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Songs Peggy Sang But Didn't Record

Posted by Iv 
Iv
Songs Peggy Sang But Didn't Record
October 14, 2002 01:10AM
Michael, that was sooo nice of you. Thank you -- it's nice to be missed, once in a while. :-)

But on to things Peggy. I thought that I'd start a new thread, just to go over your list of

>Songs I've heard her sing on TV
>or in person that i wish she had
>recorded:


I'm, as usual, green with envy, at the thought that you got to hear her sing some of those songs live!!


>When I Fall In Love (she sang this alot in the 50s on TV appearances)
I heard Peggy sing this one in a Navy radio show. She prefaces it with the comment that it was one of her favorite songs at the time, and her song of choice when she sat down to play the piano, at home.


>Hey Babe What Would You Say (at the Waldorf in 70s)
I've seen it listed in concert performances at this website, but I don't think I've heard a Peggy version.


>Paradise
This is one of various never released tracks from the Copacabana shows found in her album "Two Shows Nightly."


>Wait Till You See Him
Oh. I heard her sing it with the Boston Pops, in 1973 or thereabouts, in a medley with "I've Got a Crush on You." Blissful. (What I heard was a tape. Apparently this show was televised, too, but I've never seen it.)


>Fire and Rain
I'd love to hear her do this. It was recorded by one of Peggy's admirers, jazz singer Chris Connor.


>God Bless the Child
In some shows, she'd sing this one as part of a tribute to Billie Holiday. She would sing parts in her own voice, and parts imitating Billie. I found the effect uncanny, a bit ghost-like.


>I Feel The Earth Move
As with "Fire and Rain," I'd love to hear how Peggy do this one, too. I know and enjoy the version by Carole King. (I think there was also a hit version by a young pop singer, in the 80s, called Martika.)


>Scenery Changes (not sure of title, heard at Waldorf)
Had never heard of it -- grrr :-))


>Someday My Prince Will Come
I had no idea that Peggy had sung this one


>Maxwell Edison's Silver Hammer
She did it in on The Ed Sullivan Show. Very cute & humorous.


>Almost Like Being In Love
Also sung in The Ed Sullivan Show, as part of a 3-song medley that included "Nice'n'Easy" and ... I forgot the second song. But I love this medley -- it builds and builds, reaching its climax toward the end of "Almost like Being in Love."


>This Gal's In Love With You
I wish I could hear her sing this (do I sound like a broken record, or what?) Anyway, I suspect that this number would have fitted nicely in her
album "Somethin' Groovy."


>Yesterday I Heard the Rain
I'm having trouble remembering this song ... Is it originally French? Tony Bennett recorded it, I think.


>I've Gotta Be Me
I hate that song! Of course, Peggy would probably manage to make change my mind. She's done it already, with another song I hate, except in Peggy's version: "What Kind of Fool Am I"...


>Shakespeare Lied
I've read that this song (which she did in 1967, during the "Two Shows Nightly" period) stopped the show. It's from the then-new musical "How Now Dow Jones."


>Cry Me A River/Man That Got Away (on the Steve Allen Tonite Show)
Yes, green with envy all over again, as I've never seen Peggy singing the former ....


>Once Upon A Summertime
Oh. That should be interesting to hear. Another one that I didn't know Peggy sang.


>Two Ladies In The Shade Of the Banana Tree (with her second voice on a tribute to Harold Arlen in 60s)

Yes. She's dressed like a Southern belle, at a Southern plantation. Or rather, she is dressed like 2 belles, one blonde and one dark-haired, one fanning herself, the other doing I-forgot-what (maybe looking at herself in a mirror?). In this same Arlen show, Peggy also sings "The Man that Got Away."

>It's A Grand Night For Singing

Yes. An opening number if there ever was one. She sings it in one of her many appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Michael, I'd like to add

>How Long Has This Been Going On
I think she sang it on the same show that she sang "It's a Grand Night for Singing." It was thrilling.


