Whoe Does the Woman Want in Santa Baby

Salt LAKE City — When Eartha Kitt recorded "Santa Baby" in July of 1953, it was a huge hit for the sultry chanteuse and Broadway star. Although some criticized information technology for beingness irreligious, the Christmas song, with its greedy lyrics and tricky tune, really has a redeeming quality at the end, according to the composer of the song, Philip Springer.

"You remember it says 'Santa babe, forgot to mention 1 little thing, a ring'? That was my line," Springer, 92, said with a laugh. He spoke with the Deseret News by phone from his home in Los Angeles about the song that has become an American classic.

"People didn't realize that fabricated the lyric very moral," Springer explained. "Nobody caught that. … That line really says 'I want you to marry me.' … I've always believed that my line makes it clear that she is proverb 'Santa infant, I besides want to marry you if you lot want to keep with this relationship.'"

Over the grade of his long songwriting career, Springer wrote songs for Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Judy Garland and many other famous performers, but the ane that may surprise Utahns the most is his 2007 collaboration with Sen. Orin Hatch. The sense of morality that he brought to "Santa, Baby" proved to exist a commonality between the songwriter and senator.

'Forgot to mention one little thing, a band'

Springer was one of those children who had music inside of him from a young age. When he was but vi years old, Springer recalled sitting at the piano and playing by ear a slice past Johann Sebastian Bach. By the historic period of fifteen he had begun to compose music. He knew he was going to take a career in music, but he wasn't certain if it would exist as a concert pianist or every bit a composer.

When he was 18, Springer joined the army and served as a truck commuter. After WWII, role player Mickey Rooney invited the musically gifted Springer into the "special service" to entertain the troops.

Once home, and fresh out of the army, Springer practical for access to the Juilliard School, where he auditioned with Chopin's technically hard "Fantaisie-Impromptu." After his functioning the instructor turned him downwardly for the prestigious music school, telling him, "your fingers get around pretty fast, but that's not technique."

For some, this might have been a heartbreaking rejection, but Springer said he was "delighted" to be turned downwards. That rejection to the prominent performing arts institution set him free to follow his dream to become a composer.

Philip Springer, composer of the Christmas archetype "Santa Baby."

Rich Schmitt Photography

Springer went on to go a degree in music theory and was working on a 2d degree along with his own compositions when he got the chance to compose "Santa Baby." He was simply 27.

"My partner was a very close friend of the publisher," he said. "Her name was Joan Javits, and they had non but a business simply a personal relationship. She'southward the one who brought me into the movie. She said, 'yes, I could write the lyrics but Philip Springer, my new partner, will have to do the music."

But although Springer loved Christmas carols, he did have some reservations most writing the song when Javits asked him to etch the music in the summertime of 1953.

"I felt that because (Kitt) was a sort of highly, very sexual attraction that it would be difficult to write a Christmas song," Springer recalled of the request to write the song for Kitt. "No Christmas song ever written before 'Santa Baby' was a sexy vocal. I was a piffling skeptical."

Those doubts would before long be shattered. In October of that twelvemonth, Springer received a phone call from a friend in Boston with the news that "Santa Baby" was a hit.

Springer said the song was highly criticized when he wrote it "considering Christmas is not supposed to be a sexy vacation." Just through the years "Santa Infant" has become an accepted American Christmas carol.

And the music to that classic vocal took Springer about x minutes to write.

"As far as the music goes, that was the easiest thing in the world for me to practise," Springer said." "I knew that Eartha Kitt had a express range of notes and I knew exactly how to write for her."

Philip Springer, composer of the Christmas classic "Santa Baby," with his daughter Tamar Springer.

provided past Tamar Springer

Springer and Javits worked on the vocal and in about three weeks completed the lyrics, including Springer's contribution when Javits got stuck on the last line of the song.

"Even though I'm basically a music author, I have worked with so many lyric writers that I tin write lyrics myself," Springer said "It's very lonely to sit in that location and write a song without a partner."

The relationship between a lyric writer and a composer is an intimate i, co-ordinate to Springer.

"When you write a song with somebody, in that location'due south absolutely no guard," Springer said. "Y'all just say whatever yous feel. And the two of you develop the ability to create in that way. And that's why it is such a unique relationship."

An unlikely musical duo: 'Santa Baby' and Sen. Hatch

Dorsum in 2007, Springer's wife saw an commodity and photo in a newspaper that showed Utah's Sen. Orrin Hatch at the piano, writing a song. The slice gave Springer the thought to write a letter to the senator, asking if he would similar to collaborate on a song.

"I didn't have very loftier hopes," Springer said. "Just I thought I would attempt it."

The effort paid off. Hatch replied that he would be honored to work with the songwriter, and later that year, the 2 met at the senator's office in Washington, D.C., where Hatch introduced him as "the guy who wrote 'Santa Babe,'" Springer said.

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch with Philip Springer, composer of the Christmas classic "Santa Baby."

provided by Tamar Springer

"I've never met a great political figure before, so I was a little scrap in awe of him," Springer said. "But he was extremely gentle and considerate. He treated me immediately like a friend."

The new friends began their collaboration that year, and in 2009 the ii would piece of work on a song that would somewhen honor an unlikely friendship in the senate.

The championship of that song, "Headed Home," came from a elementary question.

"We were talking on the phone … and I said 'What are you doing correct now?'" Springer said. "(Hatch) said, 'I'm headed home.' And I said 'Senator, that's the title of our song.'"

Springer slightly changed the lyrics of "Headed Home" when Hatch asked if he could dedicate the song to Sen. Ted Kennedy, who was at that time in poor health. Through their work in the U.S. Senate, an unlikely friendship had formed between the conservative Republican and the liberal Democrat.

The words "follow him" were inverse to "honor him," and when Kennedy died in August of 2009, Hatch dedicated "Headed Home" to his friend.

Almost 10 years after writing "Headed Domicile," Springer continues to etch music, and the retiring senator from Utah has kept in contact with Springer since that collaboration. In fact, Springer said Hatch inspired him to write a recent Christmas song.

Although the ii come from different religious backgrounds — Springer is Jewish and Hatch is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-solar day Saints — Springer respects the Utah senator who he calls "a proficient friend to the state of Israel."

"(Hatch) was actually into writing religious songs, and very often in the songs we wrote, he would throw in a line that reflected his deep religiosity," Springer said.

Springer'due south song, "Turn, Turn to Him," grew out of his "compassion for all those who are without help, without hope, without religion," according to Springer's YouTube aqueduct.

This holiday flavour, Springer's latest song has a special message, but different his famous "Santa Babe," it's not one of materialist requests. Rather, this one tells of "compassion, hope and love," according to his website composerofsantababy.com.

And although "Santa Baby" may not have the spiritual meaning of "Turn, Plough to Him," his old hitting song has inspired countless cover variations.

From Michael Bublé's "buddy" version to Madonna's playful rendition, to Taylor Swift's land cover (Springer'south favorite) to Lindsey Stirling'south recent cover, "Santa Baby" is one of the nearly covered songs in 21st century American Christmas song history. In 2008, the same year that Kitt died, the Recording Manufacture Association of America awarded "Santa Baby" certified gold.

But the one person Springer actually wants to record his famous tune has so far been absent.

"Everybody from Michael Bublé to Taylor Swift to you name it and they've done it. Except for Barbara Streisand," Springer said. "She never recorded it, unfortunately. I wish she had recorded it very much so. But you tin can't have everything."

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Source: https://www.deseret.com/2018/12/24/20661715/santa-baby-is-really-about-marriage-the-songwriter-a-friend-of-orrin-hatch-s-explains