The Peggy Lee discography: updates

Just FYI.

[May 2012: I'd like to keep announcing updates of the discography whenever they are ready. Since this old page was created for that purpose (in 2008), I might as well continue to use it, instead of opening a new one. To avoid confusion, I have deleted the no-longer valid links in my older messages, such as this one.]

Ivan

Once again, Ivan, we are deeply indebted to you! Thank you for your dedication! And thank you for your generosity in sharing the fruits of your labors with us!

Ivan, I was mesmerized just looking at the Decca section of Miss Lee's recordings. You are amazing and your research is incredible. I was intrigued for over an hour. I had forgotten that I mentioned to you about I HEAR THE MUSIC NOW and ONCE IN A LIFETIME. One question not related to Peggy, I thought Sarah Vaughan has recorded MR. WONDERFUL for Mercury after she left Columbia? Thank you, thank you for all info you share with us.

michael W.

Thanks to both of you, Kevin and Michael, for such an enthusiastic reception. I myself am very happy to have worked on the Decca section, because it is my favorite period of Peggy's career. I like them all, of course, but this is the period that first got me interested in Peggy, and there's a lot about it that I find noteworthy.

Michael, thanks also for the very gentle correction. Sarah indeed recorded her version for Mercury, and that error is now fixed.

I have already moved to the update of another section.

Ivan

This is all so good that I only despair of those contributors to this Bulletin Board who do not avail themselves of the vast information you have gathered for our benefit.

I have used it so much and also recommended it to others from time to time, and do not hesitate to do so AGAIN!

We can only imagine the time and devotion you continue to put into this project and I just wonder where you get all this information, let alone find the time. I would write a personal thank you if only Earthlink would stop blocking me!

Let me say to everyone, please consult the discography for your queries BEFORE asking a question. Not only will you almost certainly get the answer, but you will find a lot more fantastic detail as well. I promise!

So for now Ivan, thank you, thank you.

Bob Wallace.

Once again... a great piece of work Iv?n, your discography! I've been out of touch with Songbirds and the latest developments on Peggy and music and things (had to take care of my very old parents who live nearby, you know), but what a pleasant surprise to learn of the discographies' updates. I have already printed them out and will replace the old pages tonight.

The Marks & Spencer CD "THE COLLECTION" does have the version of "Autumn In Rome" contained without the birds, I have that CD and checked again.

Thanks Iv?n for all the work.
Lucas

Dear Ivan,

have just spent a couple of hours looking through the Decca period!

What an amazingly detailed job you have done - incredibly complex and detailed.

Well done and thanks for ALL the hard work.

VBW
George

Dear Ivan,

I'll bet even your garbage is neatly ordered. I'm amazed at the detail in your Decca discography.

You mention that Peggy had two arrangements of Where Can I Go Without You in her library. I noticed that the two recordings are in two different keys. The Decca cut is in E-flat; the later Capitol recording is in C.

Perhaps the Capitol producer (was it Dave Cavanaugh?) wanted the more "sultry", late night Lee sound, more in keeping for the Mink Jazz mood.

Ron

PS: I had to check this out just now to be sure and now Please Don't Rush Me is playing (one of my favorites). Thanks again for your detailed gift to us all.

The subject of discographies came up on another site just last week, and I bemoaned the fact that finding a half-way comprehensive discography for a popular artist in print or on the 'net is getting progressively more difficult. Sadly, the term "discography" has come to mean either a cut & paste theft job (complete with replicated errors), or worse: a list of goods currently being peddled by a dot.commer out to catch you if you google The D-word.

However when it comes to Peggy Lee's Discography and Sessionography by Ivan, words like "outstanding" and "exemplary" jump to mind. How blessed we PL fans are; and - in my case, awed by the dedication to ongoing thoroughness.

This is truly a remarkable work of excellence and I can't sing Ivan's praises enough for it!

Rick

Recently saw the new updates on the Peggy Lee discography and it's such a fantastic job Ivan did as you all said before! Many thanks Ivan. I think no other artist has such a complete and accurate discography as Miss Peggy Lee. I can't wait for other updates, especially the TV part.

Richard

Oh, thank you all. I haven't posted in this thread for a while, because I don't want to tire everyone by just saying "thank you" after each message. But I am certainly grateful - very much so.

[Rest of the message, dealing with links, deleted.]

