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 Thrill is Gone
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The thrill is gone away
The thrill is gone, baby
The thrill is gone away
You know you done me wrong, baby
You'll be sorry someday
Mm, the thrill is goneIt's gone away from me
The thrill is gone, baby
The thrill is gone away from me
Although I'm still living
Oh, so lonely I'll be
Ooh, the thrill is gone
Gone away for good
Yes, the thrill is gone, baby
It's gone away for good
Someday I'll be on and on, baby
Just like a good woman should
You know I'm free, free now baby
I'm free from your spell
Oh yes, I'm free, free, free now
I'm free from your spell
And now that it's all over
All I can do is wish you well
Yeah, I'm free now, baby
But I wish you well
Ooh, I'm so free, baby
But I wish you well
Baby, I'm free, free, free, free, free, free
The lyrics to Peggy Lee's song "The Thrill is Gone" express a sense of loss and resignation after a romantic relationship has ended. The repetition of the phrase "The thrill is gone" emphasizes the fading excitement and passion that once existed between the singer and their partner. The use of the word "baby" throughout the song implies a deep connection and intimacy that has now diminished.
The lyrics suggest that the partner has done the singer wrong, indicating some form of betrayal or mistreatment. The line "You'll be sorry someday" hints at a sense of justice, as the singer believes that their ex-partner will eventually regret their actions. This suggests that the singer has experienced pain and disappointment in the relationship, and is now reflecting on the loss of the thrill they once felt.
As the song continues, the singer expresses feelings of loneliness and longing, emphasizing that even though they are still alive, they feel a deep sense of emptiness. However, there is also a sense of liberation in the later verses, with the singer declaring their freedom from their partner's spell. The singer wishes their ex-partner well, indicating a sense of maturity and acceptance of the situation.
Overall, "The Thrill is Gone" captures the bittersweet emotions of the end of a relationship, conveying a mixture of sadness, resignation, and newfound freedom.
Line by Line Meaning
The thrill is gone
The excitement and happiness that once existed is no longer present
The thrill is gone away
The joy and exhilaration have completely disappeared
The thrill is gone, baby
The thrill has vanished, my dear
The thrill is gone away
The excitement has faded away
You know you done me wrong, baby
You are aware of the harm you caused me, my dear
You'll be sorry someday
One day, you'll regret your actions and feel remorseful
Mm, the thrill is gone
Hmm, the feeling of excitement is no longer present
It's gone away from me
It has completely disappeared from my life
The thrill is gone, baby
The thrill has vanished, my dear
The thrill is gone away from me
The excitement has dissipated from my existence
Although I'm still living
Despite being alive
Oh, so lonely I'll be
I will feel incredibly lonely
Ooh, the thrill is gone
Oh, the excitement and joy are no longer present
Gone away for good
Permanently disappeared
Yes, the thrill is gone, baby
Indeed, the thrill has vanished, my dear
It's gone away for good
It has permanently vanished
Someday I'll be on and on, baby
Eventually, I will move forward and thrive, my dear
Just like a good woman should
In the manner of a virtuous woman
You know I'm free, free now baby
You are aware that I am liberated, completely free now, my dear
I'm free from your spell
I am no longer under your enchantment or influence
Oh yes, I'm free, free, free now
Oh yes, I am completely liberated and emancipated now
I'm free from your spell
I am no longer under your enchantment or influence
And now that it's all over
And now that everything has come to an end
All I can do is wish you well
All I can do is hope for your happiness
Yeah, I'm free now, baby
Yes, I am liberated now, my dear
But I wish you well
Nevertheless, I desire your happiness
Ooh, I'm so free, baby
Oh, I am so liberated, my dear
But I wish you well
Nevertheless, I desire your happiness
Baby, I'm free, free, free, free, free, free
My dear, I am completely free, free, free, free, free, free
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Rick R. Darnell, Roy Hawkins
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?