Videos: Freewheeling Peggy Lee

When Peggy Lee wasn't stuffed into elaborate ball gowns with cinched waists and forced to appear on TV with a glazed, ice- queen expression, she could be downright soulful and bluesy. Personally, I never cared much for Fever or any of the other hyper-stylized slow-burn songs that turned Lee into an emotionless caricature of herself. I much more prefer the down-and-dirty Peggy Lee, the emotional earthy singer who let it all out. Here are five videos of the Peggy Lee I love best...

Here's Lee singing Yes Indeed at the Oakland Naval Hospital in 1961. Watch how she raises the spirits of convalescing sailors (the video has a slow start, so bear with it)...



Here's Non Dimenticar and My Romance...



Here's Lee at the Hollywood Bowl in the early 1950s singing From This Moment On...



Here's Lee singing Misty. Watch her mouth contort on notes as her eyes move from left to right and back, like search lights...



And here's Lee singing I Love Being Here With You...