The Peggy Lee Bio-Discography:
The Decca Years (1952-1956)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Gordon Jenkins (con), Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra (acc), Peggy Lee (v), Unknown (bkv), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

Photos

The first of the images above captures Peggy Lee and Gordon Jenkins at a Decca recording session. This photo appeared on an August 28, 1954 publication. Further details, including the exact date on which it was taken, are unknown. However, the publication date circumscribes the possibilities to just the 1952 Lover sessions (April 3, April 28, May 1, July 31, November 28, December 16), which were the only ones conduct by Jenkins for Lee before August-1954. The present session (April 3, 1952) stands a good chance of being the one captured: as Lee's very first Decca date, it is likely to have been photographed for posterity. Her next two session dates are also strong contenders, due to the fact that both were dedicated to a number that would become a big hit for Decca, Jenkins, and Lee.

The other tow images above promote Lee's debut single on Decca. Hard to read, t he blurrier one makes the following announcement: "[t]he one and only Peggy Lee teams up with Gordon Jenkins, America's Favorite Conductor-Arranger." This announcement is actually part of a larger advertisement on Variety, on which Peggy Lee's single are prioritized over those of two long-time Decca acts, Victor Young and Florian Zabach. The other ad above is from Billboard. It also prioritizes Lee's new release, listing it first in an accompanying inventory of 10 Decca singles (not pictured above) by the likes of Jerry Gray, Louis Jordan, and the aforementioned Zabach.


The Lover Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Peggy Lee's earliest Decca sessions took place in April and early May of 1952. Besides the four masters that resulted from the present date, this inaugural two-month period included two more masters, one generated on April 28 ("Just One Of Those Things") and the other on May 1 ("Lover").

All six "inaugural" masters enjoyed their commercial debut between mid-May and mid-July of 1952. They were issued in the form of singles. To wit:

28142 — Be Anything / Forgive Me
28215 — Lover / You Go To My Head (a sample photo of its 78-rpm label can be viewed above)
28313 — Just One Of Those Things / I'm Glad There Is You (a sample photo of its 45-rpm label can be viewed above)

Decca then waited twelve years to collect this half dozen tracks onto a LP titled Lover. (A photo of this LP's front cover has been supplied above.) The 1964 collection also made room for six other tracks, five of which had originally been released on singles as well. To be more specific:

28565 — I Hear The Music Now / This Is A Very Special Day
28395 — River, River / Sans Souci
29003 — Go You Where You Go
00000 — That's Him Over There [previously released on EP & 10"LP, but not on a single]

All six above-listed singles were monophonic releases. (Naturally so: stereo was not yet a commercially available option.) Decca issued each of them on 78-rpm as well as 45-rpm discs. Visual samples have been provided in the row of pictures above. (Decca used the same catalogue number for both the 78-rpm disc and its 45-rpm counterpart, though the latter featured an additional numerical prefix: the number nine, followed by a dash. See, for instance, the scan of the 45-rpm disc supplied above. Its catalogue number is 9-28313; the catalogue number of its 78-rpm counterpart disc is 28313.) As for the Lover LP, Decca offered it in both mono and "hi-fi stereophonic" sound, the latter being the company's name for its brand of simulated stereo.

Although prepared for release long after Lee's contract with Decca had expired (ca. January 1956), the 1964 LP Lover is by no means a thoughtlessly assembled compilation. Lending cohesiveness to the project is the work of conductor-arranger Gordon Jenkins on each and all chosen masters. Unity also stems from the fact that, chronologically, the album's tracks are not too far apart. These twelve tracks come from six Lee-Jenkins sessions, all of them carried out within the same year: April 3, April 28, May 1, July 31, November 28, and December 16, 1952. Moreover, almost none of the LP's dozen numbers had appeared on 12" vinyl before 1964, and few had made previous appearances on any 10" LP or EP. (As already established, nearly all of these masters had come out on single disc only.)

Lover can also be touted as a complete gathering of Lee's masters from her own 1952 sessions. The only 1952 Lee numbers left out from the album are those which she made in a guest capacity, for several Bing Crosby sessions. None involved contributions from Gordon Jenkins. (Those Crosby-related tracks belong to what we might call the second phase of Peggy Lee's Decca contract, which will certainly be itemized in this page as well.)


Issues

1. Lover [LP]
The 1964 release date that I have given to the original edition of this album (Decca Dl 4458) relies on the fact that Billboard magazine reviewed it on its February 8, 1964 issue. On the web, I have seen listings that instead give the year as 1963. I am more inclined to think that 1964 is the correct year.





Songs

1. "Be Anything (But Be Mine)" In The Music Charts
Peggy Lee's very first single on Decca Records (#28142) was favorably received across the nation. It consisted of two numbers from the present date, one of them being "Forgive Me." The other, "Be Anything," was marked as the single's primary side. According to Joel Whitburn's estimates in his book Pop Memories, 1890-1954, it debuted in the Billboard charts during the week of May 24, 1952 and peaked at #21.

Peggy Lee's interpretation was one out of four competing renditions to make the Billboard charts. Versions by Champ Butler and Helen O'Connell placed lower than Lee's, at #26 and #27, respectively. It was, however, Mercury's Eddy Howard, with His Orchestra and Chorus, that placed the highest, at #7. One major reason for Howard's advantage over the other three versions was its timing. By the time that Decca enlisted Lee to record a version of the song, Howard's single had already made its debut in the Billboard charts.

The above-described situation was actually pointed out in the April 23, 1952 Variety review of Lee's single. The reviewer makes the following comment: "[i]n her initial slice for Decca since switching from Capitol, Peggy Lee comes up with the most sensitive and effective workover of the current ballad, Be Anything, a number that is starting to climb fast. Despite her late start, Miss Lee could make this cut mean a lot via jock and juke spins."

Eddy Howard's hit version also peaked at #13 in the Bestseller Chart, according to another publication by Whitburn. The publication in question is Top Pop Records 1940-1955, which this discographer has not been able to consult on his own. I have been informed, however, that the text shows Butler peaking at #30, O'Connell at #26, and Lee matching the #21 placement found in the book that I did consult, Pop Memories, 1890-1954. (The latter is the most recent of the two, published in 1986. The former dates from 1973. There is also a third book titled Pop Hits 1940-1954, which might be an update and expansion of the 1973 text. This third book has undergone at least two editions, one in 1955 and the other in 2002. I have not consulted either edition.)

In any case, "Be Anything" became Peggy Lee's 28h solo hit the charts. Were we to add to the count the ten chart hits that she scored while working as a canary with The Benny Goodman Orchestra, then this 1952 hit would rank as her 38th national success.

The Cash Box charts also show that "Be Anything" was a 1952 hit. Since that magazine's main charts polled songs instead of artist's recordings, we can only ascertain that Peggy Lee's version was one out of a dozen that were active at the time. Collectively, they shared a #6 peak in the periodical's Disc-Hits Box Score and a #7 peak in The Nation's Top 10 Juke Box Tunes (both attained during the week ending June 28, 1952). In addition to Eddy Howard, Peggy Lee, Helen O'Connell and Champ Butler, the other competing versions were by Wini Brown (Mercury), Dolly Dawn (Jubilee), Alan Dean (MGM), Don Estes (Victor), Ralph Flanagan (Victor), Jack Haskell (Coral), Bobby Smith (Apollo), and Buddy Stark (Decca).

A look into Cash Box's regional airplay charts reveals that Peggy Lee's version of "Be Anything" was fairly popular -- seemingly second only to Eddy Howard's. Over a month-long period, several stations reported it in its top ten: WMBG in Richmond, Virginia (#1, week ending June 14, 1952), WSB in Atlanta, Georgia (#6, June 21), WWSW in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia (#9, June 21), WNOE in New Orleans, Louisiana (#4, June 28), WTMA in Charleston, South Carolina (#2, on both June 28 and July 12), and WBNL in Boonville, Indiana (#6, July 19). Two additional #7 rankings came in August, one on the 2nd (KRMG in Tulsa, Oklahoma) and the other one on the 16th (WAVZ in New Haven, Connecticut).

