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."
Goody Goody
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
So you met someone and now you know how it feels, goody goody
So you gave him your heart too, just as I gave mine to you
And he broke it in little pieces, now how do you do
So you lie awake just singin' the blues all night, goody goody
So you think that love's a barrel of dynamite,
Hooray and hallelujah, you had it coming to ya
And I hope you're satisfied you rascal you!
The lyrics of Peggy Lee's song Goody Goody reveal the singer's feelings of resentment and bitterness towards someone who recently fell in love with another person. The song is addressed to this person and tells them that they deserved what happened to them because they did the same thing to the singer. The first two lines of the song describe how the singer feels about the other person's newfound love, suggesting that the singer is not happy for them. In fact, the term "goody goody" is used throughout the song as a sarcastic way of describing the other person's actions.
The chorus of the song reveals the singer's anger towards the other person. The lyrics suggest that the other person got what was coming to them and that the singer is pleased that they are now experiencing the same pain that they caused. The final line of the chorus, "I hope you're satisfied, you rascal you!" conveys the singer's pure bitterness and resentment towards the other person.
Throughout the song, Peggy Lee's powerful vocals and the catchy melody create an upbeat and lively sound that contrasts with the anger and bitterness expressed in the lyrics. Overall, the song is a classic example of a breakup song with a twist - the singer is not just upset about the relationship ending, but is also angry about how the other person treated them.
Line by Line Meaning
So you met someone who set you back on your heels, goody goody
You finally found someone who captivated your heart and senses causing you to feel exhilarated and ecstatic.
So you met someone and now you know how it feels, goody goody
You've had a taste of the magical feeling of love that I also experienced with you.
So you gave him your heart too, just as I gave mine to you
You shared your heart with him, the same way I did with you.
And he broke it in little pieces, now how do you do
Unfortunately, like me, he had shattered your heart into pieces, and now you're feeling helpless and abandoned.
So you lie awake just singin' the blues all night, goody goody
You are unable to sleep, haunted by the pain of heartbreak, and lull yourself to sleep while singing the blues.
So you think that love's a barrel of dynamite, Hooray and hallelujah, you had it coming to ya
You thought you could handle love like it was something explosive, but it turns out that you weren't ready yet, and this state of turmoil serves you right.
Goody goody for him, goody goody for me,
It's a positive outcome for both of us; he broke your heart, and it brings me joy to know that you are hurting as well.
And I hope you're satisfied you rascal you!
I'm hoping you feel gratified now that your heart has also been torn apart like you did to mine before.
Lyrics © PAT MALNECK GREEN DBA MATTY MALNECK MUSIC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Johnny Mercer, Matt Malneck
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@steveflor9942
Sensational. Her sweetness in every phrase. Wonderful studio quality recording.
@kmgirl1967
She caresses. Every single note!! And catching each and every .....note at just the right.....timing!!! Makes her SENSATIONAL!!!
@MiaHessMusic
Nobody swings as lightly and easily as Miss Peggy Lee. Any singer can learn a ton frm listening to her. I have!!!
@upthedownescalator630
You said it, Mia! By the way, I love your picture!
@thomascollins4325
They don't make music like this anymore!!! RIP Peggy!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
@rivaridge7211
As a fun and interesting side note, Harriet Nelson (who was the lead singer in her husband Ozzie's band) sang just one time during the long run of her family's successful television series, "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." As you can guess, it was "Goody. Goody," (along with a fine dance number). Thanks for the great Peggy Lee post, which recalled this other thought to my mind. Cheers to all!
@michaelanicole5778
I listened to this about 11 time today. I just love it.
@joenegri6352
Great song …. great lyric great interpretation by Peggy Lee
and some nice guitar playing by Dave Barbour and George Van Eps…..JN
@aresee8208
Goody Goody, written in 1936 by Matty Malnek and Johnny Mercer, has been recorded by many over the years, including Ted Wallace and His Swing Kings, Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (who had a big hit with it in 1936), Freddy Martin and His Orchestra, Bob Crosby and His Orvhestra, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, Frankie Lyman, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga...and Peggy Lee. I really like this version.
@Rango8
Peggy was one fine singer and person. Enjoyed her work with Benny Goodmans band when I was in high school and he version of Louiville Lou on here is peerless. Somewhere she is singing in a higher venue. Sing on Peggy, your the best. de Rango8