Eartha Kitt: Santa Baby
From 7″ (RCA Victor, 1954). Also on Purr-Fect.
The Waitresses: Christmas Wrapping
From A Christmas Album (Ze, 1981). Also on Best of the Waitresses.
In general, I hate Christmas songs, mostly because you have to hear the same tunes over and over and over again. That one song, where the chorus goes, “it’s the most…wonderful time…of the year”? I’m ready to do violence if I’m forced to hear it one more time. Seriously, Santa’s about to get shanked and the reindeer BBQed into venison if I have to hear that crap piped through some store’s speakers again.
But hey, I figured I’d get into the spirit with a pair of Xmas songs I actually like. For starters, it’s hard not to get seduced by Eartha Kitt’s “Santa, Baby,” which sounds positively naughty in the most delicious way. So much so that I’d make sure no small children are in the room when this is playing.
As for the Waitresses big early ’80s hit, “Christmas Wrapping,” this just brings back great memories of growing up in L.A., listening to KROQ and getting to hear the song every December. Maybe I’m a sucker for the narrative – girl meets boy, boy and girl miss each other for every holiday during the next year, only to reconnect at Christmas time. It’s not Shakespeare or anything but it’s grand pop. And personally, it beats listening to “Square Peg.”
chatter