I must emphasize the fact that "Be Anything" was Lee's very first hit on Decca Records. Her subsequent single ("Lover") has been frequently misidentified as her earliest Decca chart entry. The source from which the error stemmed might have been Lee herself, who made comments to that effect in various oral interviews. Those interviews took place three and four decades after her tenure with Decca. Given the large lapse in time, she could have simply forgotten all about "Be Anything." Alternatively, she might have never been well-informed on this particular matter. (Back in the early 1950s, artists probably were highly dependent on managers and labels to provide them with hard numbers, chart data, and the like.)

2. "Forgive Me" In The Regional Music Charts
Although not a national hit, Peggy Lee's version of "Forgive Me" did find favor at two regional stations: WSTC in Stamford, Connecticut (#3 for the week ending June 28; #2 for the week ending July 19) and WFOR in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (#7 for the week ending June 28).

3. "You Go To My Head" In The Regional Music Charts
Similarly, two other radio stations reported favorable listener response for Peggy Lee's recording of "You Got To My Head." The week ending June 28 found it in the #6 slot at WOV in New York City. It did even better in Charleston, South Carolina, reaching the #2 spot for the week ending July 26.

4. "I'm Glad There Is You" In The Regional Music Charts
This Peggy Lee interpretation was by no means ignored over the airwaves, either. It had a #3 placement at WNOR (Norfolk, Virginia) for the week ending August 9, and it became that station #1 recording for the next two weeks. On the final week of the same month, it was still in the station's chart (#2), along with the Decca single's flip side, "Just One Of Those Things" (#5). Another station where it found favor was WREV in Riedsville, North Carolina (#5, August 23).


Arrangements

1. Gordon Jenkins
According to the notes in the back cover of the Decca LP Lover, Gordon Jenkins arranged the album. The credit thus implies that he was the arranger of all twelve performances in the album. Nevertheless, I have generally abstained from trusting collective credits such as this one, unless I have some additional evidence. Collective credits often turn out to be inflated or partially false. As for this particular claim, it actually strikes me as likely to be correct. But the lack of more specific, track-by-track confirmation prevents me from fully trusting it.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Milt Gabler, Morty Palitz (pdr), Gordon Jenkins (con), Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra (acc), Art Drellinger, Jack Greenberg, Tom Parshley, Milt Yaner (sax), Art Ryerson (g), Jack Lesberg (b), Bernie Leighton (p), Unknown (d), Peggy Lee (v), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

Photos

Two musical minds at work. The arrangement and conception of Peggy Lee and Gordon Jenkins' million-selling hit "Lover" resulted from their collaboration. "It was absolutely her idea," Jenkins once said. "She laid it out for me -- not literally the music notes but the tempo and the Latin drummers, the whole pseudo-sexy feel of this thing, changing keys a couple of times, the whole thing was dictated by her." Similarly, Lee gave credit where credit was due: "I just had an idea for the rhythm section, nothing to do with the whole orchestration, and he brought my concept to life. I had no idea that he could embellish so beautifully." (I do not have the exact dates for these shots, but I would esteem all three of them to date from the 1950s. In Lee's case, 1951 or 1952 for the first, 1955 or 1956 for the last.)


At The Recording Session

A large portion of this session's time was dedicated to the recording of "Lover." The concerted effort proved of no avail. According to Peggy Lee, the attempt at recording her voice in unison with eight percussionists failed because the quality of the acoustics at Liederkranz Hall was "a bit live." Hence this session's master of "Lover" ended up being rejected, and additional attempts were undertaken during the next date. For additional comments about the experience, consult this supplementary page.


Personnel

In his notes for The Best Of Peggy Lee (Decca LP Dxsb 7164), Leonard Feather reports that over 36 musicians participated in this recording session, not including the unidentified voices in charge of the background vocals.


Songs And Cross-references

1. Peggy Lee's Fight On Behalf Of Her "Lover"
A primary reason for Peggy Lee's switch of labels in 1952 was a desire to record the standard "Lover," and the disappointment that she felt when Capitol refused to let her do so. Extended commentary of the situation can be found in one of this discography's supplementary pages.

2. "Lover" In The Charts And In Peggy Lee's Discography
Peggy Lee's recording of "Lover" became her second chart hit on Decca. For specifics, including chart peak position, read notes under this page's next date (May 1, 1952).

3. "Just One Of Those Things" In The Music Charts
"Just One Of Those Things" was the fourth of Peggy Lee's Billboard hit during her stay on Decca Records. (For her second and third chart hits, see next two sessions, dated May 1 and May 16, 1952.)

The song actually appeared in both Cash Box's and Billboard's charts, but its peak position differed from one periodical to the other. According to data computed by Joel Whitburn primarily from the Billboard charts, Lee's take on ""Just One Of Those Things" had peaked at #14 by the week of August 2, 1952. That was the standard's second time in the Billboard charts, following a top 10 version which dated back to 1935, by Richard Himber And His Orchestra. Lee's and Himber's versions are the only ones to ever hit that magazine's charts.

In Cash Box's Disc-Hits Box Score chart, "Just One Of Those Things" peaked at #23. The chart applied this ranking to all the single versions of the song that were available to the public at the time. In addition to Lee, the acts were Jan August (Mercury), Russ Morgan (Decca), and Bud Powell (Mercury).

The regional charts point to Peggy Lee's version as the one that was receiving airplay. It ranked #7 at WGY in Schenectady, New York (week ending August 2), #3 at WNOR in Norfolk, Virginia (August 9), #9 at WJBK in Detroit, Michigan (also August 9), and #6 at KOLO, in Reno, Nevada (October 4). It was particularly successful at WNOR, staying in that station's top ten for four consecutive weeks.


Review

1. "Just One Of Those Things" / "I'm Glad there Is You" (Decca single 28313)
In the July 15, 1952 issue of Variety, Al Scharper reviewed Decca single #28313 as follows: "Peggy Lee-Gordon Jenkins combo is moved fast by Decca to cash in on Miss Lee's disc comeuppance following her Lover click. Again medium is an oldie, Cole Porter's Just One Of Those Things, never more effectively etched than here. Between chirp's blithe lyricizing and Jenkins' driving background an insinuative mood is achieved which should make it a mild mid-hit. With a lot of imagination, atop a shuffle beat, Jenkins pours on beguine rhythms which excitingly blend with Miss Lee's tones. The promotion will be on the Porter standard, but, if given a chance, Glad could become quite a sleeper. A slow ballad by Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira, Miss Lee imparts a finely shaded warmth and poignancy suavely abetter by Jenkins' unobtrusive backing."


The Lover Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: April 3 and 28, May 1, July 31, November 28, and December 16, 1952. For further commentary about the album, see notes under April 3, 1952 session.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Milt Gabler, Morty Palitz (pdr), Gordon Jenkins (con), Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra (acc), Art Drellinger, Jack Greenberg, Tom Parshley, Milt Yaner (sax), Art Ryerson (g), Jack Lesberg (b), Bernie Leighton (p), Harry Jaeger (d), Peggy Lee (v), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

Photos

The first image presents an ad that Decca Records placed on music trade magazines, in support of the master that resulted from the present session. The second image spotlights the front cover of Decca's catalogue supplement for the summer of 1952. The third image shows the front cover of Decca DE 55, the Japanese counterpart of American Decca single 28215.


Arrangements And Cross-references (Film)

1. "Lover" [Song]
2. La Bandera [Film]
3. Peggy Lee And Gordon Jenkins
The original arrangement of "Lover" was conceived by Peggy Lee herself. Gordon Jenkins did the orchestration of the studio recording. Lee's inspiration for the arrangement came from watching a French film. (The name of the film had been lost until -- I am proud to say - my research efforts succeeded at uncovering it. Extant interviews show that Lee simply could not remember the film's title. For years, some sources also misidentified it, citing a different movie. More recently, biographers and other writers have followed my attempt at rectifying this matter, fortunately. You can read more about Lee's conception of "Lover," and about the song's connection to the movie, in one of this discography's supplementary pages.


