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."
Boston Beans
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I was feeling in the mood
For a plate of that wonderful famous food
When I got there I had a big shock
Just about as big as a whole city block
They have no beans in Boston
Plenty of fish
Steaks and chops are a beautiful fair
I couldn't find any Boston beans there
When Captain John Smith came in 1614
He was the first diplomat that the Indians had seen
If they had Boston Beans than I really wouldn't know
Got to admit that was a long time ago
No beans in Boston
Plenty of fish
Chinese food if that's your dish
Steaks and chops are a beautiful fair
I couldn't find any Boston beans there
And when Paul Revere rode his horse that night
And lit those lanterns before the big fight
He must of been hungry when he got back
Boston beans would of been a beautiful snack
They have some tea leaves left from that well known party
Great museums if your feeling hearty
They have Cambridge and Harvard and MIT
The didn't have any beans for me
No beans in Boston
Plenty of fish
Chinese food if that's your dish
Steaks and chops are a beautiful fair
I couldn't find any Boston beans there
I Love Boston but there's no beans there
The song "Boston Beans" by Peggy Lee is a humorous take on the disappointment experienced by the singer when she goes on a trip to Boston expecting to indulge in the famous Boston beans, only to realize that they are nowhere to be found. The song starts with the singer expressing her excitement and anticipation for the trip, but her joy is short-lived as she discovers that Boston, unlike popular perception, does not have baked beans as its signature dish. Instead, the city offers a variety of other dishes, such as fish, Chinese food, steaks, and chops. The song invokes historical references to highlight the absence of beans in Boston, such as Captain John Smith's arrival and Paul Revere's ride. The lyrics essentially suggest that though Boston has a lot to offer, some things that are traditionally associated with the city may not be found there.
The song is a tongue-in-cheek commentary on how a place's reputation can belie its reality, and how accepting an image in one's mind can lead to a shock when it comes to fruition. It highlights the idea that Boston's culture extends beyond just its cuisine and lists other things that make the city attractive, such as its museums and universities. The lyrics "I Love Boston but there's no beans there" sum up the mood of a traveler who had set expectations based on stereotypes and faced disappointment upon finding out that reality is not the same as the image in their head.
Line by Line Meaning
I took a trip to Boston
I went to Boston for a visit
I was feeling in the mood
I felt like having something specific
For a plate of that wonderful famous food
I was craving for the famous Boston beans
When I got there I had a big shock
I was surprised when I arrived
Just about as big as a whole city block
It was a big shock for me
They have no beans in Boston
I discovered that Boston doesn't have beans
Plenty of fish
Boston has plenty of fish dishes
Chinese food if that's your dish
You can also have Chinese food in Boston
Steaks and chops are a beautiful fair
Boston has great options for steak and chops
I couldn't find any Boston beans there
I searched for Boston beans but couldn't find them
When Captain John Smith came in 1614
In 1614, John Smith arrived in Boston
He was the first diplomat that the Indians had seen
Indians saw John Smith as the first diplomat
If they had Boston Beans than I really wouldn't know
I'm not sure if Boston had beans back then
Got to admit that was a long time ago
It has been a long time since 1614
And when Paul Revere rode his horse that night
During Paul Revere's ride,
And lit those lanterns before the big fight
He lit the lanterns before a big fight
He must of been hungry when he got back
Paul Revere was probably hungry when he returned
Boston beans would of been a beautiful snack
Paul Revere might have enjoyed some Boston beans as a snack
They have some tea leaves left from that well known party
Boston has some tea leaves from the Boston Tea Party
Great museums if your feeling hearty
Boston also has great museums to visit
They have Cambridge and Harvard and MIT
Boston has famous academic institutions in the area
The didn't have any beans for me
Despite all that, I still couldn't find any Boston beans
I Love Boston but there's no beans there
Even if there aren't any beans, I still love Boston
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BILL SCHLUGER, MILTON RASKIN, PEGGY LEE
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?