Dave Barbour (May 28, 1912 – December 11, 1965) was an American musician. H… Read Full Bio ↴Dave Barbour (May 28, 1912 – December 11, 1965) was an American musician. He was a jazz banjoist and guitarist, a pop songwriter, an actor, and the husband of Peggy Lee for nine years.
Barbour was born in Long Island, New York started off as a banjoist with Adrian Rollini in 1933 and then Wingy Manone in 1934. He switched to guitar in the middle of the decade and played with Red Norvo in 1935-1936. He found much work as a studio musician and played in ensembles with Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday (1937), Artie Shaw (1939), Lennie Hayton, Charlie Barnet (1945), Raymond Scott, Glenn Miller, Lou Holden, and Woody Herman (1949). He also recorded with Andre Previn in 1945.
He played with Benny Goodman in 1942, and while a member of Goodman's ensemble, he fell in love with lead singer Peggy Lee. March 1943 Peggy Lee and Dave Barbour married. Peggy Lee 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 to 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" (1946) and "It's a Good Day" (1947). With the release of the US No. 1-selling record of 1948, "Mañana", her "retirement" was over. Barbour was an alcoholic and had domestic troubles with Lee; this eventually split apart their marriage, which ended in 1952. Dave Barbour and His Orchestra had the best-selling version (USA) of the peppy song "Mambo Jambo."

I Should Care
Peggy Lee with Dave Barbour And His Orchestra Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I should care, I should go around weeping
I should care, I should go without sleeping
Strangely enough, I sleep well
Except for a dream or two
But then I count my sheep well
Funny how sheep can lull you to sleep

So I should care, I should let it upset me

I should care but it just doesn't get me
Maybe I won't find someone as lovely as you
But I should care and I do

I should care but it just doesn't get me
Maybe I won't find someone as lovely as you
But I should care and I do

And I do

Overall Meaning

The song "I Should Care" by Peggy Lee with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra revolves around the idea of a person who is supposed to be melancholic, sad or upset due to their love for someone, yet they are not. The opening lines "I should care, I should go around weeping, I should care, I should go without sleeping" sets the tone for the song but as it progresses, it becomes evident that the singer is not affected by their lover's absence or the idea of not finding someone as lovely as their former lover.

The lines "Strangely enough, I sleep well, except for a dream or two, but then I count my sheep well, funny how sheep can lull you to sleep" implies that although the singer is unaffected by the absence of their lover, they still have a few thoughts or memories that haunt them but these thoughts do not make them sad. The singer notes that sheep lull them to sleep; this implies that they have a way to escape their thoughts and sleep well.

The final lines of the song "Maybe I won't find someone as lovely as you but I should care and I do" portray that the singer does not deny the fact that they cherish their lover and appreciate them, but they are not going to grieve their absence. Overall, "I Should Care" reminds us that people cope with their heartbreak differently and just because most people show sadness or depression, it is not necessarily what everyone has to feel.

Line by Line Meaning

I should care, I should go around weeping
I should be deeply saddened and mournful, with tears rolling down my face

I should care, I should go without sleeping
I should be so heartbroken that I can't even sleep at night

Strangely enough, I sleep well
Despite everything, I actually do manage to sleep quite comfortably

Except for a dream or two
Sometimes I have a few troubling dreams that disturb my slumber

But then I count my sheep well
Nevertheless, I have developed a handy technique of counting sheep that puts me back to sleep

Funny how sheep can lull you to sleep
It's really quite amusing how something as simple as counting sheep can help you fall asleep

I should care, I should let it upset me
I should be affected by my emotions to the point where I am deeply troubled and bothered

I should care but it just doesn't get me
Despite the fact that I should be upset, I'm not really feeling it

Maybe I won't find someone as lovely as you
Perhaps I won't be lucky enough to come across someone as wonderful as you

But I should care and I do
Nevertheless, I do care about what happens and how I feel

And I do
It's true, I really do care

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, HANOVER MUSIC CORPORATION, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Paul Weston, Sammy Cahn, A Stordahl

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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