Songwriters And Cross-references (Film)

1. "Lover" [Song]
2. Love Me Tonight [Film]
3. Richard Rodgers
Not surprisingly, Peggy Lee's radical re-thinking of the melody of "Lover" met with the displeasure of the original composer, Richard Rodgers, who had written the number as a waltz. However, Peggy Lee has claimed that Rodgers' public displays of displeasure did not last forever. In later years, he voiced appreciation for the art of re-conceiving tunes, even using Lee's version to make a point, in lectures, about the need to keep songs current rather than risking having them fall into oblivion. For specifics on the situation, and for comments about an early movie (Love Me Tonight) that featured the song in its original waltz conception, check the aforementioned supplementary "Lover" page.


At The Recording Session

Lee's first attempt at recording "Lover" (April 28, 1952) had failed, to her great disappointment. Amidst a 36-piece orchestra that included eight percussionists, the microphones had not picked up the vocal to anyone's satisfaction. During this May 1 session's renewed attempt at recording "Lover," Lee was placed inside an isolation booth. It was Lee's very first time using one such booth. Thanks to this strategy, the recording process proved successful on this second occasion. See also comments below, under Personnel.


Songs

1. "Lover" In The Music Charts
"Lover" was Peggy Lee's second hit for Decca Records. According to Joel Whitburn's estimates in his book Pop Memories, 1890-1954, Lee's recording peaked at #3 after its debut on the week of June 7, 1952.

This was the standard's fourth time in Billboard's music charts. Back when the song was brand new (1933), two versions had run their course. The third popular version had been an innovative multi-track recording by Les Paul, which peaked at #21 in 1948.

Similarly, Cash Box showed the hit status of "Lover" for Peggy Lee: On its fifth week, it reached the #10 spot of the magazine Disc-Hits Box Score chart, where it stayed for 16 weeks. The peak was even better in the same magazine's poll of The Nation's Top Ten Juke Box Tunes: #8 for the week ending July 19, 1952.

As usual, the rankings of Cash Box's charts were applied collectively, to all commercially available versions of the given song. In the case of "Lover," the listed versions are Peggy Lee and the old Les Paul & Mary Ford hit, which had been recently reissued on a Capitol single. The regional airplays charts shows that Lee's recording was the one playing pretty much everywhere. In both radio stations and jukebox networks, the recording placed all over the top ten. For instance, on the week ending June 28, Lee's "Lover" was tops at both WJBK (Detroit, Michigan) and WJMO (Cleveland, Ohio). It was also the #2 most airplayed record for WOV in New York, NY., bested only by Louis Armstrong's "Kiss Of Fire." Another example: in St. Louis, Missouri, the Lee recording had a #3 jukebox ranking for the week ending June 14, 1952. Competitors Paul & Ford were at #2 with another tune, "I'm Confessin'," and Kay Starr was at #1 with "I Waited A Little Too Long."

For a while, Cash Box had also been publishing a new chart feature called The Ten Records Disc Jockeys Played Most This Week; A Summary Of Reports Received From The Nation's Disk Jockeys. (Unlike Disc-Hits Box Score, this feature calculated the radio success of singles, rather than songs.) Therein, "Lover" had a #7 peak during the week ending June 28, 1952.

Finally, I should point out the existence of another Joel Another Whitburn text, Top Pop Records, 1940-1955, in which the Peggy Lee recording of "Lover" is listed as peaking at #6 and spending twelve weeks on what the author identifies as the "Best Selling Singles" pop charts of Billboard magazine. The first of such charts appeared, according to him, on the July 20, 1940 issue. (There is a similarly titled 1973 Whitburn text Top Pop Records, 1940-1955, which I have not been able to consult.)

2. "Lover" As A Bestseller
Peggy Lee's rendition of "Lover" is said to have sold a quarter of a million in its first two weeks, eventually reaching the million mark. "Lover" thus became Lee's third million seller, following her 1948 Capitol hit "Mañana" and the 1942 Benny Goodman version of "Why Don't You Do Right?"

Through the month of June 1952, Variety's Disk Companies' Best Sellers listed this Peggy Lee release as #2 among the Decca singles currently on the market. (At the top was Leroy Anderson with "Blue Tango"/ "Belle Of The Ball." These top two slots held up for the first two weeks of July. The magazine did not publish the chart for the rest of the month.

The chart came back on the week of August 6, with Peggy Lee's "Lover"/ "You Go To My Head" now at #1, and Anderson at #2. The other labels had the following toppers: Kay Starr at Capitol ("Kay's Lament" / "Fool, Fool, Fool"), Ken Griffin at Columbia ("Half As Much" / "Auf Wiedersehen, Sweetheart"), The Ames Brothers at Coral ("String Along" / "Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder"), Patti Page at Mercury ("Once In A While" / "I'm Glad You're Happy With Someone Else"), and Alan Dean at MGM ("Luna Rossa" / "I'll Forget You"). The rest of Decca's top five included Guy Lombardo, The Four Aces, and Red Foley, while the rest of Capitol's featured Nat King Cole (twice), Les Paul-Mary Ford, and Billy May.

3. "Lover" As Part Of Peggy Lee's Canon
Naturally, Lee reprised "Lover" in concerts, on television, and also in the recording studio. It should be noted that she did not stick to the same exact arrangement over the decades, but kept on dressing the song anew through her commission of new arrangements in more contemporary styles. Worth noting is a fresh, rock-oriented arrangement heard on a January 3, 1967 TV show called Something Special With Peggy Lee. For further details, see notes under sessions dated February 9, 1961 and March 8, 1977.




Personnel

1. Milt Gabler
2. Morty Palitz
Milt Gabler and Sonny Burke were the two Decca A&R men who, after seeing Lee perform "Lover" at The Copacabana, enthusiastically offered her a contract with Decca Records. Both men would remain closely tied to her session work at Decca.

In the case of the "Lover" sessions, there is some discrepancy as to the identity of the A&R man who presided over them. Several writings credit Milt Gabler. On the other hand, Lee's autobiography makes passing reference to Morty Palitz, and other texts have followed suit. Serving at the time as the label's head A&R man in the pop field, Palitz was active on Decca from the mid-1940s to sometime between 1952 and 1955, when he left for another label. He had worked with Lee back in the early 1940s, when she was a canary with The Benny Goodman Orchestra and he was becoming increasingly renowned for his keen attention to sound quality and optimal recording facilities. (At Columbia, he was responsible for making Leiderkranz Hall a favored recording venue.)

It seems that both Gabler and Palitz were present at these New York sessions (April 28 & May 1, 1952), sharing duties for the production of the number. Corroboration comes from Lee's mention of the two names during a 1977 discussion of the Lover sessions. "Gabler said to me that he couldn't pick me up," she told the interviewer in 1977, thereby suggesting that Gabler had been in charge of the April 28 date. Lee then proceeded to recount how, after leaving the date in tears and going to bed, she received a call from Palitz in the middle of the night. Palitz wanted to let her know that he and the session's chief engineer had kept working on finding a solution, eventually coming up with the idea of an isolation booth. The news made Lee ecstatic.

(Photos above: a pensive Morty Palitz and a staring Milt Gabler. The captured occasion was the debut session of jazz musician Joe Mooney, at Decca Studios in New York, on November 20, 1946. Mooney's accordion is the object in sight. In what could well have been typical of their professional relationship, Gabler seems to be patiently awaiting for a technically-oriented verdict from Palitz. A Peggy Lee photo dating from the first half of 1952, and thus dating from the same period as the session under discussion. The shot was taken from an unflattering angle, thus making Lee look pouty and puffy under the eyes. Her countenance might have not been too different at the end of her April 28, 1952 session, when Decca's defeat at producing a satisfactory master of "Lover" momentarily sent her into despondency.)

