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 Don't Know How To Love Him
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What to do, how to move him?
I've been changed, yes, really changed
In these past few days, when I see myself
I seem like someone else
I don't know how to take this
I don't see why he moves meHe's a man, he's just a man
And I've had so many men before
In very many ways, he's just one more
Should I bring him down?
Should I scream and shout?
Should I speak of love, let my feelings out?
I never thought I'd come to this
What's it all about?
Don't you think it's rather funny
That I should be in this position?
I'm the one who's always been running every show
He scares me so
I never thought I'd come to this
What's it all about?
What's it all about?
Yet, if he said he loved me
I'd be lost, I'd be frightened
I couldn't cope, just couldn't cope
I'd turn my head, I'd back away
I wouldn't want to know, he scares me so
I want him so, I love him so
In Peggy Lee's song "I Don't Know How To Love Him," the singer expresses her confusion and uncertainty about her feelings towards a man she has recently become involved with. She begins by acknowledging that she doesn't know how to love him or how to approach their relationship. She feels changed by their interaction, almost like she has become a different person. This highlights the impact he has had on her and how it has thrown her off balance.
The singer questions why this man affects her so deeply when he is just like any other man she has encountered before. She has had previous experiences with many men, but this one seems to have a profound effect on her. She wonders if she should try to bring him down, express her emotions, or let her feelings out. The confusion and desperation are evident as she finds herself in a situation she never expected to face.
The singer finds it ironic that she, the one who has always been in control, now finds herself in a position where she is unsure and vulnerable. She is used to being the one who runs the show, yet this man scares her. The sudden shift in power dynamics has left her feeling unsettled and out of her comfort zone.
Despite her fear, the singer admits that if he were to profess his love for her, she would be lost and frightened. This reveals the deep desire and love she feels for him, even though she struggles to understand and cope with these intense emotions. She confesses that she would turn her head and back away because the thought of fully accepting his love terrifies her. The juxtaposition of her fear and love for him creates a complex and conflicted emotional state within the singer.
In the end, the lyrics convey the singer's inner turmoil and the overwhelming emotions she experiences as she grapples with her love for this man. The song explores themes of self-discovery, vulnerability, and the fear of emotional intimacy. It captures the confusion and uncertainty that can arise when someone unexpectedly enters our lives and alters our sense of self and understanding of love.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't know how to love him
I am unsure of how to truly love him
What to do, how to move him?
I am uncertain of how to make him feel deeply and respond to my actions
I've been changed, yes, really changed
I have undergone a significant transformation, a real change within myself
In these past few days, when I see myself
Recently, as I reflect upon myself
I seem like someone else
I appear as a different person, someone unfamiliar to me
I don't know how to take this
I am unsure of how to handle this situation
I don't see why he moves me
I cannot understand why he evokes such strong emotions within me
He's a man, he's just a man
He is merely a man, nothing more or less
And I've had so many men before
I have experienced relationships with numerous men in the past
In very many ways, he's just one more
In many aspects, he is similar to the others I have encountered
Should I bring him down?
Should I try to diminish his significance or impact?
Should I scream and shout?
Should I express my emotions in a loud, forceful manner?
Should I speak of love, let my feelings out?
Should I openly confess my love and reveal my true emotions?
I never thought I'd come to this
I never expected to find myself in this situation
What's it all about?
What is the meaning or purpose of all of this?
Don't you think it's rather funny
Do you not find it somewhat ironic or amusing
That I should be in this position?
That I would find myself in such a predicament?
I'm the one who's always been running every show
I am usually the one in control and charge of everything
He scares me so
He instills fear and unease within me
Yet, if he said he loved me
However, if he were to express his love for me
I'd be lost, I'd be frightened
I would feel confused and scared
I couldn't cope, just couldn't cope
I would be incapable of dealing with the situation
I'd turn my head, I'd back away
I would physically and emotionally retreat from him
I wouldn't want to know, he scares me so
I would rather not acknowledge or be involved with him, as he generates fear within me
I want him so, I love him so
However, I still desire and possess strong feelings of love for him
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice
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?