Roger Crane wrote: "I read someplace that Wilder wrote the song for his friend
Peggy Lee but that she never recorded it. Any of you know the facts?"

Judy Bell wrote: "Wilder wrote the song for Ethel Waters, not Peggy Lee. Wilder
admired Waters and in a note in the song folio Alec Wilder Songs Were Made To
Sing, Wilder said that he wrote all his early songs for either her or Bing
Crosby."
____________________________

Hi Roger and Judy,

(This is not to dispute that Wilder wrote "Trouble Is a Man" for Ethel
Waters...)

The earliest recording of "Trouble Is a Man" might have been Peggy Lee's, from
October 18, 1946. This beautiful Capitol side remained completely unreleased
until March of this year, when it finally surfaced -- 62 years later! -- on the
2-CD set "Peggy Lee: The Lost '40s and '50s Capitol Masters," for which I wrote
the notes. Details about this release are available here:

http://peggylee.com/new/0803_lostmasters.html

A radio version by Peggy from around this time also exists; it's on an
out-of-print 1995 CD by Avid (UK) titled "I've Got a Crush on You."

If anyone recorded "Trouble" prior to Peggy in October, 1946, I'd love to know
about it.

David Torresen