Peggy Lee

I remember when I was a little girl our house caught on fire.

Sorry I mean when I was a little boy. No I don't. I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about Peggy Lee.

Peggy says, Is that all there is? She watched the entire world go up in flames and wondered:

Is that all there is? To a fire.

When I was 12 my Daddy took me to the circus. 

I mean Peggy's Daddy did. It was very exciting but afterwards she wondered:

Is that all there is? To a circus?

Then she fell in love with the most wonderful boy in the world. She loved him so much she thought she would die. But she didn't. And when she didn't she wondered.:

Is that all there is? To love.

The song, for this is a song I'm blogging about, ends, as so many things do, with her death. Peggy looks back on her show business life, in which her incredible talent was, if anything, enhanced by her lack of vocal range resulting in a laid back, sexy, laconic, iconic style, and wonders: 

Is that all there is? To life.

If that's all there is, my friends, then lets keep dancing. Let's break out the booze and have a ball.

What a tremendous idea, Peggy. It's Tuesday 13 January and the Israel/Palestine war is 17 days old today. Let's break out the booze and listen to this existential masterpiece. I'll prolly skip the dancing though.