At the April 28, 1952 session, Lee's tears had stemmed from a feeling of deep disappointment. As already explained, her desire to record this version of "Lover" had largely driven Lee to leave her former label and sign with Decca. For months before actually leaving Capitol, she had been performing the number onstage to widely enthusiastic audience response, but Capitol had not been receptive to her proposal to make a studio recording. Having now arrived at Decca, she had been eager to finally turn her concept into a record, aided and abetted by an elaborate arrangement commissioned from Gordon Jenkins. Hence her disappointment at the earlier date's lack of success. In addition to the disappointment of a seemingly failed attempt, there probably were financial losses for her to bear, too. Lee might have been expected to pay out of her own pocket for these expensive dates. Old-time music labels generally operated under the notion that any compensation for their signed artists would come out of the sales attained by the artists' releases.


The Lover Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: April 3 and 28, May 1, July 31, November 28, and December 16, 1952. For further commentary about the album, see notes under April 3, 1952 session.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Vic Schoen And His Orchestra (acc), Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee (v), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

Songs

1. "Watermelon Weather" In The Music Charts
The duet "Watermelon Weather" became Peggy Lee's third hit Billboard on Decca Records. The recording made its chart entrance during the week of July 26, 1952 and, according to Joel Whitburn's chart tabulations in Pop Memories, 1890-1954, peaked at #28. Competing against this duet version by Crosby and Lee was another duet pairing: Perry Como and the then-popular Eddie Fisher, on RCA Victor. The chart battle was won by RCA, whose manpower peaked at #19.

Meanwhile, Cash Box reported a #16 peak for the song, attained during the week ending July 19, 1952. Found in that magazine's Disc-Hits Box Score, the peak position was collectively awarded to both aforementioned recordings, along with a latecomer into the race, an MGM single by The DeMarco Sisters..


Cross-references (Radio As Source)

About a month after this recording session, the pair of Crosby and Lee gave a promotional boost to both sides of Decca single #28238. They did so during the June 18, 1952 episode of Chesterfield Presents The Bing Crosby Show, as they sang the duet "Watermelon Weather." Then, for the following episode (June 25, 1952), they were heard tackling this record date's other number, "The Moon Came Up With A Great Idea Last Night."

It is worth noting that Crosby's Chesterfield radio broadcasts were usually pre-taped (not broadcast live). Occasionally, songs taken from those radio tapings were edited, remastered, and commercially released on Decca singles. Such was indeed the case with another duet by Lee and Crosby ("Little Jack Frost"), which will be further discussed in another session from this page (November 17, 1952).

The duets from the present session do not follow that pattern, however. Both "Watermelon Weather" and "The Moon Came Up With A Great Idea Last Night" were first recorded for Decca, at the present session, and only later reprised on the radio.

Differences between studio and radio versions are especially noticeable in the case of "The Moon Came Up With A Great Idea Last Night." The broadcast version has additional lyrics and a different instrumental solo. "Watermelon Weather" evinces very little variance.

For more Decca studio recordings associated with Crosby's radio shows, see also notes under sessions dated November 17, 1952 and November 22, 1955. For this discography's full listing of Peggy Lee's contribution to Crosby radio programming, see this page.

As for the above-shown photos of Crosby and Lee, I should clarify that they were taken during the late 1940s -- i.e., earlier that the period under discussion. The photos have included herein primarily to mark the beginning of the Crosby-associated sessions in Lee's Decca discography. (They also serve aesthetic purposes, of course.)

Axel Stordahl (con), Axel Stordahl And His Orchestra (acc), Peggy Lee (v), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

The Road To Bali Sessions (Cross-references: Film)

1. Peggy Lee At The Movies
During the first half of the 1950s, Peggy Lee actively cultivated an association with the world of film. Two of her most notable movie credits
were dramatic roles which drew critical praise and even one Academy award nomination. Several other credits were circumscribed to soundtrack work, which she carried out in her capacity of songwriter. One additional credit combined voiceovers with soundtrack writing.

Peggy Lee's then-ongoing incursions into the realm of cinema were reflected in her concurrent recording activity. While under Decca contract, Lee recorded versions of many of the songs that she wrote for (and/or performed on) the aforementioned movie soundtracks. Decca issued most of them in the form of singles and albums that were typically billed as "inspired" by the films. In a few cases, rather than releasing music "inspired" by the films, the record label issued the actual, original soundtrack versions, too.

So closely did Lee become associated with the world of film that Decca picked her to cover movie themes with which she otherwise had no association. Most likely, Decca did not have to resort to any bending of arms, however. Lee herself must have been willing and game to tackle such themes in the studio -- or so it would appear, judging from the fact that she went on to include some of them in her nightclub concerts.

The present session and the next one find Lee waxing two songs from the film Road To Bali, whose star was Bing Crosby. Lee's friendship with the film's star doubtlessly factored into her agreement to record both numbers. Their friendly rapport dated back to the second half of the 1940s, when she had spent some seasons working on his radio show, billed at one point as a recurrent guest, at another point as the show's semi-regular girl singer. The songstress also had the crooner to thank for a cameo in his 1950 vehicle Mr. Music.

The Road To Bali dates were not the only film sessions for which Peggy Lee was recruited by Bing Crosby and Decca Records. There were also the dates featuring Songs From Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, which Crosby and the label carried out in 1954. (Those will naturally be discussed further done below. The rest of this note will pertain only to the Road To Bali sessions and their chief participants.)

2. Peggy Lee And The Road to Bali Dates
Three of Bing Crosby's 1952 Decca sessions were dedicated to the recording of an album of songs from the Paramount movie Road To Bali. The stars of that movie were Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. All three actors sang in the film's actual soundtrack, but only one of them was under a long-term Decca contract.

Bob Hope was not a Decca artist. According to a Variety article published on December 10, 1952, Hope was "freelance[ing] on wax" at this point in time. That claim might or might have not been correct. According to an earlier report from the same periodical (July 2, 1952), he was actually under Capitol contract, and Decca had been granted permission to borrow him just for the album sessions. (For what is worth, albums and singles by Hope were periodically released on Capitol Records between 1944 and 1952. To give just one example, that last year saw Capitol's release of "Wing Ding Tonight," his duet with Jane Russell, from their Paramount picture Son Of Paleface.) Whichever arrangement with Capitol he might have had, Hope's active participation in any session featuring tracks from his Road films must have been deemed essential.

That same sense of essential urgency does not seem to have extended to Dorothy Lamour's presence. Although readily available for recording, the onscreen siren was left out of this Decca album project. Variety commented on the matter as follows: "Decca made no effort to get ... Lamour, [who] costarred in film, since it's building Miss Lee. Chirp switched from Capitol recently and now has Lover riding high." Hidden behind this typically facile explanation (perhaps passed along by scorned individuals, or maybe inferred by the reporter) are the wheelings and dealings which were taking place behind closed doors. According to a report from a professional associate of Lamour, the reason for the star's exclusion from the album was her asking fee, which was deemed too high. Lamour’s very own take on the matter is quoted by Richard Zoglin in his 2014 biography of Bob Hope. As one of the three principals of the Road movie series, she felt that she deserved remuneration comparable to Crosby’s and Hope’s. Hence, explains Zoglin, “[w]hen she was asked to join Hope and Crosby in recording an album of songs from the film, she refused. I didn't think it fair that I get less for the album than they did, and told them so, she said. It was never mentioned again.” Since the matter was never brought up to the actress again, it was left out to Lamour to eventually find out, on her own, that Lee had been asked to do her numbers.

Lee participated in two of the Road To Bali sessions, dated June 20 and 24, 1952. There were three. The remaining one (June 23, 1952) featured Crosby solos only. As for the film, it would not be released until the following year (1953).

