Eartha Kitt died on Christmas Day in 2008, but even without that coincidence, her name has long been associated with the Christmas season because of Santa Baby. She was the first to record the song, in 1953, although a second version, recorded a decade later, is also in circulation. Plenty of other people (including Madonna, whose 1987 arrangement is lifted right from Kitt) have had a crack at the sarcasm-drenched song, but no one has come close. How could they? When it comes to sables being slipped under the tree, and the rest of the parade of luxury goods, Kitt had just the right blend of timing and tone. [The video below is titled New Faces of 52, a misnomer involving a stage revue Kitt appeared in.]
Kitt recorded another Christmas song I like to play around this time of year: a grown-up version of the 50s novelty tune Nuttin' For Christmas, in which "poor little Eartha is sad" because she "didn't want to be bad."
This is the 11th part of a musical advent calendar I'm putting together this season, of Christmas songs and albums I happen to like. Working backwards, the previous selections were Kate Bush's Home For Christmas; Great Big Sea's Seven Joys of Mary; Tony Bennett's version of My Favorite Things; the Crash Test Dummies' The FIrst Noel; Joy to the World, with a special nod to Aretha Franklin; Leon Redbone's album Christmas Island; Louis Prima's raucous Shake Hands With Santa Claus; indie genius Sufjan Stevens's multi-disc Songs For Christmas; the Vince Guaraldio Trio's evergreen soundtrack for a A Charlie Brown Christmas; and, starting the list, Ella Fitzgerald's timeless 1960 album Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas.
nice calendar.thank you!
Posted by: celine | Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 10:16