Things you didn't know about SANTA BABY! Behind the Christmas Hits

Let’s get into the story behind Santa Baby!

Santa Baby was first recorded by Eartha Kitt and released in 1953.  It was written for a musical comedy film called New Faces.  

In August of that year, lyricist Joan Javits and composer Phil Springer went for a meeting at New York’s famous Brill Building and were asked if they could write a Christmas song for Kitt to be included in the movie.  Javits suggested “Santa Baby” for a title and then Springer went to work on the melody.

The song’s arrival was announced in an ad in Billboard magazine proclaiming it “1953’s Big Christmas Record.”  But it faced a lot of controversy.  On November 14, 1953, Eartha Kitt performed the song for King Paul & Princess Frederica of Greece while they were attending a banquet in NYC.  Politicians in attendance thought the lyrics of the song were inappropriate for the Royals and made their feelings known to reporters covering the event.  The Royals weren’t bothered a bit, but the word was out that this sexy Christmas song was out of line…and Santa Baby was banned in some southern US states.

In a classic case of controversy creating even more attention, Santa Baby became the best-selling Christmas song of 1953. 

A year later, the publishers wanted a sequel.  Have you ever heard This Year’s Santa Baby?  It featured updated lyrics about the things on the wish list for Santa.  And that wasn’t the only new version of the song.

In the early 80’s, Springer & Javits had the chance to buy back the publishing rights.  Javits reportedly wasn’t interested in being a rights holder, so she sold her share to Springer who then became the sole rights holder for Santa Baby.  The first thing he did was to pull back on all the updates and focus on the 1953 original as the definitive version of the song and would only allow new recordings to use those original lyrics.

Still…Santa Baby’s come back wasn’t immediate.  Not until…1987.

In the years following Madonna’s recording of the song for the charity album A Very Special Christmas, there was all kinds of interest that led to it being featured in everything from The Simpsons to The Sopranos…and new versions recorded by Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Michael Bublé. Bublé has been the one singer Springer has allowed to bend the rules and slightly alter the lyrics.

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