Plain Gold Ring

 

let me add these HMs to a playlist and listen while the rate goes on

 

 

PEGGY LEE

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

 

"Where or When"

Picture it: Christmas 1941. The United States have just entered World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbour. Now, things are uncertain and scary, and nobody knows how long this will all go on for. Over the radio airwaves, a song begins to play.

 

A young Peggy Lee recorded "Where or When" with the Benny Goodwin Sextet on Christmas Eve in 1941. With its moody and ethereal atmosphere, its nostalgic, cryptic lyrics, and its famously unconventional recording method, in which each musician would pass by one another to reach the microphone using boxes for their part of the song, it's no wonder why "Where or When" instantly resonated. As Benjamin Schwarz put it for The Atlantic, "the pared-down recording … speaks to the quavering uncertainty of that historical moment and remains, for [him], the most poignant jazz record ever made."

 

A friend of mine once described this song as "like listening to a conversation in the next room you're not meant to hear," and while that may seem a strange way of putting it, it somehow makes sense. It's like intruding on a pair of lovers' most tender moment, simultaneously feeling like a reunion and a final goodbye. It's as unnerving as it is beautiful.

 

 

@makeawish (Sorry for forgetting!)

 

 

@Achilles.

 

"I Love Being Here with You"

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Cowritten by Peggy and originally released as the b-side for some flop, this song went on to become a centerpiece of her concerts and a standard covered by a good number of people; she also performed it with Judy Garland on the latter's variety show. It has a great flow and energy to it, and Peggy's got lots of personality in her delivery. There's something so simple and sweet in the notion of the title line, just wanting to spend time with someone and enjoying the things you love with them. Some namedrops add a bit of humor to the lyrics, and she even shouts out another artist in this rate. "I like Ella's singing." *****, me too, the ****? Of course, Ella repaid the namedrop by covering this song live on a number of occasions, subbing that she loves Peggy's singing and referencing Fever. Love that this is basically a love letter they sent back and forth.

 

"My Man"

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Oh, Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. I suppose most people of a certain age first learned this song from Lea Michele on Glee. Not me, because I never watched that mess, but it's nice that they learned it somehow. Originally a French hit, its English adaptation was popularized by Broadway icon Fanny Brice. Later, Billie Holiday adapted it into a ballad that made the song a jazz and blues standard. Both the Brice and Holiday renditions are inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, which speaks to just how influential Billie's version was given that it's only the runnerup but still inducted. Because this was Fanny Brice's signature song, it was naturally included in the biographical musical made about her. This little thing called Funny Girl, where Barbra Streisand gives an absolutely showstopping performance as the closing number. That's how I learned of this song, and her rendition is my true favorite and will likely never be surpassed. But all three of these covers are excellent and noteworthy. Obviously, Billie's moving rendition was a signficant recording both for her and for the song. Ella just slays this and has a fantastic arrangement too. Peggy's got a very unique and minimalist take that I find a bit captivating with its prominent drums and military-chant cadence. Great song. Yet to find a bad rendition of it.

 

 

@Album Leak

 

"Didn't Want to Have to Do It"

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The original is already a bop, but I really prefer the silky smooth groovy dreamy instrumentation of Peggy's version. Just a match made in heaven really.

 

 

"Is That All There Is?"

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It is often hard to find good jazz classics with lyrics that deal with subjects other than love. But this song? The storytelling? The lyrics? The message? Peggy's sultry spoken word verses? That's a masterpiece, yup!

 

 

"Lover"

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This song sounds kind of insane and surreal even by today's standards! Like who is doing it like her?!

 

 

"My Small Senor"

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Something about Peggy's playful vocal delivery in this song just hits all the right buttons for me.

 

"Senza Fine"

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I just love this type of romantic yet mellow and moody jazz bliss, plain and simple.

 

"You Was"

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Now, I prefer Doris Day's version by a mile, but this is such a sugary sweet diabetes inducing duet and I can't help but smile every time I hear it performed by anyone really, but Peggy will do just fine!

 

Edited August 11, 20251 yr by conatus

1 hour ago, conatus said:

One of the ladies having their HMs showcased tonight, we... won't be seeing for a while. One of them, we'll probably see a few times.

Reminder.

 

1 minute ago, conatus said:

Reminder.

 

Nina, ha power 

 

2 minutes ago, conatus said:

Reminder.

 

#64. "It's a Good Day"

"Everything to gain and nothing to lose…"

Average: 6.476363636

Highest score: 10 (@Reverie, @trainsskyscrapers)

Lowest score: 1 (@roso)

 

Well, here it is. Your last place! One song has to finish last, and unfortunately, the dishonour here falls to "It's a Good Day."

 

Co-written by Peggy with her first husband Dave Barbour, "It's a Good Day" is one of the almost 300 (!) songs that Peggy had a writing credit on. A reminder to face the day with a positive attitude, Peggy released it in 1946, and it eventually peaked at #16 on the Billboard charts. While other songs of hers had done well (and charted even higher!) before, "It's a Good Day" helped to solidify her as a star and quickly became one of her signature songs. It's pretty plain to see why: it's jaunty, playful, and so infectious it would only take a single listen to get it stuck in your head.

