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."
Johnny Guitar
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Maybe you're cold, but you're so warm inside
I was always a fool for my Johnny
For the one they call, "Johnny Guitar"
Play it again, Johnny Guitar
What if you go, what if you stay, I love you
What if you're cruel, you can be kind, I know
Like the one they call, "Johnny Guitar"
There was never a man like my Johnny
Like the one they call, "Johnny Guitar"
Play it again, Johnny Guitar
The song "Johnny Guitar" is a classic Western-style ballad in which the singer expresses her love and admiration for Johnny, who is likely a cowboy or a guitar player. In the first verse, she encourages Johnny to play his guitar, even though he may appear cold on the surface, he is warm inside. She confesses that she has always been enamored with Johnny and his guitar-playing skills.
In the second verse, she expresses her devotion to Johnny, saying that she loves him no matter what he does. She acknowledges that he can be both cruel and kind but still loves him unreservedly. She reiterates that Johnny is unique and there has never been another man like him.
The song is a tribute to a man named Johnny, who is a skilled guitar player and perhaps may be a loner, living life on his own terms. It is an ode to a man who may be a symbol of the Wild West, standing tall and independent.
Line by Line Meaning
Play the guitar, play it again, my Johnny
Keep playing the guitar and music that you are creating, my dear Johnny.
Maybe you're cold, but you're so warm inside
It's possible that you're cold and distant on the outside, but I know that you have a passionate and tender heart inside of you.
I was always a fool for my Johnny
I have always been foolishly in love with you, Johnny.
For the one they call, 'Johnny Guitar'
You are known as Johnny Guitar and are famous for your extraordinary guitar playing.
Play it again, Johnny Guitar
Once again, please play your guitar and give me the joy and happiness that only comes from music.
What if you go, what if you stay, I love you
Whether you stay or leave, I will still love you regardless of what you decide to do.
What if you're cruel, you can be kind, I know
Even though you can sometimes be harsh and unkind, I am aware that you are also capable of being kind and loving.
There was never a man like my Johnny
There has never been anyone like you, Johnny, in terms of your unique talent and persona.
Like the one they call, 'Johnny Guitar'
You are known to the world as Johnny Guitar, the one and only.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Peggy Lee, Victor Popular Young
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@陌上聽風來
非常喜愛這首歌!曾經同一時間重複來回聽過十幾次。
十幾年來搜尋過多次,但很失望找不到其他的歌者唱這首歌。
最希望找到Ella Fitzgerald 唱這首歌,作一個比較,一定有不同的風格。
但沒有,或是自己找不到。
總覺得 Peggy Lee 的歌唱來有特別的韻味!有一種深藏的性感...
聽似平靜,卻是那樣的嫵媚動人心弦。
她的歌以那樣淡淡地不經意地低聲,輕輕地結束,餘音嬝嬝...
可是,可是讓我們那麼地希望她再重複唱幾句...
There was never a man like my Johnny
Like the one they call Johnny Guitar
Play it again Johnny Guitar 2:18
@thechunkytrucker5111
"WOAH CAREFUL WITH THAT THING!"
"WE'VE GOT STUFF WE'RE NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO SELL PEOPLE, ONLY AT MICK N' RALPH'S!"
"COME ON DOWN TO THE ATOMIC WRANGLER, WHERE THE FOOD IS GOOD, THE BOOZE IS CHEAP, AND THE WOMEN ARE.... JUST LIKE THE BOOZE"
"THE CAESAR HAS MARKED YOU FOR DEATH! READY YOUR WEAPON AND PREPARE FOR BATTLE"
This song starts playing.
BETHESDA PLS
@YMSHighlights
> Night time
> Walking through the Mojave
> No enemies around
> Johnny Guitar playing
I have never felt more mellow in a video game.
@squirrelguy2195
You forgot
> Blow self up with Fat Man to escape Johnny Guitar.
@drdemise
Amen
@ElindorBG
That's why NV has the best atmosphere of all fallout games... there won't be a better one ... maybe a remake with the new engine would be nice..
@calibrijones
Its even better when your fighting and this plays 😤👌
@cloverismydog7820
I loved walking thru fresside plasma rifle in hand taking in the lights
@EZBLooDYDSI
"Got a song for you right now that's about a man that's cold on the exterior, but deep down ya'know he's a good man and his name is Johnny Guitar."
@far_away_rhys
Not again.....
@laith_iris
+EZBLooDYDSI AND HIS NAME IS JOHNNY CENA
@HellYeahCorp
"Let me put on my NOT FUCKING NOW fedora here."