Songs Peggy Sang But Didn't Record

Matt, this is a great list. If by Misty you mean the Burke/Garner song, then Peggy did actually record it. There's a studio version on the 1977 Polydor UK lp, "Peggy", and also turns up sung live on an alternative CD version of the 1977 London Palladium concerts.

After reading about another version of UNINVITED DREAM, i think i better hold onto my 45 version. This is an early song written by Burt Bacharach.

Thanks to the "live" "lost" recording at Basin St., we now have her recording of I'VE NEVER LEFT YOUR ARMS. Would have loved a studio recording of this gem.

I remember Peggy's preparation of that show that was part of WONDERFUL WORLD OF MISS PEGGY LEE (PBS '69). She had hoped to sing I'VE NEVER TOLD YOU in a medley with SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE (two Johnny Mandel compositions) but she decided it slowed down the show too much. I wish she had recorded that song too along with the arrangement of SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE (much slower than pop version released on THEN WAS THEN). Incidently, I'VE NEVER TOLD YOU was the them for a Sandy Dennis film (filmed in UK) COLD DAY IN THE PARK.

I am so looking forward to getting my copy of "the singles collection." Love hearing all the "positive comments" by those who have this "diamond." Thanks.

michael

I like all the clips that Matt Keller mentioned, except for "Misty" -- but that's only because I've never seen it.

About the Petula clips: as good as those 2 duets are ("Bill" especially: tongue-in-cheek fun), Peggy's solo performance during the show is the best of her 3 appearances on Petula's show. Lying in bed, with a man by her side, and raindrops on the nearby window, Peggy sings "What Are You Doing the Rest of your Life" to the one sleeping next to her.

"Come on-a-ma-House" is a mildly amusing throwaway performance -- and the end is funny -- but I like best the versions on record by Julie London (she makes the song sound positively pornographic!) and Kay Starr (she goes completely wacky on this one!)...

"Yesterday:" such a pity that it is so short.

Matt, you are right in your assumption: Peggy did sing "Alfie," on Dean Martin's Show. I've seen that performance only once, and it did not leave any particular impression on me (maybe because the song doesn't impress me much), so I need to see it again.

And I too would give an arm to watch her sing "Cry me a River," which some guys saw her do on ... The Ed Sullivan Show, I think ...

Iv

oops..found this thread after putting out my own. Does anyone know if Lee ever recorded "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"? I saw it o a Julie Andrews xmas special in '73 and am dying to get a copy.

Hi All:

I just came across some notes when Peggy was apperaing in Wash. D.C. at the Loew's Capitol Theatre in 1952. She opened with FROM THIS MOMENT ON (very much like JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS arr., only with a small group, maybe "Black Coffee" group). Then she sang a very slow GETTING TO KNOW YOU with the verse, TOUCH OF YOUR LIPS and alternated between YOU BELONG TO ME and WISH YOU WERE HERE and then i'm certain she sang some hits--mainly LOVER.

michael w.:

Michael, I have been jumping all over the place to find out where her song was. "I Never Told You". I found it fantastic and could not understand why it was not in her music... even Johnny Mandel. Now I know..OMG..if we could find a recording of this it would be pure gold. Thanks, buddy. At least I know now that she decided not to record it. This is very, very sad. Only time I get to her sing it on an interview from 1969. I think she made a gigantic mistake. This song was written for her. God bless.

Thank you, Michael. Don't know if you are still on this or not, but I finally got my answer. I wanted her so very much to record "I Never Told You" with "The Shadow of Your Smile". That would have been a killer hit for her on at least on the easy listening charts. She made one huge mistake.

There are three songs I love that Peggy sang but never recorded: Don't Cry Out Loud, The Wind Beneath My Wings and My Father's Eyes.

Next year would have been Peggy's 100th birthday. I hope we see new CDs, DVDs, and a long overdue postage stamp.

Rick Scott wrote: "There are three songs I love that Peggy sang but never recorded: Don't Cry Out Loud, The Wind Beneath My Wings and My Father's Eyes."


I agree. At least, we are lucky that they have been preserved on CD and/or DVD. "Here's to Life" was another song that she interpreted when it was brand new, a few years after "The Wind Beneath my Wings." That one is not on any CD or DVD, alas.



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Michael W. wrote: "I just came across some notes when Peggy was apperaing in Wash. D.C. at the Loew's Capitol Theatre in 1952. She opened with FROM THIS MOMENT ON (very much like JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS arr., only with a small group, maybe "Black Coffee" group). Then she sang a very slow GETTING TO KNOW YOU with the verse, TOUCH OF YOUR LIPS and alternated between YOU BELONG TO ME and WISH YOU WERE HERE and then i'm certain she sang some hits--mainly LOVER."


Michael wrote the above in 2002. Since then, we are lucky that, of the three rarities he mentions, "Getting to Know You" and "You Belong to Me," have been released on an official CD. She sang the other rarity, "The Touch of your Lips," on radio broadcasts which are also extant, and which will hopefully see release some time in the future.


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Cateb wrote: "Michael, I have been jumping all over the place to find out where her song was. "I Never Told You". I found it fantastic and could not understand why it was not in her music... even Johnny Mandel. Now I know..OMG..if we could find a recording of this it would be pure gold. Thanks, buddy. At least I know now that she decided not to record it. This is very, very sad. Only time I get to her sing it on an interview from 1969. I think she made a gigantic mistake. This song was written for her ... I wanted her so very much to record "I Never Told You" with "The Shadow of Your Smile". That would have been a killer hit for her on at least on the easy listening charts. She made one huge mistake."


Had she been able to record & release it first, "The Shadow of your Smile" could have easily been a hit for Peggy Lee. Instead, the song's publicist sent out the song to Tony Bennett in advance (allegedly without the knowledge of the composer, Johnny Mandel, who was close with Peggy), and he scored the hit. Those who attended Peggy's mid-1960s concerts claim that her stage version, intimate and without strings, was even better than the album version, and definitely "to die for."

Any attempts at releasing a medley of the two songs on 45 would have probably met objections from various parties involved, thereby making it impossible for any publicity or chart action to take place.

Despite its poor odds, "I Never Told You" did not fall into absolute oblivion. It made its commercial debut as an instrumental in a 1969 Quincy Jones album. Subsequently, one or two additional musicians have also recorded it as an instrumental. The vocal had to wait until the early 2000s for its resurrection, courtesy of singer-pianist Patti Wicks (RIP), on her debut album. Patti's version made the number well known enough: within the last ten years or so, a handful of young vocalists have recorded the song as well.

There were actually lots of songs that Peggy sang onstage but never got around to recording, including some that enjoyed big enthusiastic applause from audiences. For instance, a number called "Shakespeare Lied," from the popular 1967 musical How Now Dow Jones, was touted as a major audience success, a hit, at her concerts from around that year. But she never set it to wax ...

Ivan

I don't know where Matt went, but I agree with him on her not singing "I Never Told You". I think it really was too close for her to sing this. Watching her sing it in 1969, I can tell it bothered her. That is why she felt it was spooky. That song was about Dave. Love, Cate