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 Never Had A Chance
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I thought you cared for me
But now I see I never had a chance
I never had a chance
Though you never told me so
Somehow I know I never had a chance
I knew we’d have to partFor I could always reach your lips
But I could never reach your heart
My dream about romance ended
In a friendly chat
But more than that I never had a chance
I guess there’s nothing to do
And nothing to say
But simply go on my way and call it a day
I guess I’m ready to go
Right back on my shelf
Because at last, I’ve learned
Where you’re concerned
I’ve just been fooling myself
I never had a chance
Though you never told me so
Somehow I know I never had a chance
My dream about romance ended
In a friendly chat
But more than that I never had a chance
Never had a chance
The lyrics to Peggy Lee's song "I Never Had A Chance" explore the theme of unrequited love and the realization that the singer never had a chance with the person they thought cared for them. The lyrics express a sense of disappointment and resignation as the singer reflects on their failed attempts to connect with the object of their affection.
The opening lines, "I never had a chance, I thought you cared for me, but now I see I never had a chance," convey the singer's initial belief in a mutual love interest, only to realize later that it was one-sided. The repetition of the phrase "I never had a chance" emphasizes the singer's feeling of helplessness and the inevitability of their unfulfilled love.
The lyrics further delve into the depth of their unrequited love by stating, "Though you never told me so, somehow I know I never had a chance." This suggests that the singer intuited or sensed the lack of reciprocation from the object of their affection, even though it was never explicitly verbalized.
The song progresses to describe how the singer's dreams of romance were shattered, as they were able to physically reach the person's lips but not their heart. This metaphorical contrast portrays the singer's realization that their connection was superficial, limited to physical proximity rather than emotional intimacy.
The conclusion of the song portrays a sense of acceptance and moving on. The singer acknowledges that there is nothing left to do or say, and they are ready to "go back on [their] shelf." This implies a willingness to retreat and let go of their feelings, recognizing that they had been fooling themselves all along.
Overall, "I Never Had A Chance" conveys the bittersweet emotions of unrequited love, the disappointment of unfulfilled dreams, and the eventual acceptance and resignation that comes with acknowledging the one-sided nature of the relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
I never had a chance
I never had an opportunity or possibility
I thought you cared for me
I believed that you had feelings for me
But now I see I never had a chance
Now I realize that my hope was unfounded
Though you never told me so
Even though you never explicitly said it
Somehow I know I never had a chance
Deep down, I was aware that it was impossible
I knew we’d have to part
I was aware that our relationship would end
For I could always reach your lips
Certainly, I could physically touch your lips
But I could never reach your heart
However, I was never able to truly connect with your emotions
My dream about romance ended
My idealized vision of love concluded
In a friendly chat
Through a casual, amiable conversation
But more than that I never had a chance
But primarily, I never had any hope or opportunity
I guess there’s nothing to do
I suppose there is nothing I can do
And nothing to say
And no words to express
But simply go on my way and call it a day
Just continue with my life and consider it finished
I guess I’m ready to go
I believe I am prepared to move on
Right back on my shelf
Back to my previous state of being alone
Because at last, I’ve learned
Because finally, I have come to understand
Where you’re concerned
When it comes to your feelings and involvement
I’ve just been fooling myself
I have only been deceiving myself
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: IRVING BERLIN
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?