I saw a lot of Peggy Lee on television when I was a child. She was ever-present as a host and guest on variety shows.
There is little said about Peggy Lee's personal biography in the PBS special that was on this week. Yet, I knew she had a personally difficult life from small references on Jazz.fm.
I found her biography by James Gavin, who seemed to delight in the detailed examination of her faults - in addition to addictions to alcohol and prescription drugs, she was a hypochondriac, a pathological liar and a diva. She had a reputation being difficult and highly eccentric with lawsuits, verbal abuse to associates, and neglect of her daughter.
She was prolific as a lyricist and singer with a catalog of more than 1,100 songs. Lady and the Tramp owes a lot of its success to her songs and voicing.The two amazing stand-outs are Fever and her later career song Is That All There Is which came out in 1969.
It seems so interesting how hit songs can start slowly. The song was originally performed by Georgia Brown in May 1967 for a television special. The first authorized recording was by Leslie Uggams in August 1968. Peggy Lee's version was in August 1969, and it soared after that.
Songwriters Leiber and Stoller blocked many versions of the song, including Diana Ross's - it seems to be anything with altered lyrics. The lyrics come from the works of Thomas Mann. Most of the words used in the song's verses are taken verbatim from the narrator's words in Mann's story "Disillusionment", written in 1896.
Peggy's version had the orchestral arrangement of the song composed by Randy Newman, who also played the piano in the slower introduction section, and he conducted the orchestra. The arrangement has a Kurt Weill sensibility, making it seem nostalgic with its dreamlike quality.
What a contrast to Abbey Road, Let It Bleed, and Pinball Wizard - top songs that year.
These two rainbow abstracts were created from the Sacramento Mall images taken while we were at last year's convention.