Miss Lee using the same facial expression in all of her album covers

 

 

Oops, almost forgot the commentary!

 

@Achilles.

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This is a cute song. It's gonna sound odd but it just makes sense that this exists. It's too typical of a jazz song to not exist.

@John Slayne

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Unpleasant.

@Vixen Eyes

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i forgot it was playing. i dont remember it.

 

damn... I thought It's A Good Day was very endearing 

Oh wow, I found it a bit annoying but I didn't expect that

A solid 3 on a good day.

 

4 minutes ago, conatus said:

#64. "It's a Good Day"

"Everything to gain and nothing to lose…"

Average: 6.476363636

Highest score: 10 (@Reverie, @trainsskyscrapers)

Lowest score: 1 (@roso)

 

Well, here it is. Your last place! One song has to finish last, and unfortunately, the dishonour here falls to "It's a Good Day."

 

Co-written by Peggy with her first husband Dave Barbour, "It's a Good Day" is one of the almost 300 (!) songs that Peggy had a writing credit on. A reminder to face the day with a positive attitude, Peggy released it in 1946, and it eventually peaked at #16 on the Billboard charts. While other songs of hers had done well (and charted even higher!) before, "It's a Good Day" helped to solidify her as a star and quickly became one of her signature songs. It's pretty plain to see why: it's jaunty, playful, and so infectious it would only take a single listen to get it stuck in your head.

On 7/19/2025 at 10:03 PM, Suilen said:

There isn't such a thing as a good day for paying your bills.

A song so bad, it lost us a participant 

I'm not in the mood for yogurt, so I have no use for this.

undeserved it was fun

I initially gave It's a Good Day a 5 because it's...  too cheery and Mary Poppins-y. But it did get stuck in my head and there's something uplifting about it so I bumped it up. It's an easy target of a song but it's absolutely not the worst song in the rate and deserved (marginally) better. Something more unremarkable that no one could hum if offered a million to do so, should have left first

#63. "I'm Glad There is You"

"In this world where many, many play at love

And hardly any stay in love

I'm glad there is you…"

Average: 6.783030303

Highest score: 10 (@Truth Teller)

Lowest score: 3 (@Curaga, @Doogle, @Graves, @Luigi)

 

Julie gets romantic on her sparse take on Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira's 1941 standard "I'm Glad There is You," as she lets her lover know just how grateful she is for his presence. It's soft, it's intimate, it's everything one needs in a low-key love song from the queen of low-key love songs herself.

 

What the GP had to say:

 

@Achilles.

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Ella and Julie both have lovely recordings of this nice and simple love song whose lyrics and sentiment I find quite effective. I really like the way this opens with that "in this world of ordinary people…" to set the stage, but Sarah's got a gorgeous rendition with a whole minute long opening verse that adds a little something extra to the song. It's not really an essential song but the longest version (Sarah's) is probably my favorite.

@John Slayne

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Her vocals are really nice on this one.

wait... not me almost getting it right. it's a snooze, a pleasant snooze but still a snooze.

 

Deserved more I fear.

 

Gave both a 7...which is just "pleasant" for me

The problematic anti-medication stance of “It’s a Good Day”

 

Was Peggy a secret Scientologist?

Tasteless sluts

 

one of the better Julie songs 2nd out, oh ok...

Just now, Truth Teller said:

Tasteless sluts

 

No, Julie London is for sluts. OJLHs are celibate.

#62. "September Song"

"One hasn't got time

For the waiting game…"

Average: 6.807272727

Highest score: 9.2 (@Supervixen)

Lowest score: 1 (@Taylor fanboy)

 

One of only 2 songs in the entire rate to not receive a single 10 (we won't be seeing the other one for... a while...), "September Song" was composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson for the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. Writing for Arts Journal, Joe Horowitz said of "September Song" that they certainly "look ahead" to "precious days" to come, "but the affect … is autumnal. It would be imprecise to call them "nostalgic." But they convey a journey's end."

 

Much like how Horowitz says that "September Song" "exudes reconciliation," the same can be said of Sarah's version, perfectly balancing that sorrow and regret of looking backwards with an optimism for what's to come. The penultimate track from Sarah Vaughan's 1955 collaborative album with Clifford Brown, the only time the two got to work together before he tragically passed away the following year, this album was Sarah's favourite of her own albums, and its acclaim has continued to grow since its release, cementing itself as her most essential record.

 

What the GP had to say:

 

@Meloetta Carey

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this is like the classiest song about age gap relationships

@Vixen Eyes

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that last note in the outro was pretty shaky. serving Taylor Swift - Change OG version.

 

@Achilles.

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So this song originated in a Broadway play that equated FDR's New Deal policies with fascism, and it only exists because Anjelica Huston's grandfather demanded a solo number in the show. Sarah and Ella both deliver their typically incredible vocals, but the song itself just doesn't do anything for me.

@John Slayne

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A bonus point for the long solo, but otherwise a very average song. Much like most of her songs.

Edited August 10, 20251 yr by conatus