Rather than the result of any favoritism on account of her status as a music hitmaker, Lee was probably asked to step in because of her long history as one of Crosby's musical partners, over the radio airwaves. The fact that the two artists were now under the same label was too convenient to let pass. For other instances in which Peggy Lee fulfilled a similar role at Crosby dates, see sessions dated April 10 and May 24, 1954, both of which features songs from the movie Irving Berlin's White Christmas.

3. Selections From The Paramount Picture Road To Bali [Album]
This Decca album was released in either 1952 or 1953. Nearly all consulted websites give the date as 1952, and they might be correct. Nevertheless, I have been unable to find reliable corroboration on the matter.

The film's official New York debut took place on January 29, 1953. According to a Billboard magazine report with a November 15, 1952 New York byline, the "general professional manager for Famous-Paramount ... leaves for the Coast next week to attend meetings at the Paramount Studios. Plans will be laid for the exploitation of the tunes in next year's musical films. Scheduled for release during the first half of 1953 are Road To Bali, with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope," et cetera.

Decca could have certainly released the album in advance of the movie's debut. After all, its songs had been recorded back in June of 1952. American reviews of this Decca item have not yet come my way. (In the United Kingdom, Gramophone magazine ran one in February of 1953.) Ultimately, I have settled for the 1952 date found everywhere else. Readers must still remain aware that early 1953 remains as an alternative.


Session's Masters

1. Non-Lee Masters
Also recorded during this session was master L6817 ("To See You Is To Love You"), sung by Bing Crosby sans Peggy Lee. The date was thus shared by -- or split between -- Crosby and Lee.


Photos

Above: A 2007 anthology of Peggy Lee Decca recordings, titled after her master from this session. Dorothy Lamour, with Bob Hope, at a 1947 Capitol session for their movie My Favorite Brunette.

Bing Crosby (ldr), Sonny Burke And His Orchestra (acc), Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Peggy Lee (v), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

The Road To Bali Sessions (Cross-references: Film)

For details about the Road To Bali dates, see preceding date (June 20, 1952).


Session's Masters

1. Non-Lee Masters
Also recorded during this session was master #6821 ("The Road To Bali"), a vocal duet by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, sans Lee.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra (acc), Peggy Lee (v), The Gordon Jenkins Chorus (bkv), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

The Lover Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: April 3 and 28, May 1, July 31, November 28, and December 16, 1952. For further commentary about the album, see notes under April 3, 1952 session.


Songs

1. "Sans Souci"
2. "Cyprus"
Mysteriously, the song "Sans Souci" receives the alternate title "Cyprus" in some sources, including ASCAP. It's worth noting that the lyrics of this song seem to allude to a specific story -- the story of an individual who may be an illegal alien, or otherwise an exile. I am left with the suspicion that the song, co-written by Lee, was originally intended for a specific project (a Hollywood movie or a Broadway show). Nonetheless, I have yet to find any evidence that such was the case.

Similarly worthy of note is the fact that Peggy Lee & Sonny Burke were not the only American songwriters to use the title "Sans Souci" for one of their compositions. So did Count Basie, among others. Then there is the case of Johnny Mercer, whose "Sans Souci" was actually contemporaneous with Lee's. He wrote it for the musical Top Banana, which debuted on November 1, 1951.

3. "Sans Souci" In The Regional Music Charts
This Peggy Lee tune found favorable response among listeners of KLAC (Hollywood, California) and WJTM (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). KLAC's disc jockey Peter Potter reported the following positions: #6 (seeking ending October 25, 1952), #4 (November 15 & 29), and #7 (January 3, 1953). WJTM's Bill Reynolds indicated a #10 position for the Lee recordings on November 8, 1952, and #2 on January 3, 1953. At that January date, the station's chart topper was Jimmy Boyd's holiday smash "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."

4. "River, River" In The Music Charts
This song was Peggy Lee's fifth hit on Decca Records. According to Billboard tabulator Joel Whitburn, "River, River" made its debut on that magazine's chart during the week of November 22, 1952. It peaked at #23.

Regionally, five radio stations reported that this recording had reached the respective top ten weekly charts: KQV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (#7 for the week ending November 8, 1952), WSAV in Savannah, Georgia (#4 for November 29, #6 for December 6), WNOR in Norfolk, Virginia (#10 for December 13), KWCA (#10 for December 20), and WFBL in Syracuse, New York (#10 for February 14).


Arrangements

1. Gordon Jenkins
Generally, my main sources do not identify arrangers. Hence the arranging credits throughout this discography often come from other sources. In the specific case of "Sans Souci," my source is a rather indirect or oblique one: Peggy Lee's 1990 album There'll Be Another Spring: The Peggy Lee Songbook, whose new version of the song uses the arrangement from this date. (The arranger of "River River" is also presumed to have been Jenkins, but no factual corroboration has come forth so far.)


Masters And Issues

1. "Sans Souci" [Song]
2. Peggy Lee [1991 MCA CD]
A male chorus is prominently featured in the above-listed master take of "Sans Souci." The chorus is missing from at least one Japanese CD transfer (the 1991 MCA release Peggy Lee, catalogue number Uicy 1534). Presumably, an edited version of the master was prepared at some point, perhaps especially for the Japanese market.

Bing Crosby (ldr), Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires {Conlon, Mack McLean, Loulie "Lily" Jean Norman, Charles Parlato, Gloria Wood}, John Scott Trotter And His Orchestra (acc), Warren Baker, Henry J. "Heinie" Beau, Larry Binyon, Dave Harris, Julian "Matty" Matlock, Phil Shuken, Lawrence "Larry" Wright (r), Joe Rushton (bsx), Frank Beach, Ziggy Elman, Robert "Bobby" Guy, Rubin "Zeke" Zarchy (t), Walter Benson, Victor Hamann, Wendell "Gus" Mayhew, Elmer Smithers (tb), Loring "Red" Nichols (c), Perry Botkin, Jr. (g), Don Whitaker (b), Edwin "Buddy" Cole, Mel Henke, Paul Smith (p), Nick Fatool, Alvin Stoller (d), Harry Bluestone aka Blostein, Samuel "Sam" Freed, Jr, Jacques Gasselin, Henry Hill, Murray Kellner, Mayer Oberman, Anthony Olson, Raoul Poliakin, Lou Raderman (vn), Dave Sterkin, Milton Thomas (vl), Cy Bernard (vc), Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee (v)

Photos

Besides Bing Crosby, the other men on the above-shown sheet music are American bandleader Frankie Carle and Australian singer Geoff Brooke. The bandleader is the act generally credited with the recording that put the song on the map, at Columbia Records back on November 15, 1947. He was supported by his daughter, Marjorie Hughes, doubling as his big band canary. (There was actually a recording that might or might not predate Carle's. Released in October 1948, that recorded by the song's composer himself, in conjunction with a female ensemble known as The Dixie Dons, plus an orchestra. Their record was issued on a small Nashville-based label, thereby lacking the ability to attain a level of national distribution comparable to the Columbia competitor.) There was also a version by Ray McKinley with his orchestra, recorded on December 28, 1948.

Chronologically, Bing Crosby and Peggy Lee's 1952 interpretation ranks as the second version of note. All other known renditions, including one from The Brian Seltzer Orchestra (2015), date from the present century. A 2014 duet version by Seth MacFarlane and Norah Jones was clearly inspired by the Bing Crosby-Peggy Lee version, with the two fine younger artists imitating this ancestors a little too closely. Crosby and Lee's above-seen screen shot is from the 1950 movie Mr. Music, and I am using it on this page to denote some of the sessions that are collaborations between Crosby and Lee (specifically, those who do not include additional Crosby photography).


Masters And Issues

1. Non-Lee Masters
Decca's log sheets list a total of five Bing Crosby masters under the date November 17, 1952. "Little Jack Frost Get Lost" is the only one that features Peggy Lee. For the record, the other four are "Fatherly Advice" (a duet with son Gary Crosby, numbered 6894), "Sleigh Ride" (#6895), "I Love My Baby" (#6896), and "That's A-Plenty" (a duet with Connee Boswell, numbered 6897).

