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Peggy’s biggest hit in the first phase of her solo recording career was “Ma؜ñana,” which she recorded for Capitol on November 25, 1947 and which reached #1 on Billboard’s charts in January 1948. She sang it often on radio in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including in duet with Bing Crosby and on her own 1951-52 radio series. She filmed it in 1950 for Snader Telescriptions (see “Listen” link above). It was later recorded by Bobby Darin, the DeCastro Sisters, Dean Martin, the Mills Brothers, Toni Tennille and Laura Theodore. This is one of six Lee lyrics selected by Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball for inclusion in their anthology Reading Lyrics (Pantheon Books, 2000).

In a 1984 interview with Interview magazine, Peggy explained the hit song’s genesis. “One time David Barbour and I went to Ensenada when he was seriously ill and I was taking care of him. Yet that’s when ‘Mañana’ was born. Because it was so relaxed in Mexico, and it was a wonderful attitude – do it mañana. So that’s how the lyric came about. There was a time when the song was not understood – just at first. I don’t know if I even should mention this, but it was never meant to be in any way degrading to the Mexican people at all.” Interviewer George Christy interjected: “Mañana prolongs people’s lives, and can be an inspiration for us.” Peggy replied: “That was precisely what I was thinking, especially with David’s illness going on. Remember the lyrics: ‘The window, she is broken and the rain is coming in. If someone doesn’t fix it, I’ll be soaking to my skin. But if we wait a day or two the rain may go away, and we don’t need a window on such a sunny day. Mañana. Mañana. Mañana is good enough for me.’”