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-fiancรฉe, 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, "Maรฑana", 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."
Bye Bye Blackbird
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me
Pack up all my cares and woe, here I go, winging low
Bye, bye, blackbird
Where somebody waits for me
Sugar's sweet, so is she
Bye, bye, blackbird
No one here can love or understand me
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me
Make my bed and light the light, I'll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye, bye
Bye, bye, blackbird
Where somebody waits for me
Sugar's sweet, so is she
Bye, bye, blackbird
No one here can love or understand me
Oh what hard luck stories they all hand me
Make my bed and light the light, I'll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye, bye
In Peggy Lee's song "Bye Bye Blackbird," the lyrics speak to the feeling of isolation and loneliness, as the singer feels that no one around them can love or understand them. They are constantly being handed hard luck stories and have decided to pack up their cares and woes, and "wing low" as they say goodbye to the blackbird.
The blackbird in the song is often interpreted as a metaphor for the singer's past or their depression. By saying goodbye to the blackbird, the singer is leaving behind all the negative aspects of their life and moving towards a brighter future where somebody waits for them, perhaps a romantic partner. The repetition of the phrase "bye bye" in the chorus emphasizes the finality of the singer's decision to leave their troubles behind.
The lines "Make my bed and light the light, I'll arrive late tonight" suggest that the singer may be going on a journey, perhaps to seek out this person who waits for them. The use of the word "winging" in the line "here I go, winging low" adds a sense of freedom and adventure, which contrasts with the feeling of isolation in the rest of the song.
Overall, the lyrics of "Bye Bye Blackbird" are a poignant reflection of the human experience of feeling lost and disconnected, and the desire to leave it all behind in search of connection and love.
Line by Line Meaning
No one here can love or understand me
I feel alone and misunderstood in this place
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me
I keep hearing tales of tragedy and misfortune from everyone I encounter
Pack up all my cares and woe, here I go, winging low
I'm leaving this burden-laden world and flying away with a heavy heart
Bye, bye, blackbird
I'm saying farewell to everything that brings me down
Where somebody waits for me
There's someone out there who is waiting for me
Sugar's sweet, so is she
This person waiting for me is as sweet as sugar
No one here can love or understand me
Once again, I feel alienated by those around me
Oh what hard luck stories they all hand me
The same old stories that I can't relate to keep coming my way
Make my bed and light the light, I'll arrive late tonight
Prepare my bed and turn on the lights, I'll be coming in late tonight
Blackbird, bye, bye
I'm leaving everything behind, so long
Bye, bye, blackbird
I'm repeating my goodbye to this world that doesn't understand me
Where somebody waits for me
Once again, there's hope that someone is waiting for me somewhere
Sugar's sweet, so is she
I know that this person, whoever they are, will be sweet
Lyrics ยฉ Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Mort Dixon, Ray Henderson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@sofiafrutuoso
Pack up all my cares and woe
Here I go singin' low
Bye bye blackbird
Where somebody waits for me
Sugar's sweet, so is she
Bye bye blackbird
No one here can love or understand me
All those hard luck stories, they all hand me
Make my bed, light my light
I'll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye bye
Make my bed, light my light
I'll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye bye
@Narinjazz
Pack up all my cares and woes,
Here i go, singing low,
Bye, bye, blackbird.
Where somebody waits for me,
Sugar is sweet, so is she,
Bye, bye, blackbird.
No one here can love and understand me,
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me.
Make my bed and light the light,
I'll arrive late tonight,
Blackbird, bye, bye.
Pack up all my cares and woes,
Here i go, singing low,
Bye, bye, blackbird.
Where somebody waits for me,
Sugar is sweet, so is she,
Bye, bye, bye, bye, blackbird.
I said, no one here can love and understand me,
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me.
So, make my bed and light the light,
I'll arrive late tonight,
Blackbird, bye, bye.
Make my bed and light the light,
I'll arrive late tonight,
Blackbird,
I said blackbird,
I said blackbird,
Oh, blackbird, bye, bye.
@Camerasdontlie
My mammy of 87 years just sang this song most beautifully sheโs got dementia ๐ข๐ข๐ข๐ข Iโm absolutely in tears. Love you mammy love you forever.
@arkansasasmr780
i hope you and she are doing ok โค
@LilDrakula13
God bless her ๐๐ผ
@Camerasdontlie
@@arkansasasmr780 I wonโt lie itโs extremely hard.
@paulmetcalfe3546
manhugs bro
@TheHeesom
@@Camerasdontlie I care for people with dementia and I can assure you music takes them to a place filled with memories that evoke many feelings,your nan has you to help continue the memories and that is a beautiful memory x
@monsternationpawsup
Imagine all these legends Lady Gaga will honor in Joker Folie ร Deux, they really made history โค
@TIM.DREAMZ
King Kong 2005. Such a beautiful movie with this beautiful song!
@georgemendoza5658
Hell yea the best King Kong ever made๐ฏ
@NinteSegaRarew
Peter Jackson's version