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."
Things Are Swingin'
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Birds are singin',
And just what do you think those bells are doin' but ringin'?
'Cause they have to ring to make this whole thing rhyme,
And you know that things are swingin' all the time.
If the news is
What the blues is,
'Cause where love is you can always find a rhyme,
And where love is, things are swingin' all the time.
It's as simple as
As a dimple,
Just remember that
You can find some brand new swingin' ideas
Underneath your hat!
So keep countin',
Keep it mountin',
Till you think it must be Ponce de Leon's fountain!
Yes, the fountain of youth, for those who know the score,
Means that things will keep on swingin' for evermore.
Like an ocean
That's in motion,
Like the wind that's blowin' the boat right in to shore,
It's the livin'est thing to live and breathe
And keep on laughin' up your sleeve;
Things are swingin' and they'll keep swingin' some more.
Yes, things are swingin' and they'll keep swingin' some more,
Let's keep on swingin' and swing right out the door!
The lyrics of Peggy Lee's Things Are Swingin' celebrate the joy of life, the vitality of love, and the timeless appeal of swing music. The song opens by stating that things are swingin' and birds are singin', creating a mood of exuberance and carefree fun. The bells ringing in the background accentuate the upbeat tempo and lively spirit of the music, evoking a sense of celebration and merriment.
The second verse acknowledges the presence of the blues, but urges listeners to focus on the positive and practice up on their "ones and twoses," meaning their swing rhythms. The lyrics suggest that love is the key to finding a rhyme, and where love is, things are always swingin'. The song emphasizes that swing music is about simple pleasures, like finding new ideas under your hat and keeping a count of the beat.
The final verse likens the swing music to the natural forces of motion, such as the ocean and the wind. It describes swing as the liveliest thing to live and breathe, a source of constant laughter and joy. The song ends by encouraging listeners to keep on swingin' and to swing right out the door, encapsulating the carefree spirit of the swing era.
Line by Line Meaning
Things are swingin',
The atmosphere is alive, vibrant and enthusiastic.
Birds are singin',
The birds in nature are singing happily.
And just what do you think those bells are doin' but ringin'?
The bells are ringing to round off the atmosphere and make it lively.
'Cause they have to ring to make this whole thing rhyme,
The bells have to ring together with the music to make everything blend well.
And you know that things are swingin' all the time.
The atmosphere is always lively and enjoyable.
If the news is
If the current situation is
What the blues is,
What is making us feel down or depressed,
Then we'd better just practice up on our ones and twoses,
Then we should brush up on our skills and do what we know how to do best,
'Cause where love is you can always find a rhyme,
Where there is love, there is always a way to make things lively and enjoyable.
And where love is, things are swingin' all the time.
In an environment filled with love, everything is always alive and vibrant.
It's as simple as
It is as easy as
As a dimple,
Something as small and insignificant as a dimple,
Just remember that
Always keep in mind that
You can find some brand new swingin' ideas
Innovation and creativity is what brings new life and energy to everything,
Underneath your hat!
You just need to look for it in unconventional places,
So keep countin',
So keep anticipating,
Keep it mountin',
Keep building the momentum,
Till you think it must be Ponce de Leon's fountain!
Until things seem miraculous like the Fountain of Youth,
Yes, the fountain of youth, for those who know the score,
Yes, the fountain of youth that only a few can truly understand,
Means that things will keep on swingin' for evermore.
Means that the atmosphere will always be full of energy and vibrancy.
Like an ocean
Like water bodies
That's in motion,
That is in constant movement,
Like the wind that's blowin' the boat right in to shore,
Like the wind that successfully propels the boat to the shore,
It's the livin'est thing to live and breathe
It is the most lively thing to do, and keeps us energetic
And keep on laughin' up your sleeve;
To continue to laugh and express joy secretly even amidst difficulties.
Things are swingin' and they'll keep swingin' some more.
The atmosphere is alive, and will continue to be so in the near future.
Yes, things are swingin' and they'll keep swingin' some more,
Yes, the environment is lively, and it will always be so.
Let's keep on swingin' and swing right out the door!
Let us continue to make our environment lively and vibrant, and walk out of the door heartily.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JACK MARSHALL, PEGGY LEE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
TheJazzStreet
she's the best!
TrishBell1
Nice groove to have going on, on any day!
thetragicyouth
Wow - possibly even better than the Mike Sammes Singers version.
Todd Campbell
With Shelley Manne playing brushes, Things are REALLY Swingin' !!!!
Michael P.
could someone post peggy's I WISH I DIDN'T LOVE YOU, thanks