2. Decca #28463 As A Decca Seller
As indicated in the listing of issues above, the first commercial release of the Bing Crosby-Peggy Lee duet "Little Jack Frost" was on Decca single #28463. On the flip side was "Sleigh Ride," a Crosby solo vocal. Variety shows this single as reaching the #5 position on Decca's ranking of Best Sellers for the weeks of December 10 and 17, 1952. (The Mill Brothers were on top thanks to their catchy rendition of "Glow Worm," which Decca backed with a number titled "After All.")


Cross-references (Radio As Source)

Bing Crosby discographer Timothy A. Morgereth asserts that all the titles from this so-called session were actually mastered from test pressings, which had been in turn transcribed from radio broadcasts. In further support of his assertion, Morgereth rightly notes that the matrical numbers for this Decca session do not follow the numerical sequence to which Decca "religiously adhered." Hence Morgereth posits that November 17, 1952 was the date on which the test pressings were transcribed by Decca. Other Crosby experts have voiced their agreement with Morgereth's perspective. My own comparative listening of the two renditions have left with no doubt that they are one and the same.

Bing Crosby and Peggy Lee sang "Little Jack Frost Get Lost" on a January 11, 1950 broadcast of Chesterfield Presents The Bing Crosby Show. According to Crosby's premier radio discographer, Lionel Pairpoint, "[i]t is generally acknowledged that the commercial version of this duet originates from a radio broadcast." Indeed, aural comparison of the radio show's rendition and the Decca version leave little doubt: they are thoroughly similar. "The only difference between [the radio] rendition and the Decca master is" according to Pairpoint, "that the latter closes with the Rhythmaires singing the single word, lost. The broadcast version, however, does not end at this point but includes a coda by the orchestra, over which, applause can be heard." (As for the above mentioned non-Lee masters, some of them leave room for a bit of doubt. For instance, Pairpoint noticed that one interjection is missing from the mastered version of "That's A-Plenty.")

To locate issues which contain the performance of "Little Jack Frost Get Lost" exactly as it was heard on Crosby's radio show (i.e., with audience applause, and without the higher audio fidelity brought on by the mastering of the test pressing), consult the page that this discography dedicates to Lee's appearances on Crosby's radio show, under the date January 11, 1950. See also related notes in the present page, under Decca sessions dated May 16, 1952 and November 22, 1955. There is also the option of listening to both versions on YouTube. At the time of this writing, the 1952 commercial record could be heard here, and the 1950 radio original here.


Personnel

1. A Collective Personnel
My main sources (i.e, log sheets and other record label documentation) rarely list full personnel for Decca's sessions. The source for the above-listed personnel is instead The Red Nichols Story: After Intermission, 1942-1965, a book written by Philip R. Evans, Stanley Hester, Stephen Hester, and Linda Evans. Although the authors do not clarify the matter, it is apparent that musicians present at five different broadcasts are lumped together in the personnel compiled by authors. Hence you will notice, for instance, that three pianists are listed. (Readers of the preceding paragraphs should understand that the situation stems from the special nature of this Decca session. The session contains numbers grabbed from five different radio broadcasts.) Although very hesitant to include such a sprawling personnel, doing so has ultimately struck me as a better option than listing no personnel at all. It is fortunate, then, that I can clarify the matter to readers of the discography, thanks to BRIAN's ability to produce notes such as the present one. (BRIAN is the discographical program with which the Peggy Lee Bio-Discography was created.)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra, The Gordon Jenkins Chorus (acc), Peggy Lee (v), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

The Lover Album Sessions (Cross-references)

Dates: April 3 and 28, May 1, July 31, November 28, and December 16, 1952. For further commentary about the album, see notes under April 3, 1952 session.


Song (And Photos)

"That's Him Over There" was copyrighted in October 1952 by composer Lew Spence and lyricist Marilyn Keith. Keith actually wrote the lyric first, and brought it to Spence. For his part, Spence brought to Keith not a song but a husband: he introduced her to the composer Alan Bergman, whom she would end up marrying.

Two years after its copyright, "That's Him Over There" was picked up by Peggy Lee. Known as a songwriter who made the rounds promoting his songs (albeit in a gentle, non-pushy manner), Spence himself might have introduced Lee to the song, by playing and singing it in her presence.

That's Lew Spence (née Lewis Slifka) in all first three photos above. The first shows the New York-born pianist at a much younger age, during a short period in which he flirted with acting while in Arizona, where he grew up. Besides this song, Lee interpreted at least three more of his compositions, including his most famous one, "Nice 'n' Easy."

Also in contention for the debut recording of "That's Him Over There" is actress-singer Barbara Ruick (second row above, first picture), whose version was recorded for MGM, with no less than Nelson Riddle as its conductor. Whichever version might have served as the studio debut, Ruick's was certainly the one to be released first, on a MGM single that was out by February 1953. For its part, Decca did not issue Peggy Lee's version on any single, letting it languish in the vaults until 1954, when the interpretation finally saw the light of day as part of the Lee album Songs In An Intimate Style.

Five years later, Nina Simone made another recording of the number, included it in her second album (pictured above, second row, middle image). "That's Him Over There" is actually one of several songs that Nina Simone probably heard first from Peggy Lee's albums, and subsequently felt inspired to record herself.

To my knowledge, the only other existent version of "That's Him Over There" by a known artist came from cabaret-oriented vocalist Wesla Whitfield (second row above, third picture, color insert) many decades later. After Lew Spence sent the song to her, Whitfiled decided to recorded it for her 2007 CD Message From The Man In The Moon. The number thus had to wait for five decades to score its third outing to date.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra, The Gordon Jenkins Chorus (acc), Peggy Lee (v), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

The Jazz Singer Session (Cross-references: Film)

Peggy Lee co-wrote the songs "I Hear The Music Now" and "This Is A Very Special Day" for the 1953 Warner Brothers movie The Jazz Singer. She also recorded both numbers for the soundtrack of that film, in which she co-starred with Danny Thomas. The masters waxed at the present session are not the soundtrack recordings, but versions intended for commercial release as a Decca single. (Further information about the actual soundtrack versions will be provided in this discography's film page, once it opens for viewing; it's currently under construction. Photos above: an Israeli movie poster and a piece of sheet music that will be discussed below.)


Songs

1. "I Hear The Music Now"
The melody of "I Hear The Music Now" is based on a theme from the overture to the 1851 opera Raymond, ou le secret de la reine. Its author was the composer Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896), better remembered nowadays for another opera of his, Mignon. My thanks to Michael J. White for first alerting me to the connection. See also notes about the song "Once In A Lifetime," under Capitol session dated September 14, 1950.

The sheet music of "I Hear The Music Now" does a poor job of crediting the French composer, merely inserting a parenthetical phrase (Based on theme by Thomas) under the song's title. Since this sheet also features a photo of Peggy Lee and Danny Thomas on its front cover, viewers may naturally but wrongly assume that the "Thomas" in question was Danny.

2. "I Hear The Music Now" In The Regional Music Charts
Reporting to Cash Box for the week ending March 7, 1953, disc Jockey Art Tacker indicated that Peggy Lee's self-penned recording was in the #7 position at his station, WCRB in Waltham, Massachusettes. During the week ending April 4, it claimed the #2 slot, being deprived of the top slot by Perry Como's hit version of "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes."




Issues

1. Songs From The Jazz Singer [RCA EP & 10" LP]
2. Selections Featured In The Warner Bros. Motion Picture The Jazz Singer [Decca EP]
3. Danny Thomas & Peggy Lee Sing Songs From ... The Jazz Singer [Sepia CD]
The film The Jazz Singer was filmed in late 1952 and sent to theaters across the nation in early 1953. Both co-stars had record contracts at the time, but not on the same label. Danny Thomas was on RCA Victor, Peggy Lee on Decca Records. Naturally, each label tried to capitalize on the attention accorded to the film stars by having them record music from the movies, and issuing the resulting masters on the win formats of the time (single, EP, 10" LP).

