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."
dancing with tears in my eyes
Peggy Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They seem so happy and gay
Though they sing and they swing as they sway
Somehow I can't feel that way
For I'm dancing with tears in my eyes
'Cause the boy/girl in my arms isn't you
Dancing with somebody new
Trying to smile once in a while
But I find it so hard to do
For I'm dancing with tears in my eyes
'Cause the boy/girl in my arms isn't you
While the throng's in the spell of a song
My thoughts keep drifting to you
While each pair seems to share their affair
They're making me blue
For I'm dancing with tears in my eyes
'Cause the boy/girl in my arms isn't you
Dancing with somebody new
When it's you that my heart's calling to
Trying to smile once in a while
But I find it so hard to do
For I'm dancing with tears in my eyes
'Cause the boy/girl in my arms isn't you
The lyrics of "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" by Peggy Lee speak of a disheartened individual who is physically present on the dance floor with someone, but emotionally stuck on someone else who is not there to dance with them. The song paints a picture of a party or dance, where everyone seems to be happy and having a good time except for the singer who is dancing with somebody new. Despite trying to find joy in the new situation, they cannot help but feel sorrowful, nostalgic and in love with someone else. The lyrics are a declaration of love, loyalty and the pain of being apart from the person one loves.
Through the use of metaphor, hyperbole and imagery, the singer manages to convey deep emotions to the listeners. The phrase, "dancing with tears in my eyes," is hyperbolic, which signifies the depth of the singer's feelings. The line, "Trying to smile once in a while, but I find it so hard to do," communicates the idea that the singer is attempting to enjoy the moment but is struggling to do so as they cannot help but think of their loved one. The imagery of the throng being in the spell of a song is a metaphor describing how everyone else seems to be happy, which only adds to the singer's sense of disconnection.
Overall, "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" is a powerful song that touches upon emotions of love, heartbreak and loyalty. Through its stirring melodies and poignant lyrics, it is relatable to anyone who has ever experienced a situation like the one depicted in the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Those who dance and romance while they dance
People who dance and show affection while they dance.
They seem so happy and gay
They appear joyful and carefree as they dance.
Though they sing and they swing as they sway
Even though they sing and move with the music.
Somehow I can't feel that way
But I can't experience the same happiness while dancing with someone else.
For I'm dancing with tears in my eyes
I am dancing while feeling sad and emotional.
'Cause the boy/girl in my arms isn't you
Because I am dancing with someone who isn't you, my love.
Dancing with somebody new
Dancing while being with someone else.
When it's you that my heart's calling to
Despite dancing with someone else, my heart is longing for you.
Trying to smile once in a while
Attempting to show a happy expression at times.
But I find it so hard to do
But finding it difficult to genuinely be happy without you.
While the throng's in the spell of a song
While everyone else is caught up in the music and dancing.
My thoughts keep drifting to you
My mind keeps wandering and thinking about you.
While each pair seems to share their affair
While every couple appears to be enjoying their time together.
They're making me blue
It's making me feel sadness and melancholy.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Joe Burke, Al Dubin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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I'm dancing with tears in my eyes
'Cause the one in my arms isn't you
Dancing with somebody new
but it's you that my heart's calling to
Trying to smile once in a while
But I find it so hard to do
For I'm dancing with tears in my eyes
'Cause the one in my arms isn't you