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."
My Man
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But there's one thing that I've got
It's my man
Cold and wet, tired you bet
But all that I soon forget
With my man
He's not much for looks
And no hero out of books
Two or three girls has he
That he likes as well as me
But I love him!
I don't know why I should
He isn't good, he isn't true
He beats me too
What can I do?
Oh, my man I love him so
He'll never know
All my life is just despair
But I don't care
When he takes me in his arms
The world is bright, all right
What's the difference if I say
I'll go away, When I know
I'll come back on my knees some day?
For whatever my man is
I am his forever more
Oh, my man I love him
Sometimes I say
If I could just get away
With my man
He'd go straight sure as fate
For it never is too late
For a man
I just like to dream
Of a cottage by a stream
With my man
Where a few flowers grew
And perhaps a kid or two
Like my man
And then my eyes get wet
I most forget till he gets hot
And tells me not to talk such rot
Oh, my man I love him so
He'll never know
All my life is just despair
But I don't care
When he takes me in his arms
The world is bright, all right
What's the difference if I say
I'll go away, When I know
I'll come back on my knees some day?
For what ever my man is
I am his forever more
The song "My Man" performed by Peggy Lee is a classic example of a love ballad that describes the complex emotions of a woman who is still deeply in love with a man despite all his shortcomings. The opening line of “It’s cost me a lot, But there’s one thing that I’ve got, It’s my man” suggests that the woman has already invested a lot of time and energy into her relationship with this man, and despite her sacrifices, what she values the most is the fact that she has her man. Lee’s sorrowful voice brings out the pain and suffering that the woman goes through as she grapples with the physical abuse and infidelity of her partner. Despite knowing that her man is not good and not true, she still passionately loves him and cannot resist his charm. The line “What’s the difference if I say, I’ll go away, When I know I’ll come back on my knees some day?" reflects the woman's conflicted emotions, as she wonders how she can leave the man she loves and yet can't forget.
In the second verse, the woman describes the idyllic life she dreams of with her man, where they can settle down in a cozy cottage with few flowers and kids like her man. However, this dream is interrupted when the man loses his temper and scolds her. The man's hot temper and his intermingling with other girls further suggest his lack of affection and love towards the woman. However, she still loves him unconditionally, and nothing in the world can change that.
Line by Line Meaning
It's cost me a lot
The relationship with my man has been expensive, but it's still valuable to me.
But there's one thing that I've got
Despite the costs, I have my man.
Cold and wet, tired you bet
I may be cold and tired, but my man can easily make me forget about it.
But all that I soon forget
My man is enough to make me forget about everything else.
He's not much for looks
My man may not be physically attractive, but I still love him.
And no hero out of books
He's not the typical hero from stories, but he's still special to me.
Two or three girls has he
My man may also be seeing other women, but I still love him.
That he likes as well as me
He may like these other women just as much as he likes me.
But I love him!
Despite his faults, I still have strong feelings for my man.
I don't know why I should
I can't explain why I feel so strongly about him.
He isn't good, he isn't true
In many ways, my man isn't a good person and isn't trustworthy.
He beats me too
He even abuses me physically.
What can I do?
I feel helpless to change my situation.
Oh, my man I love him so
Despite everything, I am still deeply in love with my man.
He'll never know
I can never fully express my feelings to him.
All my life is just despair
My life is filled with sadness and hopelessness.
But I don't care
My love for him is more important than anything else.
When he takes me in his arms
Being held by my man brings me comfort and happiness.
The world is bright, all right
In his arms, the world feels like a better place.
What's the difference if I say
It doesn't matter if I threaten to leave him.
I'll go away, When I know
I may walk away for a while, but I know I'll always come back to him.
I'll come back on my knees some day?
I'll always be willing to humble myself for him.
For whatever my man is
Regardless of who my man is and what he does, I'm devoted to him.
I am his forever more
My love for him will never fade.
Sometimes I say
Occasionally, I daydream about leaving him.
If I could just get away
I long to escape the difficulties of our relationship.
With my man
But I can't imagine leaving him behind.
He'd go straight sure as fate
If we left together, I'm certain he could change his ways.
For it never is too late
It's never too late for anyone to turn their life around.
I just like to dream
Dreaming about a simpler, happier life is a way to escape reality for a while.
Of a cottage by a stream
In the dream, we live together in a cozy cottage by a peaceful stream.
Where a few flowers grew
There's also a garden with a few simple flowers.
And perhaps a kid or two
I imagine us having a happy family together.
Like my man
Our children would take after their father and have some of his traits.
And then my eyes get wet
Thinking about this dream life makes me emotional.
I most forget till he gets hot
But then my man gets angry and snaps me back into reality.
And tells me not to talk such rot
He dismisses my dream as nonsense.
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Written by: JOSE RAMON GARCIA FLOREZ, MARELLA CAYRE
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?