♫ Happy Birthday, Eartha Kitt ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Yesterday, one of my new readers, ericarthurblairr, left this comment on one of my posts …

If you will allow me to make a suggestion for tomorrow’s musical selection, 17 January is the birthday of the great Eartha Kitt, and there are plenty of possible selections to commemorate the greatest Catwoman ever.

Well, the name ‘Eartha Kitt’ vaguely rang a bell, but I couldn’t place her, nor think of a single song by her.  However, as you all know, I aim to please and I do like broadening my music horizons, so I decided to check out Ms. Kitt, her music, and see if I could find at least one to play.  I mean, if I can play The Eggplant That Ate Chicago for Clive, then surely I can play one by Eartha Kitt for our new friend Eric!

So, I went in search of and found only one that I recalled ever hearing, Santa Baby!  Wouldn’t you know it would be a Christmas song!?!  But I did find another that, while I hadn’t heard it before, I rather liked it, and it did chart both in the U.S. and the UK.  So, tonight, I shall play both Where Is My Man and Santa Baby!

Where Is My Man

The song was first released in France as a single where it was wildly successful. The song features Kitt singing in a low, seductive-sounding voice. Included in the song are some sounds that have come to be associated with Kitt, including a purring sound similar to one she made while portraying Catwoman on the 1960s TV series Batman. The lyrics to the song detail specific things the singer expects to receive from her future lover, such as a trip to Saint-Tropez and shopping at Tiffany & Co.

The title failed to find release in the United States until the producers’ attorneys (the firm of Grubman, Indursky, Shindler) introduced the title to their client, New York based Streetwise Records. Streetwise Records released the title in late 1983 in the United States to the dance and club markets. It was Kitt’s first recording released in the United States after she was ostracized and fled into self-imposed exile in Paris following her outspoken objection to the Vietnam War at a White House function in 1968. The song became her biggest-selling single in 30 years.

This one charted at #7 in the U.S. and #36 in the UK, but hit the #1 spot in Greece!

Santa Baby

The song was written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer, who also used the pseudonym Tony Springer in an attempt to speed up the song’s publishing process. Lyrically, the song is a tongue-in-cheek look at a Christmas list addressed to Santa Claus by a woman who wants extravagant gifts such as sables, yachts, and decorations from Tiffany, which become increasingly laced with innuendo and the implication that the woman is infatuated with Santa.

Music critics gave mixed reviews to the single, with some calling it too suggestive for a holiday-themed song. Springer was initially dissatisfied with “Santa Baby” and called it one of his weakest works. It has since been included on lists of both the best and worst Christmas songs ever written.

In the United States, “Santa Baby” became the best-selling Christmas song of 1953 and found more success, retrospectively, when it entered various component charts by Billboard in the 2000s and 2010s. Elsewhere, it peaked on the record charts in Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. As of 2014, Kitt’s version had sold more than 620,000 copies, having appeared on her self-titled and first extended play in 1954.  It reached #20 in the U.S., #42 in Canada, and #44 in the UK.

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24 thoughts on “♫ Happy Birthday, Eartha Kitt ♫”

  1. I am a big fan. Her voice, her acting, her activism, all done gracefully, graciously, and honestly. She paid for that, and that’s too bad. I’m happy to see her here today-thanks, Jill!

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  4. Eartha Kitt had a very distinctive style, much enjoyed by a young boy watching her on tv 😉

    But she has been dead for 16 years so I’d imagine that her chances of celebrating her ‘birthday’ are about as good as that being the real name of your new reader.

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    • WHOA … George Orwell has joined Filosofa’s Word!!! I’m honoured! And here I thought he was dead …

      🤣 Thanks, Pete! I think I’m the only one who wasn’t familiar with Ms. Kitt’s music! And thanks for the info about ericarthurblairr!

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  7. Jill, I actually saw Eartha Kitt perform in a traveling musical play called “Timbuktu.” When she took the stage, she commanded attention. Her voice is highly recognizable and was “purr-fect” as Catwoman. Happy birthday. Keith

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      • She died on Christmas day 2008. There is a decent selection of her numbers on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=eartha+kitt. I have some of her albums, and among my favorites are C’est Si Bon, Let’s Do It, I Want To Be Evil and Mink, Schmink. A couple of years ago, I acquired a statuette of her as Catwoman; when she was cast in that role, it was said that she didn’t need to settle into the part, as she was already half feline. I was rather young when she appeared on Batman (a show I didn’t really care for and only watched when there was a villain I liked as guest), and just figuring out what the phrase “hot babe” was all about. I mentioned this to a friend, who was shocked that I could find a non-white woman attractive. He said, “But she’s a _________!” (it was 1967, so I shouldn’t have to tell you the word he used), and my reaction was just “So what? She’s still hot.”

        I read her autobiography, “I’m Still Here”, some years ago, and was amazed at the difficulties she had to face throught her life. She was a “yellow” – not dark enough to be accepted in the black community of her childhood (this was the 1930s) and not light enough to find a niche in white society, She formed her friendships, loves and loyalties based not on what her friends were, but on who they were.

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        • I think I’m the only one who isn’t familiar with her work! Thanks for suggesting I play some of her music here … everyone seemed to enjoy it and to remember her.

          Yes, I know exactly what your friend said … sigh. I am interested enough now that I want to read her autobiography … sounds interesting! Thanks again for the suggestion, Eric (or are you George Orwell?)

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