Ivan

Two discographical updates, just FYI. The first is a brand new page. It covers the years before Peggy began working with Benny Goodman. There are no known recordings from this pre-Goodman period. Hence the page contains just information about Peggy's work as a vocalist during those early years. I've long been wanting to put something like this together [rest of the message edited out]

Ivan

P.S. Part of the illegible message above should read:

I've long been wanting to put together something like this. Available information from that early period has been plenty, but it's often been given in a rather disorganized fashion. (In those years, Peggy moved around a lot, from one town or city to another, and then yet another.) I've tried to put the information in chronological order.

I prefer the way you said it the first time.

hehe

Rick

You Rascal You.

I'm currently working on my update of the Capitol pages. I've started by trying to locate alternate takes that have been released. I think we have about a dozen of them.

A friend told me once about an alternate take of "Spinnin' Wheel." He believes he heard it in either an 8-track of the album or on a LP compilation. Can anyone add to his recollection?

Ivan

I had neglected to mention this... just FYI. The Capitol pages of Peggy's discography are finally updated. [link deleted] What's new in those pages? Additional alternate takes, CDs that I had not gotten around to list, etc. Also, lots of notes (about chart positions, Grammy nominations ... things like that).

The notes are visually a problem, in that they overwhelm the eye, and make the page look awfully dense, but I'll stand by them. Better dense and overwhelming than bare and boring... I guess!

Anyway, here is the real good news for those of us who are interested in Peggy's complete discography: now that the Capitol pages are finished, I can move on the more arcane stuff, such as the songs she did on radio broadcasts, on television, film, etc. I can't wait!

Iván

Ivan -

You seem to be getting a lot of thanks on this page and, man, you deserve it! Thanks for taking the time to create and maintain the Peggy Lee Discography. I use it often and appreciate it greatly.

Having sought out discographical information on other artists (Anita O'Day, June Christy, Carmen McRae, Mel Torme and many others), I have often been disappointed to find that these big leaguers have either no online discographies or that the existent online discographies are grossly incomplete. (Heck, when I wanted some information on June Christy's transcriptions, I had to seek you out on this site! By the way, I know you are busy, so please take your time on it; there is absolutely no hurry.)

In any case, all this is just to say that what you have created is very helpful and I am one more person who is grateful. Thanks again!

A brand new page, dedicated to Peggy's work on Jimmy Durante's radio show:

[www.peggyleediscography.com]

Other than the radio shows that she herself hosted, this is Peggy's most important body of radio work, in my opinion. Granted that she sang more numbers for Bing Crosby's radio show, in that program she was just the show's singer. And she was not part of Bing's show on a permanent, weekly basis, anyway. With Jimmy, she was the show's singer and also an integral member of the cast (regularly participating in the comedy routines) for one full solid season.

What else? ... Oh yes, I have reeeeally gone overboard. This page is dense with text and photos. Two reasons:

1. Since Peggy participated in the banter each week, I decided to quote her parts in the scripts of every episode.

2. Originally, this page was expected to contain only text, no photos at all ... Then I said to myself, well, maybe I'll include just 1 photo at the top of the page and one at the end. Before I knew it, I was searching for and adding pictures for every broadcast. So much for sobriety and self-control! But dealing with photos is enjoyable.

Anyway, I'm happy that I have finally begun working on Peggy's radio and TV work, after years of planning to do so. (Instead, there have been detours to other material that I had not originally envisioned to cover, such as the bunch of album photo pages that took about a year to put together.)

Ivan

The Peggy Lee discography now includes images of Peggy Lee sheet music. I incorporated all the images (about 125) to one of the song indexes:

[www.peggyleediscography.com]

I imagine that there are still a few more qualifying pieces of sheet music that I haven't seen yet. In fact, I'm currently looking for an image of this one:

I'm Gonna Go Fishin' (front cover has Anatomy of Murder poster ad)

Next: I'm fully moving on to some technical matters that need to be fixed in the discography. The photo pages are so filled with images that they take up too much time to download, and many impatient viewers probably give up. I'll be working on reducing the size and footprint of all the images, so that the pages can download more quickly. And I might also change the way the written text looks; instead of running from one margin of the page to the other, it will cut in the middle of the page.

After those technical matters have been completed, I'll be entering radio performances (Bing Crosby Show, etc.) as well as TV and concert ones.

As usual, all of this is just to keep fellow fans informed of the discography's progress; thanks for reading!

Thank you Ivan for your dedication to such a massive undertaking. You are so kind to share your well-organized archives with everyone.

Much appreciation,
Ron