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 Like a Sleighride
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight
Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
We got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot
Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh yeah
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
The lyrics of "I Like a Sleighride" by Peggy Lee are a classic celebration of the joy of winter activities. The opening verse is an invitation to join in the fun of an exhilarating ride in a one horse open sleigh, with the sound of bells on the horse's bob-tailed harness adding to the excitement. The second verse tells a humorous story of a ride that doesn't go quite as planned and ends with the sleigh getting stuck in a snow drift. Through it all, the catchy chorus of "Jingle Bells" provides the foundation for the song's joyful enthusiasm.
The lyrics of "I Like a Sleighride" are ultimately about the pure joy of living in the moment and experiencing the thrill of winter activities. The sound of bells ringing, the laughter of friends and the rush of the sleigh all contribute to the sense of delight that is central to the song's message. The humor of the second verse adds a touch of lightheartedness to the proceedings, reminding us that sometimes things don't go exactly as planned, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the journey.
Line by Line Meaning
Dashing through the snow
Moving quickly through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
Riding in a sleigh pulled by a single horse without a roof
O'er the fields we go
Travelling across wide-open spaces
Laughing all the way
Feeling joyful throughout the journey
Bells on bob tails ring
Hear the sound of the bells attached to the horses' harnesses
Making spirits bright
Elevating the mood and atmosphere
What fun it is to laugh and sing
Expressing enthusiasm and excitement for the activity
A sleighing song tonight
Celebrating the activity through the performance of a song
Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Repeating the sound of the bells in excitement
Jingle all the way
The sounds of the bells continuing throughout the ride
Oh, what fun it is to ride
Expressing enjoyment for the activity of sleighing
In a one horse open sleigh
Riding in a traditional type of sleigh
A day or two ago
Looking back on a recent memory
I thought I'd take a ride
Deciding to take a spontaneous journey
And soon Miss Fanny Bright
A companion joined for the journey
Was seated by my side
Sitting closely next to the singer
The horse was lean and lank
Describing the physical appearance of the horse
Misfortune seemed his lot
The horse appears to be unlucky
We got into a drifted bank
The sleigh ended up in a small, snowy hill
And then we got upsot
The sleigh tipped over
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Repeating the sound of the bells in excitement
Jingle all the way
The sounds of the bells continuing throughout the ride
Oh, what fun it is to ride
Expressing enjoyment for the activity of sleighing
In a one horse open sleigh yeah
Reiterating the type of sleigh being ridden
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Repeating the sound of the bells in excitement
Jingle all the way
The sounds of the bells continuing throughout the ride
Oh, what fun it is to ride
Expressing enjoyment for the activity of sleighing
In a one horse open sleigh
Riding in a traditional type of sleigh
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BILLY MAY, DAVID D. CAVANAUGH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@TheRalphie2020
Love this song!
@rahmonhans600
I love it
@SweetBunny706
Lovely
@angelamariaferreira729
Amo isso ❤
@miriaborgess
💖
@bronzecat
ER, anyone?