I was going to one of our local hospitals every Wednesday morning to volunteer. (In the time BC – Before Coronavirus) But not volunteering way most people would think of. This particular hospital has a grand piano in one of its lobbies. I was going there to play the piano and sing for four hours once a week. It was so much fun and so rewarding.
When I was growing up, I was a lonely child. My brother was nine years older than I, and there were no other kids in my neighborhood. My best friend lived blocks away. I spent a lot of time alone. The piano was my biggest solace. I would sit at the piano, and play and sing for hours. Mostly Broadway, because that’s what we had the most music for. We had a canary named Hansel. He and I sang some glorious duets.
So, playing and singing for hours is something that I have always done. What was new about singing at the hospital was how softly I had to sing. I have a big voice, and all of my training has been to utilize that and make it even bigger. But, at the hospital, I was background music, not the main attraction. People needed to be able to hear themselves over me. So, I had to develop new ways of changing the dynamics of a song. Oh, and high notes were simply not an option.
I turned to what is known as the Great American Songbook, which in spite of the name, is not a specific songbook. Wikipedia defines the Great American Songbook as: the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century. Is there a list? No, there is not. In fact, there is a lot of debate on which songs are in the Songbook. I think most would include the song Fever.
I remember seeing Peggy Lee sing Fever on a wide variety of variety shows throughout the 1960s. I thought this song, and Peggy Lee, were so very sexy. I sing Fever at the hospital every week. This is a part of the same sense of humor that had me singing My Cup Runneth Over for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union years ago. (People at the hospital seem to appreciate my sense of humor more than the WCTU did.)
I was surprised to find out that Peggy Lee was not the originator of Fever. She was singing a song that had been a hit in 1956 for a singer named Little Willie John. It has saxophones and guitars along with drums and finger snaps. It’s not bad.
You never know how much I love you
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me
I get a feelin’ that's so hard to bear
(Chorus)
You give me fever
When you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the mornin'
Fever all through the night
Listen to me, baby
Hear ev'ry word I say
No one could love you the way I do
'Cause they don't know how to love you my way (To Chorus)
Bless my soul, I love you
Take this heart away
Take these arms I'll never use
An' just believe in what my lips have to say (To Chorus)
Sun lights up the daytime
Moon lights up the night
My eyes light up when you call my name
'Cause I know you're gonna treat me right (To Chorus)
If you are familiar with Ms Lee’s version, most of these lyrics do not look familiar. That’s because she wrote new ones. She also wrote some lyrics for the 1955 movie Lady and the Tramp. Most notably the song He’s a Tramp, which she sang as Peg the dog. (She also provided the voices of Darling, and the two Siamese cats.)
Here are Peggy Lee’s lyrics:
Never know how much I love you
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me
I get a fever that's so hard to bear
(Chorus)
You give me fever when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the mornin'
Fever all through the night
Sun lights up the day-time
Moon lights up the night
I light up when you call my name
'Cause I know you're gonna treat me right (To Chorus)
Everybody's got the fever
That is somethin' you all know
Fever isn't such a new thing
Fever started long time ago
Romeo loved Juliet
Juliet she felt the same
When he put his arms around her
He said, "Julie baby you're my flame"
Thou givest fever when we kisseth
Fever with thy flaming youth
Fever I'm on fire
Fever yea I burn forsooth
Captain Smith and Pocahontas
Had a very mad affair
When her daddy tried to kill him
She said "Daddy oh don't you dare"
"He gives me fever with his kisses"
"Fever when he holds me tight"
"Fever, I'm his missus"
"Daddy won't you treat him right?"
Now you've listened to my story
Here's the point that I have made
Chicks were born to give you fever
Be it Fahrenheit or centigrade
We give you fever when we kiss you
Fever if you live and learn
Fever till you sizzle
What a lovely way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
Quite a few differences here. This became Peggy Lee’s signature song, and these are the lyrics most often done. Peggy also dramatically changed the accompaniment. Gone were the saxophones and guitars. Her version had stand-up bass, drums and finger snaps. Nothing else. This stripped-down instrumentation puts all of the attention on the rhythm and the singer. There are three key changes that happen in the bass first, but the singer must have a very good sense of pitch to pull them off well. (Sadly, not all singers have a good sense of pitch.)
I love her Romeo and Juliet verse. Thou giveth fever, strikes me as funny.
However.
There is the Pocahontas verse. Sigh. I leave that one out. It is a relic of a hopefully bygone era. We do not need to continue that myth. The true story of Pocahontas is a sad one. She was somewhere between 10 and 13 when she met the English colonists in 1608. We only have the story of her saving John Smith from him, bringing it up 8 years after the event allegedly took place. What we do know for certain was that after helping the colonists, she was taken captive by them during the First Anglo-Powhatan War of 1609. During the year that she was a prisoner, she was converted to Christianity and given the name Rebecca. She married an Englishman named John Rolfe and went with him to England. There she was a curiosity as the “civilized savage.” She died in 1617 at roughly the age of 21, leaving behind her husband and a young son. No passionate love story with John Smith. Nothing like the Disney cartoon, either. I just skip that verse.
Since Ms Lee’s time, Fever has been done by many other artists, including Madonna, Bette Midler and Beyonce. What do you think? Whose version of the song do you like best? What should I do about that troublesome verse? Let me know what you think in the comments below. I’ll be posting some versions of Fever on my Minnich Music FaceBook page this week, so be sure to check those out.