RCA released an album titled Songs From The Jazz Singer on both EP (pictured above) and 10" LP. (Release date: February 20, 1953.) In it, Danny Thomas does versions of nearly all the songs that are heard in the movie, including the Peggy Lee numbers. He sings solo; Lee has no involvement in the RCA album. (In addition to RCA's release of the 10" LP and the EP in 1953, the custom branch of RCA put together a 12" LP edition of the album in 1958 or a little bit later. That edition still featured the same eight tracks found in the earlier configurations. Probably commissioned by Thomas, all proceeds from its sales were slated to be placed into his fund for the foundation of St. Jude Hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee.)

For its part, Decca came up with an EP titled Selections Featured In The Warner Bros. Motion Picture The Jazz Singer (also pictured above). The EP showcases Peggy Lee's Decca versions of the four numbers that she sings solo in the movie. To maximize sales potential, Decca also made a point of showcasing the conductor on all four numbers. Jenkins had no involvement in the movie, but his name had become strongly attached to Lee's million-selling hit "Lover," which was reprised on the film and included in the EP.

This EP was released within the first half of March 1953 -- about a month after the nationwide release of the film (February 14, 1953). It is actually Lee's first album on Decca. (No other Peggy Lee EPs, LPs, or 45 album had been issued before. All previous Lee issues had been 78-rpm and 45-rpm singles. A few month after this EP, her first 12" LP on Decca, Black Coffee would show up as well.)

In 2005, the reissue label Sepia Records combined the contents of the two EPs under discussion, and released them on a CD titled Danny Thomas & Peggy Lee Sing Songs From ... The Jazz Singer (pictured below). As bonus tracks, Sepia also included non-movie singles from both artists -- in Lee's case, from her Capitol rather than her Decca tenure.

4. Perfect-Lee [LP]
5. The Best Of The Decca Years [CD]
These two issues made a minor dating mistake. Both incorrectly give the recording date of "I Hear The Music Now" as November 16, 1952.






The Lover Album Sessions (Cross-references)

The present session is among those whose songs were included in the above-pictured Decca LP Lover, which is essentially an anthology of Peggy Lee's work with Gordon Jenkins. The other LP-related dates are April 3 and 28, May 1, July 31, and November 28, 1952. The tracks were thus recorded in 1952. They were released as singles around that time as well. A dozen years passed, however, before the tracks well culler together for released on the anthological LP (1964). For further commentary about the LP, see notes under April 3, 1952 session.

To see a list of official foreign editions of Lover, go here. There is also a separate page dedicated to British editions. Furthermore, you can look at photos of both official and Public Domain editions in the Main Decca Album Gallery of this bio-discography.

Peggy Lee (ldr), Victor Young (con), Victor Young And His Singing Strings (acc), Peggy Lee (v), Unknown (bkv), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

Photos

Above and below: movie posters and movie cards promoting the films that will be discussed in the next paragraphs. Further down below: two undated photos of Peggy Lee. Showcasing Lee the lyricist, the first image should date from no earlier than 1951, and no later that the summer of 1952. Presenting Lee the composer (and used as part of a 1955 ad for a commercial product), the second photo can be safely circumscribed to the two year period of 1953 and 1954.


Songs, Songwriters And Cross-references (Film)

1. The Bullfighter And The Lady [Film]
2. "How Strange" [Song]
3. The Woman Thy Almost Lynched [Film]
"How Strange" was the love theme of not one but two movies. One of them was The Bullfighter And The Lady, a Republic film starring Robert Stack. Its score was written by Victor Young. An instrumental version of "How Strange" is heard throughout the movie.

A vocal version in Spanish is also heard during a very early scene. The scene in question takes place at a Mexican night club, in which the protagonists meet. In the background, a female vocalist is barely audible, singing Spanish lyrics that seem to concentrate on sorrow and romantic longing ("me hablas de tu dolor ... el dolor de tu amor ... quisiera tenerte en mis brazos"). The melody is definitely that of "How Strange," but the Spanish lyrics bear no connection to the ones penned by Peggy Lee.

Clearly a native Spanish speaker, the singer heard in the aforementioned scene is not Lee, either. In a later scene, a female vocalist is in fact seen, dressed in full traditional Mexican regalia and singing another song, again in Spanish. Sorrow and unrequited love are the themes of the second performance, too. Presumably, this is the same vocalist that had been only heard earlier. She is not identified in the movie's credits.

The Bullfighter And The Lady was released in 1951. The present studio session took place two years later. Lee is likely to have written her lyric in late 1952 at the suggestion of Victor Young himself, with whom she was collaborating in other projects. For his part, Young might have been motivated by the fact that the song had been scheduled for re-use in the movie The Woman They Almost Lynched, to be released in early 1953.

Indeed, the song is heard in full in the movie, around the 1:08 mark. Fans of the number should appreciate learning that even the song's verse is featured. (Lee's Decca master of "How Strange" does not reprise this verse.)

Played by film noir actress Audrey Totter, the character who sings "How Strange" is Kate Kuantrill, the movie's villainess, and a saloon singer. I do not know if Totter was overdubbed, or if her own singing voice is the one being heard, but I can confidently assert that it is not Peggy Lee's voice. (The same voice sings the character's other number, "All My Life," heard earlier in the movie. Young and Lee had no involvement with that other song, which is credited to Sydney Mitchell and Sam Stept.)

For commentary about films whose themes are actually sung by Peggy Lee in the movie soundtrack, see sessions dated March 1, 1954 and January 19, 1955. My thanks to George McGhee for his very kind assistance during the labor of researching this movie.





3. "Where Can I Go Without You?" In The Music Charts
Unissued and left to collect dust in the vaults, this recording might have been rescued from obscurity as a result of Lee's critical and chart success with the ballad "Baubles, Bangles And Beads." The latter hit the charts in January of 1954. Decca probably endeavored to further capitalize on the sales and accolades by releasing another suitably romantic rendition from Lee. A song about longing and unrequited love, the hitherto neglected "Where Can I Go Without You?" certainly suited such an endeavor.

Chronologically, "Where Can I Go Without You?" was Peggy Lee's eighth hit for Decca Records. Joel Whitburn's tabulations show that her version of this song peaked at #28 after making its Billboard debut during the week of March 13, 1954.

For its part, Cash Box reported favorable regional activity at four radio stations: KMPC in Los Angeles, California (#2 for the week ending March 20, 1954), WHAT in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (also #2 for the same week), WTIX in New Orleans, Louisiana (#9, March 27). It enjoyed a second week at WHAT (#10, April 24) and, best of all, at KMPC, where it reached the #1 position (April 10).

4. Peggy Lee, As Songwriter, In The Music Charts
"Where Can I Go Without You?" was the eighth self-penned chart entry of Peggy Lee's career. For her seventh entry, which was recorded later but released before this one, see next session. (Not part of the count is "Don't smoke In Bed" an additional hit entry that she is said to have co-written, but for which she is not officially credited.)

During the next 13 years, none of her other self-written performances made the charts. It was not for lack of them: Lee actually recorded a steady number of self-penned songs from 1953 to 1966. What's more, some of them would prove popular enough to be recorded by many other artists (e.g., "I Love Being Here With You," "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'," "Things Are Swingin'," etc.) The reason why none of those potential hits made even a dent in the charts lies not with Lee or the songs themselves, but with contemporaneous standards in the music industry. The songs were adversely affected by Billboard's lack of interest in tabulating, at that point in time, airplay from adult contemporary radio stations. Hence Lee's compositions did not make any chart appearances until 1966, by which time Billboard had created a chart for adult contemporary music. (See Capitol session dated February 1, 1966. Consider also the hit "Fever," which featured uncredited lyrics on which Lee had a hand, and which was recorded for Capitol on August 19, 1958.)





