{"id":1094,"date":"2013-01-18T17:25:05","date_gmt":"2013-01-18T17:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peggylee.com\/wp\/?p=1094"},"modified":"2021-08-04T10:19:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T14:19:17","slug":"peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

by Leonard Feather<\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 In her room between shows at the Fairmont Hotel, Peggy Lee is in the mood to talk. Resting on her bed, her feet elevated by pillows, she feels relaxed but resentful as she considers some of the acts that are being perpetrated in the name of entertainment, and many of the sounds that are being passed off as music.<\/p>\n

As one of the most durable survivors of what has now come to be known in some circles as the good music generation, she remains secure in her career and her artistic beliefs. When she speaks out, she is motivated neither by bitterness nor envy, but by a passionate concern for the future of a profession to which she has devoted herself as both a singer and songwriter.<\/p>\n

Speaking of her upcoming concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Wednesday, she says, \u201cWe like to do our part in preserving music as more of an entertainment and less of a sideshow. We\u2019re going for all-out elegance and glamour. I\u2019m using some lovely new material and we have 32 great musicians to play for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have a strong conviction that beauty is important in life, whether it\u2019s in singing, writing, literature, paintings. We\u2019ll never lose those values. I do feel that people in the arts have a duty to maintain certain standards of excellence to counteract\u2026\u201d She paused for a moment, as if uncertain whether to point the dagger, then plunged in.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake this rock group Kiss. Did you see them in that program The Hype and the Glory with Edwin Newman on NBC? They\u2019re in their late 20s or 30s, they\u2019re never seen without makeup, and the young kids have this illusion that they are romantic idols or something, when in fact it\u2019s just a total put-on. Grotesque.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sex Pistols \u2013 when I was in London I was so embarrassed because at first I was under the impression they were an American group, and they did this dreadfully offensive song about the Queen. I was quite shocked to hear that A&M had signed them to a recording contract, but then later I learned that they had been dropped and paid off with quite a sizable sum of money.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember the days of the carnival, when they had the men they called geeks? They made them eat live chickens and lizards or whatever they were told to do. The geeks were poor fellows who hardly knew where they were, they were winos or mentally ill, and the only way they could survive was by doing these weird things. I just hate to think of show business slipping back to a stage that isn\u2019t too far removed from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One can well empathize with Ms. Lee, whose whole thrust has always been toward perfectionism, toward the concept of creating a gracious illusion for her audiences. When she reads the great debates on such topics as to whether or not this or that pop group spat blood or vomited onstage, she may well say to herself, is that all there is to show biz?<\/p>\n

Her concern extends to recording activity, and area for which she has lately found a more congenial base in England (as did Bing Crosby in the last year of his life). \u201cRight now I just don\u2019t find conditions conducive to recording in this country. I\u2019m thinking of the great power wielded by producers; in particular I have in mind a team of producers I worked with who spent a great deal of what was supposed to be our working time just lying around in the sun in the South of France \u2013 and all the expense involved had to be charged against my royalties. It wound up being nothing but a very costly demo, which I in effect paid for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to go in and sing with the orchestra, live, not overdubbed, and it doesn\u2019t call for a whole lot of production. It fact, it shouldn\u2019t necessitate more than two or three takes if you know what you\u2019re doing. But then producers will put on limiters that erase all the overtones in your voice, so that you don\u2019t even sound like yourself anymore, and all the life is taken out of the performance. The producers spend so much time doing this sort of thing, and time is money, so it all comes out of the artist\u2019s royalties. I object strongly to that kind of thing in the recording industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019m being controversial for the first time. Are you surprised to hear me talk like this? No names, but if the shoe fits, either wear it or throw it away \u2013 or rather, if it fits, I hope it\u2019s too tight.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, says Ms. Lee, in England you are treated as though you are an artist. \u201cI made two albums in London; one was live at the Palladium and it was literally live \u2013 brilliant engineers \u2013 and the other was a studio session. The musicians were very well prepared and they didn\u2019t waste time fooling around. They played marvelously in tune \u2013 they have a sense of discipline that is to be admired.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know a lot of fine musicians in America who would love to be working and wonder why they aren\u2019t. Well, one of the reasons is that the costs have gone sky-high here. It\u2019s gotten to the point where even the copyists make almost as much as the arrangers, or in some cases more \u2013 which is unfair, because an arranger is a creative person. By the time you pay the copying costs nowadays, you feel like retiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Partly because of her concern about the high cost of touring, Ms. Lee is very selective in accepting bookings. She has only recently been back in action after an accident while stepping out of an elevator in New York kept her off the scene for almost all of 1977. Now she looks forward to such prestigious dates as a pair of April appearances with symphony orchestras in Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas. \u201cAnd I\u2019m excited about my week in Detroit, April 25-30, where I\u2019ll finally be appearing with Count Basie\u2019s orchestra. After all these years of wanting to do that, it should really be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is not one to allow her mind to idle \u2013 or her hands. During the inactivity that followed the accident, she busied herself making a king-size afghan for her daughter, but what had started out as a time-killer soon became a business as she began designing for a large chain of fabric stores in Japan.<\/p>\n

