Capitol Records / Universal Music Enterprises
Release date: March 15, 2024
LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 15, 2024 – Capitol Records and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), in conjunction with Peggy Lee Associates, announce the release of Peggy Lee From the Vaults (Vol. 1), the first in a digital series that collects Peggy Lee’s performances not yet available on streaming platforms. With the launch of this series, her entire catalog of issued master recordings from the Universal family of labels — Capitol, Decca, A&M, and Polydor — will now be accessible via digital streaming.
Amid her national popularity as Benny Goodman’s big band “canary” (1941-1943), Peggy Lee left the band to get married, and she semi-retired to become a wife and mother. For almost two years, she juggled domestic duties with a gradual return to music, signing with Capitol Records in late 1944 when she was 24. Peggy Lee From the Vaults (Vol. 1) features 12 of her earliest tracks recorded between 1944 and 1948 for Capitol Records, including three songs written by Lee and her first husband, guitarist Dave Barbour: “What More Can a Woman Do?,” “Don’t Be So Mean to Baby,” and “Just an Old Love of Mine.”
Drawing inspiration from being a newlywed and “feelings for David and our life,” “What More Can a Woman Do? was the first Peggy Lee composition ever recorded and one of the very first to be published. “I was washing dishes and just sang out my love for him,” she reminisced in Miss Peggy Lee, An Autobiography. Originally recorded in December 1944 in Lee’s second session for Capitol Records, Lee and Barbour revisited the song in 1950 in an early music video; watch here. Sarah Vaughan recorded the song in 1945 (five months after Lee’s original recording), and it was the title track from Big Maybelle’s 1962 album.
The Lee-Barbour composition “Don’t Be So Mean to Baby” was recorded three times in 1946. The first version was exclusively for radio airplay, commonly known as a Capitol transcription; the second version, planned for commercial release by the label, went unreleased until 2008; and the third version, included here, was originally released in 1948. The song was also later recorded by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, featuring singer Al Hibbler, in 1947.
“Just an Old Love of Mine” is a melancholy Lee-Barbour composition released by Capitol in 1947 as the B-side of a 78-rpm single. The song quickly found favor amongst Lee’s peers, including Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Billy Eckstine, Dorothy Lamour, Tommy Dorsey with singers Lucy Ann Polk and Stuart Foster, and Shep Fields with singer Toni Arden.
Peggy Lee’s recording of “Everybody Loves Somebody” has been featured on a multi-artist Capitol compilation release but has never been available on a Peggy Lee digital album. Widely associated with Dean Martin, who took the song to the top of the charts in 1964, Peggy Lee recorded it first in 1947, and Frank Sinatra was the first to release it in 1948.
Another noteworthy highlight is “Just a Shade on the Blue Side,” enticingly phrased by Lee and imaginatively backed by a combo under Barbour’s direction. Composed by the multi-talented master of American song Hoagy Carmichael, this rarely covered song remains obscure to this day. Dating back to the 1930s, the playfully coy “She Didn’t Say Yes” was first heard in the 1931 Jerome Kern-Otto Harbach Broadway musical The Cat and the Fiddle. Lee’s 1946 interpretation was originally included on the album Jerome Kern’s Music, a Capitol Records tribute to the composer, who passed away in late 1945.
Future volumes in the From the Vaults series will move chronologically from 1949 to 1972, Peggy Lee’s last year under contract with Capitol Records.
From the Vaults (Vol.1) Track Listing
1.What More Can a Woman Do? (12/27/44)
2. I Can See It Your Way, Baby (12/26/45)
3. Baby, You Can Count on Me (4/11/46)
4. He’s Just My Kind (9/23/46)
5. She Didn’t Say Yes (9/23/46)
6. Don’t Be So Mean to Baby (10/17/46)
7. Speaking of Angels (1/29/47)
8. Just an Old Love of Mine (7/3/47)
9. Everybody Loves Somebody (11/20/47)
10. So Dear to My Heart (11/26/47)
11. Just a Shade on the Blue Side (12/2/47)
12. Someone Like You (12/14/48)
Song Notes
What More Can a Woman Do? (Dave Barbour, Peggy Lee) (12/27/44)
“What More Can a Woman Do?” is the first song written by Peggy Lee that she recorded. It dates from one of her first sessions for Capitol Records, on December 27, 1944. Later in the same session she recorded another of her songs, “You Was Right, Baby.” Both songs, which shared a Capitol single release in 1945, were written with her husband Dave Barbour, who soon became her most enduring and successful songwriting partner through such hits as “It’s a Good Day” and “Mañana.” Lee sang “What More Can a Woman Do?” on radio throughout the late 1940s and filmed it in 1950 for Snader Telescriptions. Sarah Vaughan was one of the first singers to record it, for a 1945 single on the Continental label. Others who recorded it include Mildred Anderson, Donna Brooks, Georgia Carr, Anna Marie Genovese, Ruby Johnson, Audrey Morris, and Big Maybelle, who used it as the title song for her 1962 Brunswick album.
