told me I must have you,” it becomes clear that they are immediately attracted to each other. There is a sense of urgency in their desire to be together, which is conveyed by the repetition of the word “something”. Despite the fact that they are strangers, they feel an intense connection to one another.
As the song progresses, their love grows deeper and they become inseparable. “And ever since that night, we’ve been together, lovers at first sight, in love forever, it turned out so right for strangers in the night.” Their chance meeting at night turned out to be life-changing, leading them to find each other, fall in love, and stay together forever.
Line by Line Meaning
Strangers in the night
Two unknown individuals wandering through the darkness
Exchanging glances
Making eye contact in suspicion
Wandering the night
Roaming aimlessly in the dark
What were the chances
The probability of two unknown individuals encountering each other is unlikely
We'd be sharing love
The possibility of both strangers developing romantic affections towards each other was unexpected
Something in your eyes
Your gaze triggered a profound emotion within me
Was so inviting
It appeared as if you wanted me to approach you
Something in your smile
Your facial expression conveyed your excitement towards our encounter
Was so exciting
It felt like we were destined to meet
Something in my heart
A gut feeling or intuition that I should pursue you
Told me I must have you
I knew I wanted to begin a relationship with you
Two lonely people
Both of us were lacking companionship
Up to the moment
Before the point when we greeted each other
When we said our first hello
At the moment we officially acknowledged each other's presence
Little did we know
We were unaware at the time
Love was just a glance away
Our chance encounter was the start of a romantic relationship that neither of us expected
A warm embracing dance away
Physical contact or an embrace was all it took to solidify our attraction
And ever since that night
From that day on
We've been together
We became a couple
Lovers at first sight
Fell in love instantly
In love forever
Our love for each other will last for eternity
It turned out so right
The chance encounter led to a successful, loving relationship
For strangers in the night
Two unknown individuals were the unlikely beginnings of a romance
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Bert Kaempfert, Charles Singleton, Eddie Snyder
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@scottfree4100
My mama done tol' me
When I was in pigtails
My mama done tol' me
A man's gonna sweet-talk and give you the big eyes
But when the sweet-talking's done
A man is a two-face, a worrisome thing
Who'll leave you to sing the blues in the night
Now the rain's a-fallin'
Hear the train a-callin, "whoo-ee!"
My mama done tol' me
Hear that lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle, "whoo-ee!"
My mama done tol' me
A-whooee-ah-whooee ol' clickety-clack's
A-echoin' back the blues in the night
The evenin' breeze'll start the trees to cryin'
And the moon'll hide it's light
When you get the blues in the night
Take my word, the mockingbird'll sing the saddest kind of song
He knows things are wrong, and he's right
From Natchez to mobile
From Memphis to St. Joe
Wherever the four winds blow
I been in some big towns
And heard me some big talk
But there is one thing I know
A man's a two-face, a worrisome thing
Who'll leave you to sing the blues in the night
The evenin' breeze'll start the trees to cryin'
And the moon'll hide it's light
When you get the blues in the night
Take my word, the mockingbird'll sing the saddest kind of song
He knows things are wrong, and he's right
From Natchez to mobile
From Memphis to St. Joe
Wherever the four winds blow
I been in some big towns
And heard me some big talk
But there is one thing I know
A man's a two-face, a worrisome thing
Who'll leave ya to sing the blues in the night
Yes, the lonely, lonely blues in the night
@cookieceo3938
This music just feels so good. That bluesy beat. makes your body just sway and move so easy. Great musicians and great vocals.
@chriscorman734
Benny definitely loved the blues. Fletcher Henderson had a great affect on him and Peggy my gosh that voice haven sent
@josephw2905
21 years old here Peggy was! Thank you Benny for introducing her to us, promoting here and launching her career
@SuperHartline
The music accompaniment by Benny Goodman fell out of heaven. And Peggy was equal to it as always.
@Seabasstien
Peggy Lee was awesome, she had great rhythm and feeling.
@karajokoo
Heavenly tune by Peggy Lee & Goodman's orchestra.
@edwarddejong8025
A great version. 1941 was so strong musically.
@scottfree4100
My mama done tol' me
When I was in pigtails
My mama done tol' me
A man's gonna sweet-talk and give you the big eyes
But when the sweet-talking's done
A man is a two-face, a worrisome thing
Who'll leave you to sing the blues in the night
Now the rain's a-fallin'
Hear the train a-callin, "whoo-ee!"
My mama done tol' me
Hear that lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle, "whoo-ee!"
My mama done tol' me
A-whooee-ah-whooee ol' clickety-clack's
A-echoin' back the blues in the night
The evenin' breeze'll start the trees to cryin'
And the moon'll hide it's light
When you get the blues in the night
Take my word, the mockingbird'll sing the saddest kind of song
He knows things are wrong, and he's right
From Natchez to mobile
From Memphis to St. Joe
Wherever the four winds blow
I been in some big towns
And heard me some big talk
But there is one thing I know
A man's a two-face, a worrisome thing
Who'll leave you to sing the blues in the night
The evenin' breeze'll start the trees to cryin'
And the moon'll hide it's light
When you get the blues in the night
Take my word, the mockingbird'll sing the saddest kind of song
He knows things are wrong, and he's right
From Natchez to mobile
From Memphis to St. Joe
Wherever the four winds blow
I been in some big towns
And heard me some big talk
But there is one thing I know
A man's a two-face, a worrisome thing
Who'll leave ya to sing the blues in the night
Yes, the lonely, lonely blues in the night
@Voxpopoli8753
Discovered Peggy Lee earlier this year 2021.....( slow learner)....my fav ..."Is this as good as it gets"...bought her Greatest Hits on EBAY....
@stanpommer3417
Ah, the good old days with Peggy Lee. I feel good.