Personnel

1. Dave Barbour
My discographical sources give conflicting information about this session's accompaniment. Dave Barbour & His Orchestra are listed in Decca's files. On the other hand, the Decca EP Songs In An Intimate Style identifies Victor Young & His Singing Strings as the accompaniment, and so do later issues of these two numbers. Close listening strongly suggests the presence of Young, who was also the numbers' composer. Since I hear no indication of Barbour's presence, I have tentatively chosen to give credit to Victor Young alone.

2. Background Voices
Unknown "vapor voices" on "How Strange" only.


Arrangements

1. Hal Mooney
Peggy Lee kept two arrangements of "Where Can I Go Without You?" in her music library. One of them is by Hal Mooney, with whom she is known to have worked during these Decca years -- specifically, in some of the 1955 dates below. I have tentatively credited him with this session's arrangement.


Dating, Masters And Issues

1. "How Strange" [single]
How strange, indeed. i have found a promotional Decca 45-rpm single containing this number, but no equivalent commercial (i.e., retail) single. The promotional single has the additional oddity of lacking a catalogue number. There is no discographical entry for this promo anywhere in my sources, either. (As a general rule, promos are not listed in the Decca logs at my disposal.) The release year that I have assigned to the promo should be deemed tentative; the year 1954 is another sensible possibility.

2. Classics And Collectibles [CD]
3. Miss Peggy Lee ("Some Of The Best" Series) [CD]
4. "How Strange" [Song]
Several tracks in the content-worthy but sonically flawed CD set Classics And Collectibles fail to live to expectations. "How Strange" is one of them. Apparently, the performance was newly remixed for this release. Or, otherwise, a previously unreleased mix was used. The vibrant audio fidelity heard in the version from the original vinyl issue (Songs In An Intimate Style) is clearly missing from this inferior mix. Lee sounds remote, as if she were at considerable distance from the mike.

Some of the vibrancy of the original LP version can be heard in another digital release: Miss Peggy Lee from Laserlight's "Some Of The Best" series. Nevertheless, despite its vibrant quality, that CD's transfer is also unsatisfactory. It suffers from background noise, and from a general wobbliness in its sound quality. (I am left to wonder if such defects stem not from the transfer but from the original master. Problems with the quality and preservation of the master would also explain why a new or different mix may have been preferred for Classics And Collectibles.)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Dave Barbour And His Orchestra (acc), Peggy Lee (v), Other Individuals Unknown (unk)

Songs

1. "Who's Gonna Pay The Check?" In The Music Charts
Peggy Lee scored her sixth hit on Decca Records with "Who's Gonna Pay The Check?," a tongue-in-cheek novelty sung in a mock, pseudo-Italian accent. According to Joel Whitburn's Billboard-based calculations, the song peaked at #22 in that magazine's charts, after debuting during the week of May 22, 1953.

The May 20, 1953 issue of Variety showed the recording in the #19 position of that periodical's Best Sellers On Coin Machines. It climbed to #15 on the May 27 issue. Furthermore, the April 29 issue had listed the single as #4 among Decca's top sellers for that week. (The other Decca acts with bestselling singles were Hamish Menzies, Dolores Gray, Florian Zabach and, at #5, Guy Lombardo.)

In Cash Box's Disc-Hits Box Score (Nation's Top 50) chart, it reached #26 and spent five non-consecutive weeks in the chart. One regional disc jockey reported Lee's "Check" as earning fans in the #10 slot (Bob Larsen, WEMP, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, week ending May 2, 1953). For the following week, it had reached #4 at that same station, and #9 at WNOE in New Orleans, Louisiana. Between May 23 and June 13, five additional stations reported activity: WROL in Boston, Massachusetts (#10), WVNJ in Newark, New Jersey (#7), WJMR in New Orleans, Louisiana (#5), WRBV in Reidsville, North Carolina (#6) and, most notably, WWEZ in New Orleans, Louisiana (#9 on week ending May 23, #7 on May 30, #6 on June 6). The number thus seems to have met with mass appeal among radio listeners, particularly in New Orleans.

With "Who's Gonna Pay The Check?," Lee was enjoying her seventh time climbing the Billboard charts as a songwriter. (Her other self-penned chart entries are from her earlier years as a Capitol artist. Not part of the count is "Don't smoke In Bed" an additional hit entry that she is said to have co-written, but for which she is not officially credited.) In this particular case, she was responsible not only for the lyrics, but also the music. Lee's next self-penned charting had actually been recorded in the session that precedes this one; consult that session's notes.

2. "You Let My Love Get Cold" In The Regional Charts Listeners of WJLB in Detroit, Michigan's favored the flip side of the Decca single that featured "Who's Gonna Pay The Check?" According to Cash Box's regional music reports, it was a #8 position for "You Let My Love Get Cold" during the week ending April 25, and a #7 peak for the week ending May 9, 1953.

3. Decca 28631 ("You Let My Love Get Cold" / "Who's Gonna Pay The Check?) In Decca's Sales Reports
According to the May 6, 1953 issue of Variety, Decca 28631 ranked third in sales among the label's then-current singles. The ranking was published as part of the Disc Companies' Best Sellers chart, in which releases by Dolores Gray and Victor Young were occupying the higher positions. It remained within the top five through the rest of May.


Photos

These two photos have been incorporated to this page primarily for aesthetic purposes. One of them evokes the song title "Summer Vacation," while the other suits the tongue-in-cheek scenario of "Who's Gonna Pay The Check?" The first, showing Lee leaving LA on a plane, was actually taken in 1950. The date and occasion of the second picture are unknown to me. (Attire and other details suggest a party event in the mid-1950, such as a celebrity dinner. An industry dinner after the premiere of a western cowboy movie would be one logical scenario.)


Songs

1. You Let My Love Get Cold
2. Sorry Baby, You Let My Love Get Cold
3. You Let My Love Grow Cold
Belatedly entered on April 4, 1953, the copyright of this Jesse Mae Robinson song indicates that its actual title is "You Let My Love Get Cold." Hadda Brooks' Okeh recording, the earliest known, used that title. Brooks' version was recorded in November 1952, released in May 1953.

A Dinah Washington version was released a bit earlier than Brooks' but recorded a bit later, in early 1953. Washington appears to have altered the title on her own volition, turning into "You Let Me Love Grow Cold," and her many imitators have followed suit.

On the States label, a version by a R&B singer named Gloria Irving (accompanied by Swingin Sax Kari) also came out in May 1953. It is worth noting that Irving sings the titular line as "You Let My Love Get Cold." And yet the label chose to print the title on the label "You Let My Love Grow Cold," presumably with the already released version by Washington in mind.

For its part, Decca expanded the title of Peggy Lee's version to "Sorry Baby, You Let My Love Get Cold" on the original single. However, for most of its LP editions featuring this rendition, Decca reverted back to the proper, original title ("You Let My Love Get Cold").


Personnel

1. Dave Barbour And His Orchestra
This session's personnel is likely to have consisted of musicians who were playing with either Dave Barbour or Peggy Lee at this point in time, and which Decca cursorily labeled as Barbour's orchestra. For an engagement at LA's Ambassador Hotel in early March of 1953, the musicians accompanying Peggy Lee were Pete Candoli (t), Irv Cotler (d), Joe Mondragon (b), Mike Pacheco (bongos), and Jimmy Rowles (p).


Arrangements

1. Joe Lippman
Peggy Lee kept a Joe Lippman arrangement of "Who's Gonna Pay The Check?" in her music library. Even so, the above-shown credit to him should be considered tentative: it is not known if the extant Lippman arrangement is the same one that was written for this session's performance. (The library arrangement could be a different one, written for, say, one of Lee's live shows.)

Peggy Lee (ldr), Milt Gabler (pdr), Walter "Pete" Candoli (t), Max Wayne (b), James "Jimmy" Rowles (p), Ed Shaughnessy (d), Peggy Lee (v)