Until next time!
When I was growing up, I was a lonely child. My brother was nine years older than I, and there were no other kids in my neighborhood. My best friend lived blocks away. I spent a lot of time alone. The piano was my biggest solace. I would sit at the piano, and play and sing for hours. Mostly Broadway, because that’s what we had the most music for. We had a canary named Hansel. He and I sang some glorious duets.
So, playing and singing for hours is something that I have always done. What was new about singing at the hospital was how softly I had to sing. I have a big voice, and all of my training has been to utilize that and make it even bigger. But, at the hospital, I was background music, not the main attraction. People needed to be able to hear themselves over me. So, I had to develop new ways of changing the dynamics of a song. Oh, and high notes were simply not an option.
I turned to what is known as the Great American Songbook, which in spite of the name, is not a specific songbook. Wikipedia defines the Great American Songbook as: the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century. Is there a list? No, there is not. In fact, there is a lot of debate on which songs are in the Songbook. I think most would include the song Fever.
I remember seeing Peggy Lee sing Fever on a wide variety of variety shows throughout the 1960s. I thought this song, and Peggy Lee, were so very sexy. I sing Fever at the hospital every week. This is a part of the same sense of humor that had me singing My Cup Runneth Over for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union years ago. (People at the hospital seem to appreciate my sense of humor more than the WCTU did.)
I was surprised to find out that Peggy Lee was not the originator of Fever. She was singing a song that had been a hit in 1956 for a singer named Little Willie John. It has saxophones and guitars along with drums and finger snaps. It’s not bad.
You never know how much I love you
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me
I get a feelin’ that's so hard to bear
(Chorus)
You give me fever
When you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the mornin'
Fever all through the night
Listen to me, baby
Hear ev'ry word I say
No one could love you the way I do
'Cause they don't know how to love you my way (To Chorus)
Bless my soul, I love you
Take this heart away
Take these arms I'll never use
An' just believe in what my lips have to say (To Chorus)
Sun lights up the daytime
Moon lights up the night
My eyes light up when you call my name
'Cause I know you're gonna treat me right (To Chorus)
If you are familiar with Ms Lee’s version, most of these lyrics do not look familiar. That’s because she wrote new ones. She also wrote some lyrics for the 1955 movie Lady and the Tramp. Most notably the song He’s a Tramp, which she sang as Peg the dog. (She also provided the voices of Darling, and the two Siamese cats.)
Here are Peggy Lee’s lyrics:
Never know how much I love you
Never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me
I get a fever that's so hard to bear
(Chorus)
You give me fever when you kiss me
Fever when you hold me tight
Fever in the mornin'
Fever all through the night
Sun lights up the day-time
Moon lights up the night
I light up when you call my name
'Cause I know you're gonna treat me right (To Chorus)
Everybody's got the fever
That is somethin' you all know
Fever isn't such a new thing
Fever started long time ago
Romeo loved Juliet
Juliet she felt the same
When he put his arms around her
He said, "Julie baby you're my flame"
Thou givest fever when we kisseth
Fever with thy flaming youth
Fever I'm on fire
Fever yea I burn forsooth
Captain Smith and Pocahontas
Had a very mad affair
When her daddy tried to kill him
She said "Daddy oh don't you dare"
"He gives me fever with his kisses"
"Fever when he holds me tight"
"Fever, I'm his missus"
"Daddy won't you treat him right?"
Now you've listened to my story
Here's the point that I have made
Chicks were born to give you fever
Be it Fahrenheit or centigrade
We give you fever when we kiss you
Fever if you live and learn
Fever till you sizzle
What a lovely way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
What a lovely way to burn
Quite a few differences here. This became Peggy Lee’s signature song, and these are the lyrics most often done. Peggy also dramatically changed the accompaniment. Gone were the saxophones and guitars. Her version had stand-up bass, drums and finger snaps. Nothing else. This stripped-down instrumentation puts all of the attention on the rhythm and the singer. There are three key changes that happen in the bass first, but the singer must have a very good sense of pitch to pull them off well. (Sadly, not all singers have a good sense of pitch.)
I love her Romeo and Juliet verse. Thou giveth fever, strikes me as funny.
However.
There is the Pocahontas verse. Sigh. I leave that one out. It is a relic of a hopefully bygone era. We do not need to continue that myth. The true story of Pocahontas is a sad one. She was somewhere between 10 and 13 when she met the English colonists in 1608. We only have the story of her saving John Smith from him, bringing it up 8 years after the event allegedly took place. What we do know for certain was that after helping the colonists, she was taken captive by them during the First Anglo-Powhatan War of 1609. During the year that she was a prisoner, she was converted to Christianity and given the name Rebecca. She married an Englishman named John Rolfe and went with him to England. There she was a curiosity as the “civilized savage.” She died in 1617 at roughly the age of 21, leaving behind her husband and a young son. No passionate love story with John Smith. Nothing like the Disney cartoon, either. I just skip that verse.
Since Ms Lee’s time, Fever has been done by many other artists, including Madonna, Bette Midler and Beyonce. What do you think? Whose version of the song do you like best? What should I do about that troublesome verse? Let me know what you think in the comments below. I’ll be posting some versions of Fever on my Minnich Music FaceBook page this week, so be sure to check those out.
Until next time!
RSS Feed