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."
I Can't Give You Anything But Love
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's not a joke, kid, it's a curse.
My luck is changing, it's gotten from
simply rotten to something worse
Who knows, some day I will win too.
I'll begin to reach my prime.
Now though I see what our end is,All I can spend is just my time.
I can't give you anything but love, baby.
That's the only thing I've plenty of,baby.
Dream awhile, scheme awhile
We're sure to find
Happiness and I guess
All those things you've always pined for.
Gee I'd like to see you looking swell, baby.
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn't sell, baby.
Till that lucky day you know darned well, baby.
I can't give you anything but love.
Rome wasn't built in a day, kid.
You have to pay, kid, for what you get.
But I am willing to wait, dear,
Your little mate, dear, will not forget.
You have a lifetime before you.
I'll adore you, come what may.
Please don't be blue for the present,
I can't give you anything but love, baby.
That's the only thing I've plenty of,baby.
Dream awhile, scheme awhile
We're sure to find
Happiness and I guess
All those things you've always pined for.
Gee I'd like to see you looking swell, baby.
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn't sell, baby.
Till that lucky day you know darned well, baby.
I can't give you anything but love.
Peggy Lee's song "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" expresses the singer’s love and commitment to her partner despite their economic situation. She tells her partner that despite being broke, she has love to give them. In the opening lines, the singer expresses how difficult it is to be broke, especially because it's not merely a joke but a curse. However, she still holds onto hope that one day things will change, and she'll win big to change her fortune.
She acknowledges that she can't give the material things her partner may desire, but she's willing to wait patiently until their luck changes. In the third verse, the singer says that Rome wasn't built in a day, and one has to pay for what they get. She tells her partner she's willing to wait for them and not forget their love. The song communicates the message that love is more important than material possessions.
Line by Line Meaning
Gee, but it's tough to be broke, kid.
Being broke is not easy, it's a difficult situation.
It's not a joke, kid, it's a curse.
It's not something to joke about, it's a real misfortune.
My luck is changing, it's gotten from simply rotten to something worse
Things are not getting better, they are actually getting worse.
Who knows, some day I will win too.
Perhaps one day I'll also have good fortune.
I'll begin to reach my prime.
I'll be in my best years.
Now though I see what our end is, All I can spend is just my time.
I know what our future holds, and all I have to offer is my time.
I can't give you anything but love, baby.
All I have to offer is my love.
That's the only thing I've plenty of,baby.
Love is the only thing I have in abundance.
Dream awhile, scheme awhile We're sure to find Happiness and I guess All those things you've always pined for.
Let's dream and plan, we will eventually find happiness and everything you've ever wanted.
Gee I'd like to see you looking swell, baby.
I want to see you looking great.
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn't sell, baby.
I wish I could give you expensive things like diamonds, but I can't.
Till that lucky day you know darned well, baby.
Until I can give you more, you know it's love that I have to offer.
Rome wasn't built in a day, kid.
Things take time to build and develop.
You have to pay, kid, for what you get.
You have to work and make sacrifices to achieve what you want.
But I am willing to wait, dear, Your little mate, dear, will not forget.
I am willing to be patient, and I won't forget about you.
You have a lifetime before you. I'll adore you, come what may.
We have our whole lives ahead of us, and I will always love you no matter what happens.
Please don't be blue for the present, When it's so pleasant to hear you say
Don't be sad right now, it's nice to hear you say...
I can't give you anything but love, baby.
All I have to offer is my love.
That's the only thing I've plenty of,baby.
Love is the only thing I have in abundance.
Dream awhile, scheme awhile We're sure to find Happiness and I guess All those things you've always pined for.
Let's dream and plan, we will eventually find happiness and everything you've ever wanted.
Gee I'd like to see you looking swell, baby.
I want to see you looking great.
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn't sell, baby.
I wish I could give you expensive things like diamonds, but I can't.
Till that lucky day you know darned well, baby.
Until I can give you more, you know it's love that I have to offer.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@sgonzalez3084
I can't give you anything but love, baby
That's the only thing I've plenty of, baby
Dream awhile, scheme awhile
You're sure to find
Happiness and I guess
All those things you've always pined for
Gee, I'd like to see you looking swell, baby
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn't sell, baby
Till that lucky day, you know darned well, baby
I can't give you anything but love
Gee, I love to see you looking swell, lookin swell baby..
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn't sell, baby
Till that lucky day, you know darned well, baby
I can't give you anything but love
@bjackblack
The best 😎✨✨
@fluffshepnetwork7067
Chills from the first note.
@MillingtonJack
She can carry a song so well.
@Radda001
Thank you for caring to share listening pleasure
@setobe2068
Excellent
@joehallen4510
I LOVE THIS & I LOVE MISS PEGGY LEE!!! REST INPEACE DEAR ONE
@joehallen4510
I LOVE this I can't give u anything but love &I LOVE. Miss Peggy Lee. Rest in Peace DEAR one
@ahleutea
Norma Deloris Egstrom, AKA Peggy Lee, is one of the greatest singer that I've heard. She was open enough to accept Pops' or Lady's influence and thus became great.
@johnnyjames7139
My kind of vocal!
@MrQbenDanny
BRAVO! Bravissimo! VIVA LA LEE!