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."
Please don't talk about me when I'm gone
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Seems we can't get along,
No matter what I do
I don't appeal to you
Makes no difference whether
I am right or wrong
If we can't be sweethearts
This much you can do
Please don't talk about me when I'm gone
Oh, Honey, though our friendship ceases from now on
And listen, if you can't say anything real nice
It's better not to talk at all, that's my advice
We're parting, you go your way, I'll go mine
It's best that we do
Here's a kiss, I hope that this brings lots of luck to you
Makes no difference how I carry on
Just remember
Please don't talk about me when I'm gone.
The lyrics to Peggy Lee & The Four Of A Kind's song "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" express the sentiment of a person who is parting ways with someone they have been with for years but have not been able to get along with. The tone of the song is sad, but there is also a sense of resignation and maturity in the lyrics. The singer acknowledges that they have not been able to make things work with their partner, but also asks that their partner not speak ill of them after they part ways. The line "If we can't be sweethearts, this much you can do" speaks to the idea that while the relationship may not have worked out, the two parties can still part on good terms and show each other respect.
The chorus of the song, which is repeated multiple times, is the plea for the partner not to speak poorly of the singer after they are gone. The line "It's better not to talk at all, that's my advice" suggests that even if there are negative feelings or animosity between the two, it's best to avoid speaking about each other negatively. The final line of the chorus, "Just remember, please don't talk about me when I'm gone," emphasizes the importance of this request.
Overall, the song is a poignant reminder that sometimes relationships don't work out, but it's important to part ways with respect and kindness towards each other.
Line by Line Meaning
Years we've been together
We have spent a significant amount of time together
Seems we can't get along,
It appears that we are unable to have a harmonious relationship
No matter what I do
Regardless of my actions
I don't appeal to you
You are not attracted to me
Makes no difference whether
It doesn't matter whether
I am right or wrong
Whether I am correct or incorrect
If we can't be sweethearts
If we cannot be in a romantic relationship
This much you can do
At the very least, you can do this
Please don't talk about me when I'm gone
When I am no longer here, please do not speak of me
Oh, Honey, though our friendship ceases from now on
Even though our friendship ends from this moment onward
And listen, if you can't say anything real nice
And if you are unable to speak of me in a positive way
It's better not to talk at all, that's my advice
It is preferable to say nothing at all, that is my recommendation
We're parting, you go your way, I'll go mine
We are going our separate ways
It's best that we do
It is in our best interest to do so
Here's a kiss, I hope that this brings lots of luck to you
As a farewell gesture, here is a kiss, and I hope that it brings you good fortune
Makes no difference how I carry on
It doesn't matter how I proceed
Just remember
Just keep in mind
Please don't talk about me when I'm gone.
Please do not speak of me when I am not present.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, BOURNE CO., Universal Music Publishing Group, Sentric Music, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Bee Palmer, Sidney Clare, Sam Stept
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?