The 1972 album Norma Deloris Egstrom From Jamestown, North Dakota was Peggy Lee’s fortieth and last LP for Capitol Information. It was a workforce effort: Lee was joined by acclaimed producer Tom Catalano (Neil Diamond, Anne Murray), famend arranger Artie Butler (Louis Armstrong, Barry Manilow), and Lee’s supervisor and album coordinator Brian Panella. The outcome is likely one of the most vibrant albums in her storied profession. It was additionally a little bit of a left flip. A lot in order that Tom Catalano thought a stunning and provocative album title could be the fitting alternative for the fabric. On this excerpt from the liner notes to the fiftieth anniversary version of the album, we hear the story from Brian Panella, with extra commentary from Peggy Lee professional Iván Santiago.
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Brian Panella: Tom [Catalano], being a maverick and forward of his time, had give you an thought for the album title that had by no means fairly been finished earlier than. “I think we can get away with it,” he mused. “She’s so good, and the album is so good.” I requested what title he had in thoughts. Then he informed me: Tremendous Bitch. “Super Bitch?!” I exclaimed. After which he says to me, “Yeah! She’s phenomenal. She can be a bitch, but it’s because she is so talented. She’s one of the top vocalists in the world. She’s incredible. And people will be so attracted to it.” And I stated, “I won’t argue with that. People will be, like, we’ve got to buy it just to see what’s in it.” This was simply on the time when blue language was beginning to take maintain with loads of artists, largely rock artists. Nevertheless it was taking place.
Iván Santiago: Certainly, it was. Jazz nice Miles Davis, with whom Peggy Lee occurred to share her Might 26 delivery date, gave the title Bitches Brew to the 1970 album that earned him each a Grammy and a spot on Billboard’s fashionable album chart. Throughout the pond, The Rolling Stones recorded the track “Bitch” (1970), which they included of their infamously zipped album Sticky Fingers. David Bowie quickly adopted go well with together with his provocative composition “Queen Bitch” (1971). The string culminated with the discharge of Elton John‘s self-referential “The Bitch Is Back” on a 1974 single.
Brian Panella: I knew how Peggy was going to react, however I informed her anyway and added, “I do agree with him that it is a revolutionary idea: Nobody would expect it, which we believe will attract listeners even more to buy the album.” Peggy appeared virtually prepared to fireside me! However then she stated, “Brian, I’ve gone against you a number of times, and then I’ve changed my mind. But I won’t change my mind about this. I won’t have Super Bitch. I will not.”
She instantly known as Tom and stated, “I can’t do that, and I won’t do it, and I won’t have it.” So as soon as once more, it went on, backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards. In the long run, he stated, “Well, that’s what I want. You can talk to the Capitol people, and they can call me.” They did, they usually defined, “This is Peggy Lee; she can’t be called ‘super bitch’ on a public album release.”
So, we went to the opposite excessive – Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown North Dakota. I can’t bear in mind who got here up with it; possibly it was Peggy’s daughter, Nicki. That’s about as purified from Tremendous Bitch as you could possibly ever get. Tom was not incorrect in his pondering, however it was past Peggy’s functionality of acceptance. I imply, other than a really occasional “hell” earlier than a quip, you by no means heard her – a minimum of I by no means heard her – swearing.
Iván Santiago: Whereas the singer’s delivery title was adopted for public consumption, vestiges of the unique title linger deep in Capitol’s underground vaults. It has been reported that, proper underneath the rubric “album title,” neatly typed in uppercase, the grasp tape proudly solutions to the moniker Tremendous Bitch.
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