>Smack Dab in the Middle
From another Ed Sullivan Show. Just great swinging fun.

> Clouds / Have Yourself a Merry Christmas
From a Julie Andrews special. At that particular point, Peggy wasn't in great voice, but that circumstance only added to the poignancy of this medley.

> 'S Wonderful
She sang this in the 1990s, with a laid-back, bossa nova-ish beat. Lovely.

> I Got It Bad
As she sang it in the 1980 (vastly different from her version with Benny Goodman), it's overpowering, and a very, very smart re-interpetation of the song. I've been able to see or hear 4 or 5 versions from the 80s. I'm still waiting to hear the perfect one -- in each version I've seen, there are vocal details that I love, but which she doesn't do quite the same way in the other versions!


Ivan
Hi Ivan,

I'm sorry but I posted some comments on the thread "Discography for Ivan" before I realised you had started a new message.

So I'll repeat my plea for "My Father" sung by Peggy in Concerts and specifically in her BBC TV special in the 1980s.

If my suggestion for a new CD is technically impossible, it presumably would be quite feasible (if not simple) for these TV recordings to be accumulated and put together as a DVD or a video tape. Or again, are we faced with copyright problems.

Bob Wallace.
Re: Songs Peggy Sang But Didn't Record
October 14, 2002 01:40PM
Hi Ivan, I love to read your comment(s)/thread(s) - always fascinating and informative. Thanks for this latest one, very interesting. By the way, I'm sure it's an oversight but Peggy DID record "God Bless The Child" - it's on the "Peggy Sings The Blues" album/CD. Thanks again (and for the update on the discography!). Paul.
Yes, I would love to hear Peggy sing "Yesterday I Heard the Rain". I love this song and for years thought Perry Como had sung it. I find Perry Como and Peggy Lee very similar ( and both are incredibly under-rated). I have never been able to find a recording of it by anyone. You said you had trouble remembering it..."yesterday I heard the rain....whispering your name....asking where you'd been". Definitely lyrics that lend themselves to the sound and nuance of Peggy Lee's singing. God, what a treasure it would be to have this song in a collection.
Songs I heard Peggy sing "live" and wish she had recorded include:

> WITCHCRAFT which she sang at the Garden State Arts Center in the early eighties, and
>JUST KEEP HOLDIN' ON which she sang at some of her shows at The Ballroom in NYC.
My all-time wish list would have to be topped by "Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?" I know that at least part of this song was taped for one of NYC's network news programs in the days before I had a VCR.The arrangement and presentation of this song made it seem as if The Waldorf was a steamboat which was about to leave the dock. This one really rocked the house! I wonder if any of this and other similar tapings survive in some archive.
Re: Songs Peggy Sang But Didn't Record
October 15, 2002 01:23AM
Ralph, if we're speaking of the same song (and I think we are), then many people have recorded it, ranging from Perry Como, Tony Bennett, etc, thro' to Shirley Bassey and Vicki Carr.
More on 'Yesterday I Heard the Rain': the lyrics are by Gene Lees - there's a very nice passage in his essay, called Peg, in his book Singer & The Song (Oxford Uinversity Press, 1987). He describes hearing Peggy sing it at the closing night of a Copacabana engagement in the late 60s, and how she managed to uncover the true, spiritual signficance of the lyric. Gene reprints the lyrics in full. This is the first verse:
Yesterday I heard the rain/whispering your name / asking where you'd gone. / It fell from the clouds/on the silent crowds/ as I wandered on.

I've never heard the song, but would love to hear it now.
Century McCall Ross
Re: Songs Peggy Sang But Didn't Record
October 15, 2002 06:54AM
Yesterday I Heard The Rain appears at the conclusion of what may have been Dionne Warwick's finest album, Promises, Promises.

It is subtle and stunning, with layers of meaning, and as such, it would have been a perfect choice for Peggy Lee.

