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."
It's a Good Day
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And it's a good day for movin' along
Yes, it's a good day, how could anything go wrong,
A good day from mornin' till night
Yes, it's a good day for shinin' your shoes,
And it's a good day for losin' the blues
Ev'rything to gain and nothin' to lose,
I said to the sun, "good mornin', sun
Rise and shine, today"
You know you've gotta get goin'
If you're gonna make a showin'
And you know you've got the right of way
'Cause it's a good day for payin' your bills
And it's a good day for curin' your ills,
So take a deep breath and throw away your pills
'Cause it's a good day from mornin' till night
Peggy Lee's song, "It's a Good Day," is a classic tune first recorded and released in 1946. The lyrics emphasize the idea that no matter what, it's always a good day. The song has an upbeat melody that matches the happy sentiment of the lyrics. The song celebrates the simple things in life like shining your shoes, paying bills, and taking a deep breath. Lee shares that every day is an opportunity to start anew, to put the past behind you, and to make the best of what you have.
The opening lines "Yes, it's a good day for singin' a song/And it's a good day for movin' along," suggest that music can impact your mood positively and help you move forward. The song's lyrics urge you to look at life with a positive outlook, cherishing the small things, and not letting setbacks drag you down. The references to paying bills and curing ills echo a sense of responsibility for oneself and taking care of oneself. The song's refrain of "Good morning, sun, rise and shine today, you know you've got to get going if you're gonna make a showin', and you've got the right of way," acknowledges taking control of your own path, with the love and support of the natural world (sunrise) aiding in your journey.
Line by Line Meaning
Yes, it's a good day for singin' a song
Today is perfect for singing a song
And it's a good day for movin' along
Today is also good for moving and making progress
Yes, it's a good day, how could anything be wrong
It's impossible for anything to go wrong on such a good day
A good day from mornin' till night
The whole day, from morning until night, will be great
Yes, it's a good day for shinin' your shoes
Today is the perfect day to clean and shine your shoes
And it's a good day for losin' the blues
Today has the power to make you forget your sadness and feel happy
Everything to gain and nothin' to lose
There is everything to gain and nothing to lose on a good day like this
A good day from mornin' till night
As before, the whole day will be great
I said to the sun, good mornin', sun
I greeted the sun in the morning
Rise and shine, today
Today is a day to wake up fully and actively
You know you've gotta get goin'
There is a lot to do and today is a great day to do it
If you're gonna make a showin'
If you want to accomplish something great today is the day to do it
And you've got the right of way
Today is the day for taking the lead and moving forward with confidence
'Cause it's a good day for payin' your bills
Today is a great day for paying your bills
And it's a good day for curin' your ills
Today is perfect for getting rid of your problems and feeling better
So take a deep breath and throw away the pills
You don't need medication today because you'll feel great without it
'Cause it's a good day from mornin' till night
Just like earlier, the day will be great from beginning to end
Good morning sun, good mornin', sun
Once again, greeting the sun in the morning
A good day from mornin' till night
A reminder that the whole day will be great
A good day from mornin' till night
Final reminder of what a great day it will be
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management
Written by: DAVID M. BARBOUR, PEGGY LEE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@krack-a-lacker
Yes, it's a good day for singing a song,
and it's a good day for moving along;
Yes, it's a good day, how could anything be wrong,
A good day from morning' till night
Yes, it's a good day for shining your shoes,
and it's a good day for losing the blues;
Everything to gain and nothing' to lose,
A good day from morning' till night
I said to the Sun, "Good morning sun
Rise and shine today"
You know you've gotta get going
If you're gonna make a showin'
And you you've got the right of way.
'Cause it's a good day for paying your bills;
And it's a good day for curing your ills,
So take a deep breath and throw away the pills;
'Cause it's a good day from morning' till night.
@АгнияАгния-ш3л
Yes, it's a good day for singing a song,
and it's a good day for moving alone; (ALONG)
Yes, it's a good day, how could anything go wrong,
A good day from morning' till night
Yes, it's a good day for shining your shoes,
and it's a good day for losing the blues;
Everything go gain and nothing' to lose, (TO GAIN)
`Cause it's a good day from morning' till night
I said to the Sun, " Good morning sun
Rise and shine today"
You know you've gotta get going
If you're gonna make a showin'
And you know you've got the right of way.
`Cause it's a good day for paying your bills;
And it's a good day for curing your ills,
So take a deep breath and throw away your pills;
`Cause it's a good day from morning' till night.
@sharondelano9667
This happy, uplifting song should be played everywhere; stores, subways, restaurants, etc. Thank you for sharing it. 😄 🌞 💖
@Kelly-nm4kw
Hello Sharon, How are you doing?
@elle5031
I was thinking the same thing...
@miovicdina7706
Absolutely!
@mat420AU
DAYUM STRAIGHT
@RudolphCasas
@@Kelly-nm4kw Deed I do
@RobertSilvestri86
"It's a Good Day"was written by Peggy Lee and Dave Barbour and published in 1946. Peggy Lee's recording reached the Billboard charts in January, 1947 peaking at No. 16.
@okokokok1457
Simply wonderful
@MarkBlackburnWPG
Thanks for the informed note, Robert Silvestri.
@southernbiscuits1275
I've always loved Peggy Lee's songs. This one makes me feel happy and positive. What a gift to music lovers!!