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."
Jim
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
when I could be out where the lights are bright?
It's all because of Jim, It's all because of Jim.
Why am i wasting these precios years?
Why am I crying these bitter tears?
It's all because of Jim, It's all because of Jim.
Jim doesn't ever bring me pretty flowers,Jim never tries to cheer my lonely hours,
Don't know why I'm so crazy for Jim.
Jim never tells me I'm his hearts desire.
I never seem to set his love afire
Gone are the years I've wasted on him.
Sometimes when I get feeling low,
I say "Let's call it quits."
Then I hang on and let him go
Breaking my heart in bits.
Some day I know that Jim will up and leave me,
But even if he does you can believe me,
I'll go on carrying the torch for Jim.
The song "Jim" by Peggy Lee tells the story of a woman who is devotedly in love with a man named Jim, who seems to be indifferent towards her. The lyrics describe how the woman is alone and crying, wasting her precious years because of Jim. She loves everything about him, from his nonchalant attitude to the way he doesn't bring her flowers or try to make her happy. Despite this, she remains loyal to Jim, even though he doesn't seem to return her love.
The song's lyrics are poignant and reveal much about the woman's feelings for Jim. They show how she is willing to accept Jim's lack of interest in her, how she has wasted precious time on him, and how she is willing to carry on loving him even if he leaves her one day. The song's melody is melancholy and reflective, perfectly capturing the somber mood of the woman as she sits alone, pining for her unrequited love.
Overall, "Jim" is a powerful reminder of the perils of unrequited love- it reveals how it can lead us to waste our precious years and cause us to endure heartbreak and sadness. The song's lyrics are beautifully crafted, and they perfectly capture the essence of the woman's enduring love for Jim, even though he seems indifferent towards her.
Line by Line Meaning
Why am I sitting alone tonight,
I question why I'm by myself when I could be in a vibrant place.
when I could be out where the lights are bright?
I could be in a lit-up spot, maybe dancing or having fun.
It's all because of Jim, It's all because of Jim.
Reason for my loneliness is this person called Jim.
Why am i wasting these precios years?
I wonder why I'm letting years pass without enjoying them.
Why am I crying these bitter tears?
Tears keep flowing, but I don't know why I'm sad.
Jim doesn't ever bring me pretty flowers,
Jim never brings me lovely flowers.
Jim never tries to cheer my lonely hours,
He doesn't make an effort to keep me company when I'm alone.
Don't know why I'm so crazy for Jim.
I struggle to comprehend why I'm in love with Jim.
Jim never tells me I'm his hearts desire.
Jim never says he desires me deeply.
I never seem to set his love afire
My love isn't enough to make him love me back.
Gone are the years I've wasted on him.
I've wasted so much valuable time on a love that's not worth it.
Sometimes when I get feeling low,
At times when I feel sad,
I say "Let's call it quits."
I consider letting go of the relationship.
Then I hang on and let him go
But I end up still holding on despite trying to leave.
Breaking my heart in bits.
This hurts me a lot along the way.
Some day I know that Jim will up and leave me,
I have a feeling that Jim will abandon me someday.
But even if he does you can believe me,
If it happens, it's certain that
I'll go on carrying the torch for Jim.
I'll keep burning with a deep love for Jim.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: CAESAR PETRILLO, MILTON SAMUELS, NELSON SHAWN
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?