I Can See It Your Way, Baby (Inez James, Sidney Miller) (12/26/45)
This song dates from a December 1945 session that also produced the first Lee-Barbour chart hit, “I Don’t Know Enough About You.” The songwriting team of Inez James and Sid Miller scored success in 1945 with “Come to Baby, Do,” recorded by the Andrews Sisters, Nat King Cole, Doris Day (with bandleader Les Brown), Joya Sherrill (with Duke Ellington), and by co-writer James herself (with Jimmy Dorsey). The team’s “I Can See It Your Way, Baby” was not a similar success. Lee also sang it on a 1946 episode of NBC radio’s Chesterfield Supper Club. Singer Ginny Simms also performed it on radio that year. James went on to co-write “Vaya con Dios” and “Pillow Talk,” while Miller, whose skills in addition to composing included acting, writing and directing, utilized his diverse talents behind the scenes of television’s The Mickey Mouse Club and other Walt Disney productions.
Baby, You Can Count on Me (Freddie Stewart) (4/11/46)
Another “baby” song that never gained popularity, “Baby, You Can Count on Me” was written by film actor and band singer Freddie Stewart. Stewart recorded the song with Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra for Decca. Lee’s version shared a Capitol single release with another “baby” song, “Linger in My Arms a Little Longer, Baby,” which enjoyed modest chart success in September 1946. She sang “Baby, You Can Count on Me” on a few radio programs, including as a duet with Bing Crosby.
He’s Just My Kind (Floyd Huddleston, Mark McIntyre) (9/23/46)
Although “He’s Just My Kind” is a minor entry in Lee’s catalog, it was well circulated in 1946 because it served as the B-side for the Lee-Barbour hit “It’s a Good Day.” “He’s Just My Kind” was written by Floyd Huddleston and Mark McIntyre, a team that later wrote “When I Was a Child,” which Lee recorded on her 1961 all-ballad album If You Go. Lee sang “He’s Just My Kind” twice on Bing Crosby’s radio show in early 1947. In 2000, English singer Kate Dimbleby included it on her album paying tribute to Lee, Ain’t This Cosy.
She Didn’t Say Yes (Otto Harbach. Jerome Kern) (9/23/46)
This song by composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach originated in their 1931 Broadway musical The Cat and the Fiddle, where it was introduced by Bettina Hall. Appreciation for American songbook giant Kern was renewed in the mid-1940s in response to his untimely death in late 1945, soon followed by a 1946 Broadway revival of his masterwork Show Boat, and a 1946 MGM musical biopic, Till the Clouds Roll By, with a score that included “She Didn’t Say Yes.” Lee’s 1946 recording appeared on a four-disc 78 RPM Capitol album titled Jerome Kern’s Music that also featured the Nat King Cole Trio, Johnny Mercer, the Pied Pipers, Martha Tilton and Margaret Whiting. The album was subsequently released as 45 RPM and ten-inch LP versions. Other singers who recorded “Yes” include David Allyn, Maurice Chevalier, Ella Fitzgerald, Eydie Gorme, Abbey Lincoln, Betty Madigan, Elisabeth Welch, Margaret Whiting, Martha Wright and Earl Wrightson.
Don’t Be So Mean to Baby (Dave Barbour, Peggy Lee) (10/17/46)
Lee recorded this Lee-Barbour song three times in 1946. The first version, from May 14, was recorded as a transcription disc exclusively for radio play. The second version, on July 12, remained unreleased until 2008. This third version, recorded October 17, wasn’t released until 1948. As Ivan Santiago-Mercado writes in his authoritative Lee discography, “This session’s performance of ‘Don’t Be So Mean to Baby’ was first issued in 1948, while a recording ban had led to scarcity of newly recorded material. Hence the ban compelled record labels to release old, previously unissued masters from their vaults. In the case of Peggy Lee’s self-penned ‘Don’t Be So Mean to Baby,’ the fact that Duke Ellington had previously recorded [in 1947] a well-received version – with a vocal by Al Hibbler – might have served as extra impetus for Capitol to make it available during the ban period.” Singer Kenny Martin also recorded it around this time, with Dean Hudson and His Orchestra, for a Lang-Worth transcription disc. Hibbler revisited the song on his 1961 album Al Hibbler Sings the Blues – Monday Every Day.
