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."
The Folks Who Live On The Hill
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On a hilltop high, you and I,
Shiny and new, a cottage that two can fill.
And we'll be pleased to be called
"The folks who live on the hill."
Someday we may be adding
A thing or two, a wing or two.
But we will always be called
"The folks who live on the hill."
Our veranda will command a view of meadows green,
The sort of view that seems to want to be seen.
And when the kids grow up and leave us,
We'll sit and look at the same old view, just we two.
Darby and Joan who, used to be Jack and Jill,
The folks like to be called
What they have always been called,
"The folks who live on the hill."
The song "The Folks Who Live On the Hill" by Peggy Lee talks about a couple who dream of building their own home on a hilltop, where they can enjoy a beautiful panoramic view from their veranda. They want their home to reflect their happiness and love for each other, and to be a place where their family can grow old together. The lyrics mention that they might make changes to their home as their family grows, however, they will always be known as "The folks who live on the hill."
The song is a heartfelt tribute to the American dream of homeownership and the desire for simple pleasures in life. The couple in the song hope to achieve their dream of building a home that is not only a reflection of their happiness and contentment but also a source of pride. The song paints a picture of a beautiful and peaceful life, where love and companionship can be found in the simplest of things, such as sitting on the veranda and enjoying the view.
Line by Line Meaning
Someday we'll build a home
At some point in the future, we will construct a residence
On a hilltop high, you and I,
The dwelling we create will be situated on a high altitude with a great view and it will be occupied by both of us
Shiny and new, a cottage that two can fill.
The abode will be new and well taken care of, and it will be the appropriate size for just the two of us
And we'll be pleased to be called
We will have satisfaction in being known as
"The folks who live on the hill."
The title we will hold in the community is "The folks who live on the hill."
Someday we may be adding
At some point in the future, we may include
A thing or two, a wing or two.
We could add a few more things or even an extension
We will make changes as any family will.
We'll make changes to our home like any other family would
But we will always be called
Regardless of what modifications we make, we will continue to be known as
"The folks who live on the hill."
Our label that we are recognized as is "The folks who live on the hill."
Our veranda will command a view of meadows green,
Our porch will have an excellent viewpoint of lush, green fields
The sort of view that seems to want to be seen.
The view is so spectacular that it appears like it wants to be seen
And when the kids grow up and leave us,
When our children mature and move away from us
We'll sit and look at the same old view, just we two.
Just the two of us will sit and enjoy the same, unchanging view
Darby and Joan who, used to be Jack and Jill,
A reference to an old English rhyme about a married couple who grow old together
The folks like to be called
Our identity is that we enjoy being called
What they have always been called,
The title we've been known as throughout our lives,
"The folks who live on the hill."
is "The folks who live on the hill."
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Jerome Kern, Oscar II Hammerstein
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mark Blackburn
It was, says Peggy Lee's granddaughter Holly Foster-Wells in conversation with Sinatra Family friend Charles Pignone “her favorite song – when people asked her, what is your favorite, she said this was her favorite song [about] growing old with someone, falling in love with someone and going through life with them -- that was something that she hoped to have, but DIDN'T ultimately have. There is another thing too: she always ended up in living in houses 'on the hill' for some reason. And at the time this was recorded, she and Frank both lived in hillside houses – they were neighbors. This was also the Queen Mother's favorite song and my grandmother performed it for her. So . . . very sentimental. And the Nelson Riddle chart is outstanding.”
Charles Pignone host of The Chairman's Hour on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio then introduces “the definitive version of The Folks Who Live on the Hill – from Peggy Lee's “The Man I Love” album, with the Nelson Riddle orchestra conducted by Frank Sinatra.
Just as an aside, I always loved that Peggy 'Americanized' the lyric as “Baby and Joe” in place of the oh-so-English names “Darby & Joan” which Oscar Hammerstein had originally written as the names of “the folks who used to be Jack & Jill.”
Posted to YouTube four summers ago to 10,000 “views” with an attractive slide show, and an informed note:
"The Folks Who Live on the Hill" is a 1937 popular song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was introduced by Irene Dunne in the 1937 film High, Wide, and Handsome. It has become particularly associated with Peggy Lee, who sang it on her 1957 album The Man I Love. Lee's performance was conducted by Frank Sinatra.
Thanks for sharing, RoundMidnightTV. Celebrated this night at Sinatra Family - Forum - "Siriusly Sinatra" - MY FAVORITE VERSION, YOURS TOO? https://sinatrafamily.com/forum/showthread.php/50225-My-Favorite-Version-%28yours-too-%29?p=1288534#post1288534
michael fleming
This song makes me think of how wonderful and beautiful life could be and should be if we wanted it to be.
eottoe2001
Six decades later and that song still holds together.
Shrimani J. Senay
This is a flawless recording. Stunning.
Richard Miller
One of the truly great recordings..... three great talents Peggy Lee, Nelson riddle, and conducted by Frank Sinatra. A moment in time never to be recreated!!
Keith Hyett
Truly timeless and wonderful !
Joe Girard
I love these lyrics. Lee, Riddle, and Sinatra. Can't miss with this group.
Olga Olga
Totally iconic and never to be replicated.
louis mark
Olga Olga 🥰😍
BustedKneeCap
This is the rarest, but the most astonishing song I have ever found and heard.
Jay Young
Lady, you are certainly missed.