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."
Then Was Then
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Darling your eyes are asking, "Will the flame burn out?"
Well, no one is sure of sun shine, no one is sure of dawn,
But I am sure my love will live on and on.
I'll be tired of you when stars are tired of gleaming
When I am tired of dreaming, then I'll be tired of you.
This I know is true, when winds are tired of blowing,
When grass is tired of growing, then I'll be tired of you.
Beyond the years,
'Til day is night, 'til wrong is right,
'Til birds refuse to sing,
Beyond the years, the echo of my only love
Will still be whispering, whispering.
And if my throbbing heart should ever start repeating
That it is tired of beating, then I'll be tired of you.
In Peggy Lee's song "Then Was Then," the lyrics express a deep and unwavering love that will endure through all uncertainties. The singer acknowledges the doubts and concerns of their partner, as they question whether their love will last. However, the singer confidently responds that just as no one can be certain of the sunrise or the coming of a new day, they are sure that their love will continue to burn on. It is a declaration that their love is steadfast and unyielding.
The first verse affirms that the singer will only grow tired of their partner when the stars lose their shine and when they themselves are exhausted from dreaming. It implies that the love they share will remain constant and unchanging until even the most timeless and enduring things become weary.
The second verse delves deeper into the concept of lifelong love. It speaks of a love that transcends time and space, enduring even when everything around it changes. The singer proclaims that even in the farthest future, when day turns into night and wrong becomes right, their love will persist. The echo of this love will continue to whisper to them, even when the physical presence of their beloved becomes distant or absent.
The final lines express the ultimate commitment of the singer. They declare that if their passionate heart were to ever lose its rhythm and grow tired of beating, only then would they grow tired of their partner. It is a metaphorical way of saying that their love is unbreakable and will only cease when something as fundamental as the beat of their heart comes to a halt.
Overall, "Then Was Then" conveys a powerful message of unwavering love that endures through all uncertainties and challenges. It paints a picture of a love that is eternal and unyielding, capable of withstanding the test of time.
Line by Line Meaning
You look at me and wonder, you look at me and doubt
When you gaze at me, you have questions and uncertainty
Darling your eyes are asking, 'Will the flame burn out?'
Your eyes silently inquire if our passion will fade
Well, no one is sure of sun shine, no one is sure of dawn
Just as no one can predict the certainty of sunlight or the break of day
But I am sure my love will live on and on
I am confident that my love for you will endure indefinitely
I'll be tired of you when stars are tired of gleaming
I will only grow weary of you when stars lose their radiance
When I am tired of dreaming, then I'll be tired of you
Only when I no longer wish to dream, will I tire of you
This I know is true, when winds are tired of blowing
I am certain that when breeze cease to blow, I'll tire of you
When grass is tired of growing, then I'll be tired of you
When the very grass no longer strives to grow, I'll grow weary of you
Beyond the years, 'Til day is night, 'til wrong is right
Even through countless years, until day transforms into night and wrong becomes right
Til birds refuse to sing
Until the birds no longer fill the air with melodies
Beyond the years, the echo of my only love
Far beyond the passing years, the resonant memory of my singular love
Will still be whispering, whispering
Will persistently softly speak to me, as if a gentle whisper
And if my throbbing heart should ever start repeating
And should my pulsating heart ever begin to redundantly state
That it is tired of beating, then I'll be tired of you
That it is weary of its own rhythm, only then will I grow tired of you
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ARTHUR SCHWARTZ, E. Y. HARBURG
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?