I don't usually click on versions of this song because it is one that has suffered so much through so many versions that it's hard to imagine it being anything but tossed off or, worse, belted as a damned torch song.
Peggy Lee, singing it late in her career, the long period of health problems and prescription drugs telling in her face and her voice proved those hadn't done anything to diminish her artistic integrity or abilities. When she sings, "isn't it queer, losing my timing this late in my career," it's heartbreaking even as her performance proves she hadn't lost hers. I've previously held that Judi Dench, singing it in the context of the play A Little Night Music was the best performance of it I'd ever heard. This one isn't in context of the play but in the context of the performer and her life, it is as perfect and, because it's real life, maybe more moving.
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