{"id":1302,"date":"2013-01-19T11:47:03","date_gmt":"2013-01-19T11:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peggylee.com\/wp\/?p=1302"},"modified":"2021-08-04T10:19:11","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T14:19:11","slug":"peggy-lee-christmas-fever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peggylee.com\/peggy-lee-christmas-fever\/","title":{"rendered":"Peggy Lee: Christmas Fever"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n by Linda Ekblad<\/p>\n

The voice of Miss Peggy Lee is a quilt of black velvet and yellow silk. It is warm and sexy, romantic and comforting. Behind the rich fabric of her vocals is a deep understanding of life. When you hear a Peggy Lee song, you know she knows what she is singing about. Her music is just so true.<\/p>\n

From early hits such as “Ma\u00f1ana” and “Why Don\u2019t You Do Right?” to later classics like “Fever” (newly recorded on The Peggy Lee Songbook: There\u2019ll Be Another Spring, from Musicmasters) and the soundtrack to Lady and the Tramp, Miss Lee has offered a message of faith and life. This credo led her to the hopeful “Oh no, there\u2019s more!” interpretation of “Is That All There Is?” In a season during which we reflect on peace and new beginnings, what better artist to recommend a few Christmas tunes than the legendary Miss Lee, who believes in “the human spirit and the hand that guides us from above?”<\/p>\n

I: You sang with the Benny Goodman band. What was it like to spend Christmas on the road? Was it hard?<\/p>\n

PL: Those weren\u2019t terribly jolly holidays. You didn\u2019t get any time off, and you were never anyplace in a family atmosphere.<\/p>\n

I: You didn\u2019t try to make it a festive occasion, as a group together?<\/p>\n

PL: No, we didn\u2019t do anything like that. Of course, Benny was Jewish. But he never gave me a Hanukkah present either! [laughs]<\/p>\n

PL: Coincidentally, I am writing a Christmas special called The Legend of Christmas. It contains a great many of my own Christmas carols that have been reissued over and over again.<\/p>\n

I: Who\u2019s going to be in it?<\/p>\n

PL: Dom DeLuise is going to be one of the Santa Clauses. Won\u2019t that be perfect? We\u2019re trying to get Jonathan Winters. I have written a song for it: “Everybody Needs a Santa Claus.”<\/p>\n

I: I need one!<\/p>\n

PL: [chuckles] We all do! The second line is: “Even Santa Claus needs a Santa Claus.”<\/p>\n

I: I was going to ask you if you like Christmas, but if you\u2019re writing a special about it \u2013<\/p>\n

PL: Oh, I love it, I love it.<\/p>\n

I: One of the things that has always impressed me about your singing is the musicianship behind it. Your voice is wonderful \u2013<\/p>\n

PL: Thank you.<\/p>\n

I: But it\u2019s so clear that you\u2019re a musician as well as a singer. Does that influence your choice in Christmas music?<\/p>\n

PL: Oh yes, it does. I love Sammy Cahn\u2019s song “The Christmas Waltz.” And everybody loves Bob Wells and Mel Torm\u00e9\u2019s song: “Chestnuts roasting \u2013” I particularly like some carols by a man named Al Burt, who was a young man \u2013 he died right after he wrote them. One if called “The Star Carol.” A beautiful thing.<\/p>\n

I: When you listen to music, are you just listening, or are you a singer hearing a song you might like to sing, or are you a musician aware of the musical nuances?<\/p>\n

PL: Strange you should ask that right now. I was thinking yesterday about Irving Berlin and “White Christmas.” I have always thought of that song with Bing Crosby. I loved Bing so much. But yesterday I was thinking about the construction of it, and Irving Berlin\u2019s talent for simplicity, in getting right to the point of things.<\/p>\n

I: Berlin was incredibly talented. But he was also lucky in that his music was so suited to the age in which he lived.<\/p>\n

PL: Yes. I\u2019m finding out that a lot of things I wrote in the \u201850s are now\u2026 This last album [The Peggy Lee Songbook] contains things that I\u2019ve written in one way or another. Mostly lyrics. I\u2019m amazed at how well they\u2019ve held up.<\/p>\n

I: Is it fun to hear others singing your songs?<\/p>\n

PL: As a matter of fact, I get very frustrated that no one will sing around me. My daughter and my granddaughter \u2013 I want to hear them. Just by accident I\u2019ve heard them out of the corner of my ear, but they hide.<\/p>\n

I: Well, I can understand. I would never sing in front of you! You\u2019re so good.<\/p>\n

PL: I\u2019m not that good.<\/p>\n

I: Don\u2019t give me this! [laughs] Are there Christmas songs you hate? If I hear “The Little Drummer Boy” one more time\u2026<\/p>\n

PL: When I first heard it, I thought it was so lovely, and I recorded it while I thought that. But I don\u2019t like it anymore\u2026<\/p>\n

I: It\u2019s all the airwaves play during the season.<\/p>\n

PL: And that sort of p-r-r-r-rum-pa-pum-pum. Besides, it\u2019s not easy to sing.<\/p>\n

I: You were on Nat King Cole\u2019s TV show in the \u201850s. What about his Christmas music?<\/p>\n

PL: Oh yes, Nat Cole has got to be a part of Christmas.<\/p>\n

I: What do you think it is about his voice that conjures up such a Christmas feeling?<\/p>\n

PL: There\u2019s such a lovely and loving quality in it, and it\u2019s a full, round sound. It lets you picture things like green trees and white trees and Christmas decorations. I think that the images in his mind were probably very clear. And that\u2019s communicated.<\/p>\n

I: Anyone else?<\/p>\n

PL: Once Cannonball Adderly had a wonderful Christmas song.<\/p>\n

I: There are so many people I never think of doing Christmas music \u2013 Cannonball Adderly.<\/p>\n

PL: They were all little kids once. It\u2019s the child in us that\u2019s at the bottom of what Christmas means.<\/p>\n

I: That child remains so needy, too.<\/p>\n

PL: That\u2019s good. Please bring that out in this.<\/p>\n

I: Your music speaks to the child in us. It speaks to something deep inside.<\/p>\n

PL: Oh yes, music does. There is a spark deep in every one of us. A spark of life.<\/p>\n

I: That seems to be the right note on which to end. Thank you.<\/p>\n

PL: Thank you. I really enjoyed it very much. And I wish you a Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Linda Ekblad The voice of Miss Peggy Lee is a quilt of black velvet and yellow silk. It is warm and sexy, romantic and comforting. Behind the rich fabric of her vocals is a deep understanding of life. When you hear a Peggy Lee song, you know she knows[…]<\/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-1302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-library"],"yoast_head":"\nPeggy Lee: Christmas Fever - 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-christmas-fever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peggy Lee: Christmas Fever - Peggy Lee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Linda Ekblad The voice of Miss Peggy Lee is a quilt of black velvet and yellow silk. 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