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 party
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's time to call it a day
They've burst your pretty balloon
And taken the moon away
It's time to wind up the masquerade
Just make your mind up the piper must be paid
The party's over
You danced and dreamed through the night
It seemed to be right just being with him
Now you must wake up, all dreams must end
Take off your makeup, the party's over
It's all over, my friend
The party's over
It's time to call it a day
Now you must wake up, all dreams must end
Take off your makeup, the party's over
It's all over, my friend
It's all over, my friend
“The Party's Over” is a classic blues ballad originally recorded by Peggy Lee in 1961. The song is about the end of a party and the end of a relationship, where Lee sings about the painful realization that the fun is over and it’s time to move on. The lyrics are simple but poignant, and the song is often seen as a commentary on the fleeting nature of life and relationships.
The first verse of the song sets the tone for the rest of the lyrics, as Lee sings: “The party's over, it's time to call it a day. They've burst your pretty balloon and taken the moon away.” This metaphorical description of a party ending is deep, as it refers to the pain of having something beautiful taken away from you. The second verse goes on to describe the aftermath of the party, as the candles flicker and dim, and the dreams of the night come to an end.
In the end, Lee delivers the punchline: “Now you must wake up, all dreams must end. Take off your makeup, the party's over, it's all over, my friend.” This line drives the message home by reminding the listener that everything has a finite lifespan, and that it’s time to face the reality of the situation and move on.
Line by Line Meaning
The party's over
The celebration has come to an end and it's time to leave.
It's time to call it a day
It's time to go home and end the day.
They've burst your pretty balloon And taken the moon away
Your hopes and dreams were shattered and your happiness and joy vanished.
It's time to wind up the masquerade
It's time to stop pretending and reveal the true self.
Just make your mind up the piper must be paid
It's time to face the consequences of one's actions.
The candles flicker and dim
The time is running out and the energy is fading away.
You danced and dreamed through the night
You enjoyed the moment and cherished the joy with someone special.
It seemed to be right just being with him
Being with someone special felt like it was the right thing to do.
Now you must wake up, all dreams must end
It's time to face the reality and come out of the dream world.
Take off your makeup, the party's over
It's time to remove the false appearance and show the true self.
It's all over, my friend
The celebration has come to an end and it's time to move on.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ADOLPH GREEN, BETTY COMDEN, JULE STYNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Annie Chang
Track "Nat King Cole"
on Bandsintown
-words by betty comden and adolph green and music by jule styne
-introduced by judy holliday in her last film "bells are ringing" (1956), also starring
-dean martin and jean stapleton -charted by doris day at # 63 in 1957
The party's over
It's time to call it a day
They've burst your pretty balloon
And taken the moon away
It's time to wind up the masquerade
Just make your mind up the piper must be paid
The party's over
The candles flicker and dim
You danced and dreamed through the night
It seemed to be right just being with him
Now you must wake up, all dreams must end
Take off your makeup, the party's over
It's all over, my friend
TOMASZ Starzewski
The ultimate version of this classic, Peggy Lee just owns this, sheer beauty. Thank you for posting.
Tom Jones
I'm glad I grew up in the early 60s when this type of music was still heard on the radio. I recall my mom had a couple of Peggy Lee LPs.
Glenniz1
Amazing Voice, Beautiful Song!
Laura Swihart
My favorite version- love her husky voice & Raman! True lyrics!🙄
Mark Newberry
A great band singer, who, like another from that era - a certain Frank Sinatra - went on to enjoy a solo career
singing the songs that still find an audience today, thanks to the skill of their writers, all too often uncredited.
lffit
What a singer!!
Edward Krzynowek
I don't know if it's her natural style, or one that she deliberately uses to such good effect. But, she has what I'd call a whispery sound to her singing. I think it comes across as a more intimate delivery than it would, otherwise.
She's not the only one who uses it, to be sure. Dusty Springfield and Dinah Washington also come to mind, to name a few.
Some men also have it.
But, no matter how or where they got it, it sure works.
I'm not lumping them together. Each has their own unique sound.
maureen1938
GORGEOUS....THANKS for posting this lovely little gem.
Rudy leyva
Beautiful song, beautiful lady, what else is there to say!
MuzzyVanH
Yes,...another evergreen from this score is "Just In Time" which Garland has an exciting, altered tempo, key climbing arrangement of, ending up a w/a rafter shaking typical Judy, big finish.