Even though we may not have recordings of every song she performed, think how many people's lives were enriched each time she included one of these songs in a concert or television appearance.
Is my memory failing me or what???? Didn't Peggy sing, on the Judy Garland Show, When the World Was Young in a medley with Once Upon A Summertime? Thanks to anyone with better recollection.

Michael:
Do you know anything about a studio tape of the songs from "Peg" her Broadway show?
Yes,she did ,but I don't believe it was a medley.
George k.
Just had a wild and crazy thought. Why doesn't Capitol and Decca put together a CD of Peggy singing her own compositions? "Stay With Me" and "Happy Feet" have never been on LP or CD (from WALK DON'T RUN). And her Batman song "That Man." Capitol could probably make a 2 CD set and Decca would probably be one CD.
Hi Ivan and all Friends here!

Ivan, I haven?t seen you here for a long time. But I think you like David have also much to do at the Songbirds! I also are a member there even if I not say so much. But I enjoy to read your messages there.
Your list of rare Peggy songs was of a great interest for me.
I have looked into my Peggy collection and I have found two songs as have been released on CD.
"Alomost Like Being In Love" is released Live on the Italian GOLD COLLECTON, Retro Music, 2 CD-set ,1996 R2CD40-34 and also live at the rare
SINGS FOR YOU, AVID records, England, 1992, AVS 514.

The rare song "WITCHCRAFT" you also can listen to at Peggy?s live CD
"THE NEW COLLECTION", Carlton Music, England, 30360-01222, 1997.

This year also Germany have released a 2 CD-set with title
"THAT OLD FEELING/ YOU GO TO MY HEAD" with 40 tracks of a very high sound quality. TIM 205422-304.
I wonder if anyone of you are owner of the original Capitol 78 rpm Silver Lable disc from 1944 with the two songs: "That Old Feeling/ Ain?t Goin? No Place". I say the rarest of all!!!

Also I send all my warmest regards to Holly o Nicki.

Besy Wishes!
Jarl
Iv
Re: Songs Peggy Sang But Didn't Record
October 18, 2002 06:37PM
Hi, Jarl,

Glad to learn that you too are o Songbirds. You are right, I used to post a lot there, on a daily basis. However, these days I barely post anything at all, because I just don't have the time. When I have some free time, I come here first, and go there last.

(As for David, he does indeed have a lot to do on Songbirds, because he's the list's moderator, and he daily supplies the list with numerous music-related articles.)

Jarl, I too have the 2 CDs which contain "Almost like Being in Love." This version is from the early 1950s, and was actually recorded for radio use only.

However, I was referring to another version of "Almost like Being in Love." This second version is from the 1960s, and is sung and arranged in an entirely different manner from the first.

Paul, yeah, that's true. Michael and I mentioned "God Bless the Child" as if Peggy had never recorded it. I had more in mind the version that was part of Peggy's live medleys in honor of Billie, and momentarily forgot about the later version.

After all the interesting comments about "Yesterday I heard the Rain," I now remember the song very well ... I had even read the essay mentioned by Matthew, but forgot that this was the song he mentions -- right before he goes on to talk about how Peggy asked *him* to dance ...

Michael and George K, did Peggy really sing "Once upon a Summertime" on Judy's show? I do remember "When the World was Young" very well, but can't recall "Once upon a Summertime" ...

Thanks also to Bob and to Paul. (By the way, I am really confused, Paul. I get the impression that there are 2 of you ... I mean, is there only one Paul posting, or are there two Pauls? Some of the messages have given me the impression that there are two of you. Both of you very likable, mind you! ... Or mind you two! ...)

Ivan
Hi Ivan:

I am positive that Peggy sang "Once Upon A Summertime" and "When the World Was Young" on the Judy show except i thought she sang them in a medley with a carousel in the background.

