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."
Can I Change My Mind
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As I packed my bags to leave
I thought she would start to cry
Or sit around my room and grieve
But y'all, the girl, she fooled me this time
She acted like I was the last thing on her mind
I would like to start all over again
I just wanna change my mind
Baby, let me change my mind
As I took those steps
Toward that open door
Knowing all the time
Oh, Lord, I just didn't wanna go
But she didn't give me no sign
Nothing that would make me change my mind
I would like to start all over again
Baby, can I change my mind
Please, please, please, baby
I just wanna change my mind
Oh, I played my games
Many times before
But peoples, let me tell y'all
Oh, I never reached the door
But ooh, the winds howl tonight
I keep lookin' back but my baby's nowhere in sight
I would like to start all over again
Baby, can I change my mind
Please, please, please, baby
Baby, let me change my mind (fade)
The lyrics to Peggy Lee's song Can I Change My Mind depict a man who decides to leave his partner, but is surprised when she does not react with sadness. He regrets his decision and wants to stay with her, but feels that it is too late. The chorus "I would like to start all over again, baby can I change my mind" conveys his desperation and desire to make things right. The second verse describes his struggle to leave as he walks towards the door, but his love for her stops him from going through with it. Despite his hesitation, she does not do anything to change his mind, leading him to regret his decision even more.
The lyrics express the common theme of regret and the desire for second chances in romantic relationships. The man in the song realizes that leaving his partner was a mistake and that he wants to make things right. The emotional intensity of the song is conveyed through Peggy Lee's passionate performance and the use of repetition in the chorus. The lyrics remind us of the importance of communication and the need to be honest with ourselves and our partners about our feelings.
Line by Line Meaning
Aww, she didn't bat an eye
I expected her to react emotionally, but she didn't show any sign of concern or sadness.
As I packed my bags to leave
I was leaving her, and therefore packing all my things.
I thought she would start to cry
I anticipated her to cry because I was leaving her.
Or sit around my room and grieve
I thought she would be sad enough to stay in my room and mourn our separation.
But y'all, the girl, she fooled me this time
This time, she was different, and her reaction surprised me.
She acted like I was the last thing on her mind
She did not pay attention to me as I was leaving, and therefore seemed to be thinking about something else.
I would like to start all over again
I want to go back to the beginning, where nothing has happened yet.
Baby, can I change my mind
I am asking her if I can change my decision to leave her.
I just wanna change my mind
I simply want to change what I have decided earlier.
As I took those steps
I was walking towards the door.
Toward that open door
The door that leads to the outside world was open, and I was heading towards it.
Knowing all the time
Even though I was aware that I didn't want to leave her, I went ahead and packed.
Oh, Lord, I just didn't wanna go
I really didn't want to leave her behind.
But she didn't give me no sign
She didn't indicate that she wants me to stay.
Nothing that would make me change my mind
There were no signs or indications by her that would make me reconsider my decision to leave.
Oh, I played my games
I have been flippant with my feelings and not committed in the past.
Many times before
In the past, I have acted in a similar manner to what I am currently doing.
But peoples, let me tell y'all
Everyone, listen to what I have to say now.
Oh, I never reached the door
In the past, I never went through with leaving, and never reached the exit door.
But ooh, the winds howl tonight
The wind is howling tonight, which suggests that change is happening.
I keep lookin' back but my baby's nowhere in sight
I keep on trying to see her, but she's not in my view.
Please, please, please, baby
I am pleading with her to let me change my mind.
Baby, let me change my mind (fade)
I believe that I made a mistake and want to reverse my decision.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BARRY GEORGE DESPENZA, CARL WOLFOLK
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?