Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Peggy Lee

Artist: Peggy Lee
LP: The Fabulous Peggy Lee
Song: "Johnny Guitar"
[ listen ]
Song: "The Gypsy With Fire In His Shoes"
[ listen ]

It was exciting to find this Peggy Lee LP in Port Townsend last weekend—not just because of the neat artwork (I love dots), but also because it features "Johnny Guitar," title song for the bizarre 1954 western starring Mercedes McCambridge and Joan Crawford as notorious tough-gals who constantly bicker over the romantic attentions of Sterling Hayden, the musical pretty-boy of the film's title. Peggy warbles "and they call him Johnny Guitaaaaar" briefly as the credits roll at the end of the film, but I always had a hunch that there just had to be more to the song than that. The other tunes on the album are simply gravy—especially "The Gypsy With Fire In His Shoes," featuring heel-dancing by Sammy Davis, Jr. You can read about the fabulous Peggy Lee here; liner notes are included below.

[ Peggy Lee: May 26, 1920 — January 21, 2002 ]

1 comment:

Ryan said...

Haha, after I downloaded these to give them a listen, I thought to myself "Boy, she sounds a lot different than she does on 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree'! Well, of course that's BRENDA Lee! Time to get albums for both since they are both wonderful.