Speaking of Angels (Bennie Benjamin, George David Weiss) (1/29/47)
Lee’s recording of this song shared a Capitol single release with her second interpretation (among several) of the traditional spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Other vocal versions of “Speaking of Angels” around the same time as Lee’s included Jimmy Atkins (with Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, for Mercury), Jack Hunter (with Elliot Lawrence and His Orchestra, for Columbia), and Garry Stevens (with Tex Beneke and the Miller Orchestra, for RCA Victor). The team of Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss scored its biggest success with “Wheel of Fortune,” popularized by Sunny Gale and Lee’s Capitol labelmate Kay Starr, and covered by Lee on her 1952 CBS radio series. Lee recorded other songs co-written by Weiss, including “Mr. Wonderful” (a chart hit for her in 1956), “Never Mind” and “Too Close for Comfort.”
Just an Old Love of Mine (Dave Barbour, Peggy Lee) (7/3/47)
This melancholy ballad was recorded by Peggy for Capitol on July 3, 1947. Later that year she sang it on Bing Crosby’s radio show. Although relatively unknown among Lee-Barbour compositions, it was recorded by several prominent names in 1947: Doris Day (for Columbia), Billy Eckstine (for MGM), and, in separate radio performances, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. Others who recorded it include Toni Arden (with bandleader Shep Fields) and the duet pairing of Stuart Foster and Lucy Ann Polk (with Tommy Dorsey).
Everybody Loves Somebody (Ken Lane, Irving Taylor) (11/20/47)
Although this song is closely associated with singer Dean Martin, there were some notable recordings long before he scored a major hit with it in 1964 – including the very first recording, by Lee, on November 20, 1947. Frank Sinatra’s recording for Columbia holds the distinction of being the first version released, in June of 1948, beating Lee’s by only a month. Neither version achieved chart success and the song largely disappeared for over a decade. Dinah Washington was the next major singer to record it, in 1960. Martin’s 1964 hit had staying power, in part because it served as the theme song for his 1965-74 musical variety series, which prominently featured the song’s co-writer, Ken Lane, as Martin’s on-screen pianist. Other recordings following Martin’s hit included Brenda Lee, the Lettermen, Wayne Newton, Connie Smith, Sarah Vaughan, Kitty Wells and Andy Williams. Lee recorded several other songs by co-writer Irving Taylor: “Aintcha Ever Comin’ Back,” “Caramba! It’s the Samba,” “So Dear to My Heart,” “Talkin’ to Myself About You” and “Wandering Swallow.”
So Dear to My Heart (Ticker Freeman, Irving Taylor) (11/26/47)
This was the title song for Walt Disney’s 1948 comedy-drama that combined live action with animation and starred Burl Ives and Beulah Bondi. John Beal sang it in the film. Lee’s recording for Capitol competed with Dinah Shore’s version for Columbia, Anne Vincent’s for Mercury, and Stuart Wade’s (with bandleader Freddy Martin) for RCA Victor. Bing Crosby performed it on his Philco Radio Time show. Lee’s Capitol single was paired with “Love, Your Spell Is Everywhere.”
Just a Shade on the Blue Side (Harold Adamson, Hoagy Carmichael) (12/2/47)
Despite its distinguished songwriting credits – composer Hoagy Carmichael and lyricist Harold Adamson – “Just a Shade on the Blue Side” is an obscurity in their respective catalogs. The song appears to have only been recorded by Lee for Capitol and by Janette Davis, a member of Arthur Godfrey’s musical family, for Columbia. Lee’s version shared a 1948 Capitol single with “Don’t Be So Mean to Baby” by Lee and Barbour, and in 1953 it was included on one of Lee’s earliest long-playing albums, Capitol Presents… Peggy Lee. She recorded it in December 1947, an unusually busy month for her and many other recording artists. A recording ban loomed as a result of a strike by the American Federation of Musicians, so record companies urged their stars to record more songs than usual for distribution during the ban, which lasted for nearly all of 1948. Carmichael was a guest on an episode of Lee’s 1952 radio series, where Lee sang “Skylark,” “Ole Buttermilk Sky,” and a medley with several other Carmichael songs, culminating in a Peggy-Hoagy duet on “Two Sleepy People.”
Someone Like You (Ralph Blane, Harry Warren) (12/14/48)
The lively “Someone Like You” was introduced by Doris Day in her second feature film, My Dream Is Yours. Day’s commercial recording was released by Columbia, with concurrent releases by Lee on Capitol, Ella Fitzgerald on Decca, and Art Lund (Lee’s duet partner during her Benny Goodman years) on MGM Records. Others who recorded it include the Andrews Sisters, Petula Clark, the Four Freshmen, the Four Lads, and more recently, Joyce Breach. Lee’s recording shared a Capitol single with “You Was,” her only studio duet with Dean Martin.