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."
Reason To Believe
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'd find the way to believe that it's all true,
Knowing that you lied straight faced while I cried,
Still I looked to find the reason to believe.
Someone like you makes it hard
To live without somebody else.
Someone like you makes it easy to giveNever thinking of myself.
If you took the time to change my mind,
I'd find the way to leave the past behind,
Knowing that you lied straight faced while I cried,
Still I looked to find the reason to believe.
In Peggy Lee's song "Reason To Believe," the lyrics convey a deep struggle with trust and deception in a relationship. The singer reflects on the difficulty of believing in the truth when faced with lies, yet still seeking a reason to hold onto hope. The opening lines suggest a conflict between what the singer knows and what they want to believe. Despite being deceived by someone they care about, the singer searches for a valid justification to maintain faith in the relationship.
The lines, "Someone like you makes it hard to live without somebody else. Someone like you makes it easy to give never thinking of myself," illustrate the complex dynamics of love and dependency. The singer recognizes that being with this person complicates their life, yet at the same time, they find it easier to give in to the relationship and prioritize the other person's needs over their own. This depiction of a love that is simultaneously challenging and fulfilling adds a layer of emotional depth to the song.
The lyrics also touch on the idea of forgiveness and second chances. The singer contemplates the possibility of letting go of the past if the other person were to make an effort to change and earn back their trust. Despite the pain of being lied to and betrayed, the singer is willing to consider the idea of moving forward if there is a genuine attempt to mend the relationship. This theme of reconciliation and the potential for redemption adds a hopeful undertone to the song.
Overall, "Reason To Believe" captures the complexities of love, trust, and forgiveness in a relationship marred by deception. The lyrics paint a nuanced picture of a person grappling with conflicting emotions and struggling to find a reason to hold on despite being hurt. Peggy Lee's poignant rendition of these emotions through her soulful voice and introspective lyrics makes the song a poignant exploration of the human experience of love and betrayal.
Line by Line Meaning
If I listen long enough to you,
When I pay attention to what you say for a while,
I'd find the way to believe that it's all true,
I might convince myself that what you're saying is actually true,
Knowing that you lied straight faced while I cried,
Being aware that you were deceptive while I was upset,
Still I looked to find the reason to believe.
Yet, I still searched for a justification to have faith in you.
Someone like you makes it hard
Dealing with someone of your nature is challenging
To live without somebody else.
Especially to live without finding companionship elsewhere.
Someone like you makes it easy to give
Interacting with a person like you makes it effortless to offer understanding and support,
Never thinking of myself.
Not considering what might be best for me in that situation.
If you took the time to change my mind,
If you dedicated the effort to altering my perspective,
I'd find the way to leave the past behind,
I would discover a method to move on from earlier experiences,
Knowing that you lied straight faced while I cried,
Despite being fully aware of your deceit while I was emotionally vulnerable,
Still I looked to find the reason to believe.
I persisted in trying to identify some rationale to maintain faith in you.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave
Written by: Tim Hardin
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?