Take Your Temperature

Only the rarest of songs become embedded in the collective psyche for generations. One such song is Peggy Lee’s iconic 1958 recording of “Fever”. If you think you’ve never heard it, please do yourself a favor and have a listen to this song.

Ms. Lee gets partial songwriting credit for this tune (more on that later); the original songwriters were Eddie Cooley and John Davenport. An earlier recording of the song was a chart-topper by R&B singer Little Willie John.

OK, you know the drill: let’s break this piece down.

The lyrics are wonderfully inventive with fantastic use of repetition right out the gate (“Never know how much I love you, never know how much I care…”). Not to mention the insistent repeating of the word “fever” that somehow doesn't sound ridiculous. But my favorite lyrics are the verses added to the original song by Ms. Peggy Lee herself! These are the delicious references to “Captain Smith and Pocahontas” and to Romeo and Juliet. Brilliant.

The melody is not very “rangy”, but it doesn’t have to be. The only place it flares is in the staccato’ed “fever!” that Peggy throws out in the middle of each chorus. I also love the way the key of the song rises up by two half-step intervals in the second half of the song. I mean, really, who does that anymore? It’s a lost art form, IMHO.

The song form is standard verse, chorus, and bridge with slight lyric adjustments to some of the choruses to reflect the preceding verses. And the arrangement - cool as ICE. Sparse. Barely there. A smoky stand-up bass that exists only to support the melody. A sneaky drum track that accents Peggy’s vocals with an occasional dramatic roll. And those relentless finger snaps, right out front in the mix. (Songwriters, are you taking notes? Bravura.)

But to me, the best feature of the song is Peggy Lee’s performance - a master class in under-singing. Less is more - WAY more. No drama, no histrionics. Just intensity. Subtle, sultry, sexy.

Whew! I gotta open a window.