Songwriting, her second love after singing, has returned to her schedule in the form of a commission to work on a motion picture score. \u201cMaurice Jarre is going to be doing the music. I already have a number of lyrics finished \u2013 they\u2019re quite an integral part of the movie \u2013 but I\u2019m waiting for Maurice to write the melodies, then I\u2019ll rewrite the words to fit them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all her reservations about her profession as she sees it, Peggy Lee retains a lively interest in every genre of music she considers valid. \u201cWhat do I listen to? That\u2019s hard to answer. There\u2019s always Leontyne Price. At home I listen to a lot of instrumentals, a lot of classical music.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Billy Joel, love his writing; I like Carol Bayer Sager, Carly Simon, Miles Davis with Gil Evans, Satie. Depending on my mood, I can go from Hurricane Smith to Carmen McRae. I enjoy to listening to that album Paul Horn recorded in the Taj Mahal. Of course, there are all the foregone-conclusion people whom I shouldn\u2019t even need to mention \u2013 Ella, Sarah, Frank, Tony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you could sum it up by saying I can appreciate almost anybody who doesn\u2019t eat live chickens.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Leonard Feather SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 In her room between shows at the Fairmont Hotel, Peggy Lee is in the mood to talk. Resting on her bed, her feet elevated by pillows, she feels relaxed but resentful as she considers some of the acts that are being perpetrated in the[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-library"],"yoast_head":"\nPeggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class - Peggy Lee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class - Peggy Lee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Leonard Feather SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 In her room between shows at the Fairmont Hotel, Peggy Lee is in the mood to talk. Resting on her bed, her feet elevated by pillows, she feels relaxed but resentful as she considers some of the acts that are being perpetrated in the[...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peggy Lee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/misspeggylee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-18T17:25:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-04T14:19:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Peggy-Lee-og.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Torresen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Torresen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5858c3f21b8ac2572f3ad6d6ee48255d\"},\"headline\":\"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-18T17:25:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-04T14:19:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/\"},\"wordCount\":1336,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Library\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/\",\"name\":\"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class - Peggy Lee\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-18T17:25:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-04T14:19:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/\",\"name\":\"Peggy Lee\",\"description\":\"The Official Site of Miss Peggy Lee\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Peggy Lee Associates\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pl-org-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pl-org-logo.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Peggy Lee Associates\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/misspeggylee\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/peggyleeofficial\/?hl=en\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCWfdzpDGBCOOWxWVR0fLVNw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5858c3f21b8ac2572f3ad6d6ee48255d\",\"name\":\"David Torresen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf99d02cc4058c2b1b9997b7edc241ed8e9f4dae28767f8380afcd571571e329?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf99d02cc4058c2b1b9997b7edc241ed8e9f4dae28767f8380afcd571571e329?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Torresen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/author\/dtorresen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class - Peggy Lee","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class - Peggy Lee","og_description":"by Leonard Feather SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 In her room between shows at the Fairmont Hotel, Peggy Lee is in the mood to talk. Resting on her bed, her feet elevated by pillows, she feels relaxed but resentful as she considers some of the acts that are being perpetrated in the[...]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/","og_site_name":"Peggy Lee","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/misspeggylee\/","article_published_time":"2013-01-18T17:25:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-04T14:19:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Peggy-Lee-og.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Torresen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/"},"author":{"name":"David Torresen","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5858c3f21b8ac2572f3ad6d6ee48255d"},"headline":"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class","datePublished":"2013-01-18T17:25:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-04T14:19:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/"},"wordCount":1336,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Library"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/","url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/","name":"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class - Peggy Lee","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-18T17:25:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-04T14:19:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-casts-a-vote-for-class\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Peggy Lee Casts a Vote for Class"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/","name":"Peggy Lee","description":"The Official Site of Miss Peggy Lee","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#organization","name":"Peggy Lee Associates","url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pl-org-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pl-org-logo.jpg","width":600,"height":600,"caption":"Peggy Lee Associates"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/misspeggylee\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/peggyleeofficial\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCWfdzpDGBCOOWxWVR0fLVNw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5858c3f21b8ac2572f3ad6d6ee48255d","name":"David Torresen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf99d02cc4058c2b1b9997b7edc241ed8e9f4dae28767f8380afcd571571e329?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bf99d02cc4058c2b1b9997b7edc241ed8e9f4dae28767f8380afcd571571e329?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Torresen"},"url":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/author\/dtorresen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}