What a wonderful website this is and to be able to read ALL the comments. It's GREAT!!

michael:
Re: Songs Peggy Sang But Didn't Record
October 20, 2002 02:57PM
Hi Ivan, you're right - there are two of us!! I was going to ask the "other" Paul to be paul2 or something but then I realised he has as much right to be the original paul as I do! Just for the record, I'm the one who usually posts about upcoming re-issues (UK & Japanese, etc) and also the frequent enquirer of your discography progress. Anyway, from now on I shall call myself paulb.....
Peggy did record S'Wonderful on her 1993 album Moments Like This and included it in her Atlantic city concert preserved on video and laser disc in 1985 which should be still commerically available.

I asked her why she did not record My Father - and she told me that Judy Collins had complimented her on her live version.

Clouds / Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - I have this on VHs in colour - bought off ebay and a 16mm B/W print.

The song she sang on a Merv Griffin show and included in a tour of Side by side by Sondheim was Send In the clowns which is fantastic but never officially recorded.

On British tv she sang Angels On Your PIllow from Peg plus the best ever bersion of I Can See Can't I.
Iv
Re: Songs Peggy Sang But Didn't Record
October 23, 2002 10:08PM
Hi,

I too was able to see the version of "I Can Dream, Can't I?" that George McGhee mentions. It was indeed wonderful.

I've never found out which songs Peggy sang on "Side by Side by Sondheim." Great to know that "Send in the Clowns" was one of them. Another one seems to have been "The Boy From." I saw Peggy sing "Send in the Clowns" on a TV show, but I think it was a different show ... perhaps The Johnny Carson Show ...

I know of the other versions of " 'S Wonderful," but the one that I really love is an even softer, bossa nova-like version that she sang in ... hmmm .. if memory is not failing, I think it was during The Society of Singers Tribute to Peggy.

MICHAEL: thanks for the reply. You know, I still don't remember hearing "Once upon a Summertime" on that show, but I'm going to try to watch it over the weekend, to see if I just forgot ... I definitely know that she sang a magnificent, top-notch "When the World Was Young" (as Shadey just mentioned in another thread), and I do recall very well the carousel that you mention ...

Ivan
But I'm Paul B as well! - surname Brownsey. Not that I often post things - about 4 times all told, I think.
I have quite a trove of Peggy clips and would like to add a few:

"I Never Told You"
Practiced for a Las Vegas performance, later struck from the show as being "too spooky" when placed next to, I believe, "Is That All There Is?" Sung to the tune of "Shadow of Your Smile" but ostensibly about her relationship with Dave Barbour, judging from the intensely personal way she sings it and the lyrics: "I loved your kiss, I loved your touch, I never told you..." From the Public Television Special "Miss Peggy Lee."

"Manhattan"
Duet with Steve Lawrence

"Bill"
Funny little number she sings in a duet with Petula Clark on Petula's variety show. Includes patter about men, including something along the lines of Peggy: "And you know they'll always love you and care for you for the rest of your life." Petula: "Or until they marry you." Peg: "Whichever comes first."

"When Johnny Comes Marching Home"
Another duet with Petula, this one very affecting, about boys off to war.

"'S Wonderful"
Duet with Ella on the "Swing into Spring" special with Benny Goodman.

"Yesterday"
Sung along with Dionne Warwick and film of Paul McCartney as part of the "Ed Sullivan Tribute to the Beatles."

"Come On-a My House"
Television appearance. Doesn't this song seem written for Peggy, even though Rosemary Clooney is no slouch as performer?

"Misty"
Television appearance.

Her duets with Johnny Cash are nice as well, though not particularly memorable.

Songs I've never heard Peggy sing but would give my left arm -- well, maybe from below the elbow -- to hear:

"Something Cool"
"I'll Be Around" (The Spinners)
"One For My Baby"
"Say A Little Prayer"
"One of Us" -- yes, Joan Osborne's "One of Us" -- I think the existential side of Peggy would have had a ball with this one!
"Alfie" -- I'm sure this exists somewhere -- who *didn't* record it?
"Cry Me a River"
"Close to You"
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