Born in tiny North, South Carolina to Mamie Kitt, who was of Cherokee and African-American descent, and an American father (surname Kitt) of German and Dutch descent, she was raised by her maternal aunt Anna Mae Riley, whom she believed was her mother up until after Riley's death, when she was sent to live in New York City with her real mother.
Kitt began her career as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company and made her film debut with them in Casbah (1948). A talented singer with a distinctive voice, her hits include Let's Do It, C'est Si Bon (It's So Good), Just an Old Fashioned Girl, Monotonous, Love for Sale, I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch, Uska Dara, Mink, Schmink, Under the Bridges of Paris, and arguably her most recognizable hit, the sexily sung Christmas song Santa Baby. She sang quite a few songs in French, a language she picked up during her years performing in Europe, but she never lost her American accent, which made her French songs sound rather amusing to native French speakers. She dabbled in other languages as well, which she demonstrated in many of the live recordings of her cabaret performances.
In 1950, Orson Welles gave her her first starring role, as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus. A few years later, she was cast in the revue New Faces of 1952, introducing "Monotonous", "C'est Si Bon" and "Santa Baby", three songs with which she continues to be identified. During her run, 20th Century Fox filmed a version of the play. Welles and Kitt allegedly had a torrid affair during her run in Shinbone Alley, which earned her the nickname by Welles as "the most exciting woman in the world". In 1958, Kitt made her feature film debut opposite Sidney Poitier in The Mark of the Hawk. Throughout the rest of the 1950s and early 1960s, Kitt would work on and off in film, television and on nightclub stages. In the late 1960s television series Batman, she played Catwoman after Julie Newmar left the role. This was the role for which she would best be remembered, owing to her purring feline drawl.
In 1968, however, Kitt encountered a substantial professional setback after she made anti-war statements during a White House luncheon that reportedly made First Lady Lady Bird Johnson weep uncontrollably. Professionally exiled from the U.S., she devoted her energies to overseas performances before returning to New York in a triumphant turn in the Broadway spectacle Timbuktu! (a version of the perennial Kismet set in Africa) in 1978. In the musical, one song gives a 'recipe' for mahoun, a preparation of cannabis, in which her sultry purring rendition of the refrain "constantly stirring with a long wooden spoon" was distinctive.
In 1984, she returned to hit music with a dance song, Where Is My Man; the first certified Gold record of her career. Kitt found new audiences in nightclubs across the country, including a whole new generation of gay male fans, and she responded by frequently giving benefit performances in support of HIV/AIDS organizations.
In 2000, Kitt again returned to Broadway in the short but notable run of the revival of the 1920s-themed, The Wild Party, opposite Mandy Patinkin and Toni Collette. In 2003, she replaced Chita Rivera in Nine. In recent years she had also appeared as the Wicked Witch in the North American national touring company of The Wizard of Oz.
One of her more unusual roles was as Kaa the python in a 1994 BBC Radio adaptation of The Jungle Book. Kitt lent her distinctive voice to the role of Yzma in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove and also did other voiceover work such as the voice of Queen Vexus on the animated TV series My Life as a Teenage Robot. She continued her role as Yzma on the spin-off TV series of The Emperor's New Groove, The Emperor's New School.
In recent years, Kitt's annual appearances in New York made her a fixture of the Manhattan cabaret scene. She took the stage at venues such as the Ballroom and, more recently, the Café Carlyle to explore and define her highly stylized image, alternating between signature songs (such as "Old Fashioned Millionaire"), which emphasized a witty, mercenary world-weariness, and less familiar repertoire, much of which she performed with an unexpected ferocity and bite that presented her as a survivor with a seemingly bottomless reservoir of resilience - her version of Here's to Life, frequently used as a closing number, was a sterling example of the latter. This side of her later performances is reflected in at least one of her recordings, Thinking Jazz, which preserves a series of performances with a small jazz combo that took place in the early 1990s in Germany, and which includes both standards (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes) and numbers (such as Something May Go Wrong) that seem more specifically tailored to her talents; one version of the CD includes as bonus performances a fierce, angry Yesterdays and a live take of "C'est Si Bon" that good-humoredly satirizes her sex-kitten persona.
Personal life
Kitt was married to John William McDonald, an associate of a real-estate investment company, from 1960 to 1965. They had one child, a daughter, Kitt (b. 1962, married Charles Lawrence Shapiro); and two grandchildren, Jason and Rachel Shapiro.
Eartha Kitt died of colon cancer on Christmas Day, December 25, 2008.
I've Got You Under My Skin
Eartha Kitt Lyrics
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I've got you deep in the heart of me.
So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me.
I've got you under my skin.
I'd tried so not to give in.
I said to myself, this affair never will go so well.
But why should I try to resist when, baby, I know down well
I've got you under my skin?
I'd sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
In spite of a warnin' voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear,
Don't you know, you fool, you never can win?
Use your mentality, wake up to reality.
But each time that I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
Cause I've got you under my skin.
I would sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
In spite of the warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats, how it yells in my ear,
Don't you know, you fool, ain't no chance to win
Why not use your mentality, get up, wake up to reality?
And each time I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop just before I begin
Cause I've got you under my skin.
And I like you under my skin.
Eartha Kitt's song "I've Got You Under My Skin" is a song about a woman who falls so deeply in love that she cannot resist the feeling of being in love with someone. The lyrics signify that the person she loves is so deeply embedded in her that she cannot shake the feeling off. The lyrics compare the feeling to something that has got under your skin and lodged into your being. The phrase "I've got you deep in the heart of me" is used to signify that the person has become a part of the singer's heart and that the love cannot be denied. The singer knows that she shouldn't give in to the love but cannot resist because it has become so much a part of her.
The song is about love, passion and the emotions that come with being in a relationship. The singer is so in love that she would sacrifice anything to be near the person she loves. However, there is a warning voice in the back of her mind, telling her that she will never win, and she should wake up to reality. Despite this warning, the song conveys that the feeling of being in love is too strong, and the singer cannot resist it, as she has the person "under my skin." The lyrics showcase the passionate yet vulnerable side of love and how it can consume a person to the point where nothing else matters.
Line by Line Meaning
I've got you under my skin.
I am deeply and completely obsessed with you.
I've got you deep in the heart of me.
You are a fundamental part of me and my emotions.
So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me.
You are intertwined with my heart and soul.
I've got you under my skin.
My obsession with you is consuming me completely.
I'd tried so not to give in.
I attempted to resist my feelings for you.
I said to myself, this affair never will go so well.
I feared that our relationship would end in failure.
But why should I try to resist when, baby, I know down well I've got you under my skin?
I cannot help my feelings for you, even though I know they may not end well.
I'd sacrifice anything come what might / For the sake of havin' you near
I am willing to give up everything for the chance to be with you.
In spite of a warnin' voice that comes in the night / And repeats, repeats in my ear, / Don't you know, you fool, you never can win?
Despite my doubts, I cannot help my desire for you.
Use your mentality, wake up to reality.
I should try to think logically instead of being consumed by my emotions.
But each time that I do just the thought of you / Makes me stop before I begin
The thought of being with you is so powerful that I cannot resist.
Cause I've got you under my skin.
You are a part of me and my feelings are all-consuming.
And I like you under my skin.
I enjoy being obsessed with you and feeling this way.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cole Porter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind