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-fiancรฉe, 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, "Maรฑana", 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."
The Christmas Waltz
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Candles gleaming inside
Painted candy canes on the tree
Santa's on his way
He's filled his sleigh with things
Things for you and for me
It's that time of year when the world falls in love
Merry Christmas
May your New Year dreams come true
And this song of mine in three-quarter time
Wishes you and yours the same thing too
It's that time of year when the world falls in love
Every song you hear seems to say
Merry Christmas
May your New Year dreams come true
And this song of mine in three-quarter time
Wishes you and yours the same thing too
The lyrics of Peggy Lee's song "The Christmas Waltz" paint a picture of a cozy winter evening spent indoors. The first two lines set the scene with "frosted window panes" and "candles gleaming inside." The listener can picture a warm and inviting home with holiday decorations, specifically "painted candy canes on the tree." The next lines continue with this holiday theme, as "Santa's on his way" and "He's filled his sleigh with things / Things for you and for me." The song is about the anticipation and excitement of the holiday season, with loved ones and gift-giving at the forefront.
Line by Line Meaning
Frosted window panes
The windows have turned frosty due to the cold weather outside.
Candles gleaming inside
The candles are lit, and they are reflecting light inside the house.
Painted candy canes on the tree
The tree has been decorated with painted candy canes as ornaments.
Santa's on his way
Santa Claus is making his way to deliver gifts to everyone.
He's filled his sleigh with things
Santa Claus has filled his sleigh with gifts to be delivered.
Things for you and for me
The gifts in Santa Claus's sleigh are for both the singer and the listener.
It's that time of year when the world falls in love
During this time of year, people tend to become more loving towards each other.
Every song you hear seems to say
All the songs played during the holiday season convey a similar message.
Merry Christmas
The artist is wishing the listener 'Merry Christmas'.
May your New Year dreams come true
The artist is wishing for the listener to be successful in the new year.
And this song of mine in three-quarter time
The song being played has a waltz rhythm to it.
Wishes you and yours the same thing too
The artist is wishing for the listener and their loved ones to have a happy holiday season.
Lyrics ยฉ CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@giorgiamayo66
Frosted window panes
Candles gleaming inside
Painted candy canes
On the tree
Santa's on his way
He's filled his sleigh
With things
Things for you
And for me
It's that time of year
When the world
Falls in love
Every song
You hear seems to say
Merry Christmas
May
Your New Year's dreams
Come true
And this song of mine
In three quarter time
Wishes you and yours
The same thing too
@patrickstocks3576
Frosted window panes
Candles gleaming inside
Painted candy canes
On the tree
Santaโs on his way
Heโs filled his sleigh
With things
Things for you
And for me
Itโs that time of year
When the world
Falls in love
Every song
You hear seems to say
Merry Christmas
May your New Years dreams
Come true
And this song of mine
In 3 quarter time
Wishes you & yours
The same thing too
Itโs that time of year
When the world
Falls in love
Every song
You hear seems to say
Merry Christmas
May your new year dreams come true
And this song of mine
In 3 quarter time
Wishes you and yours
The same thing too
@sarahratliff482
Peggy's version is so beautiful!
@windstorm1000
Best version.Peggy captures childlike innocence. Wistful arrangement perfectly compliments her
@toffeenut1336
Agree entirely
@LM-mn7ll
I was just about to comment how much I love the wistful quality of this song & Peggyโs wonderful, slightly breathy delivery. You beat me to it. Itโs just perfect, plain & simple.โค
@007ndc
The best version of this classic holiday song. Really pulls at one's heartstrings โค.
@deeprose4
When I listen to this, it takes me back to a time when the world was a better place, and people were kind to each other. Now maybe this world didnโt exist even back then, but Iโd like to believe it did. ๐ข
@judithf9297
Very nicely said ๐and I believe this world existed thenโฆ.but not anymore ๐ข
@toffeenut1336
It did exist at one time. Sad that people gave it away so freely.
@frankgonzalezofficial3010
Polio was rampant, racial segregation, the world was in ruins from WWII, nuclear bomb threats forcing school age kids into fallout shelters, and did I mention Polio? The music was great, the country and workd mmmmm.
@antoniotrajano
Just dream away...... Itยดs the best thing to do.......