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.
Something May Go Wrong
Eartha Kitt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
If you come too close to me
Something may go wrong
Hold me closer, let us see
I want to fall in love
Perhaps with you it might happen
But something may go wrong
My heart's been too long napping
It's been asleep too long
I'm afraid to let you hold me
But I want to fall in love
So come a little closer
Let's see, perhaps this can be love
Something may go wrong
Irresistibly, delightfully, fascinatingly wrong
Something may go wrong
If you come too close to me
Something may go wrong
Hold me closer, let us see
I want to fall in love
Perhaps with you it might happen
But something may go wrong
Something may go wrong
Irresistibly, delightfully, fascinatingly wrong
Something may go wrong
Irresistibly, delightfully, fascinatingly wrong
Something may go wrong
Irresistibly, delightfully, fascinatingly wrong
Something may go wrong
Irresistibly, delightfully, fascinatingly wrong
I want to fall in love
Delightfully, irresistibly, uh-huh, fascinatingly wrong
Something may go wrong
Irresistibly, fascinatingly, delightfully, uh-huh, wrong
The lyrics of Eartha Kitt's "Something May Go Wrong" resonate with an honest and vulnerable expression of the artist's fear of love. She acknowledges that she's been single for a long time and her heart has been "asleep" for far too long. She seems anxious about getting close to someone and fears that something might go wrong. Nevertheless, she is willing to give it a shot and see what happens. The artist speaks of falling in love but is aware of the risks, warning those who might come close to her that things could end up going wrong.
It seems that everything in the song is about taking the plunge and risking everything for love. The artist speaks with a tone that blends fear and excitement in equal parts. She recognizes that love is a gamble that sometimes doesn't have a happy ending. But the artist seems to be willing to try for it anyway.
"Something May Go Wrong" is a heartwarming and honest confession of vulnerability from Eartha Kitt, and one that shares an openly emotional expression of the fear of love. Regardless of the fear, the artist, like many, is willing to risk everything to see what might happen.
Line by Line Meaning
Something may go wrong
There is a possibility that something bad may happen.
If you come too close to me
There are risks involved in getting too close to me.
Hold me closer, let us see
Let's take a chance and see what happens if we get close.
I want to fall in love
I desire to experience romantic love.
Perhaps with you it might happen
Maybe we can make it work together.
But something may go wrong
However, there is still a chance that things could go wrong.
My heart's been too long napping
I haven't been in a romantic relationship for a long time.
It's been asleep too long
It's been a while since I've allowed myself to fall in love.
I'm afraid to let you hold me
I am scared to let my guard down and be vulnerable with you.
So come a little closer
But, I am still open to giving love a try.
Let's see, perhaps this can be love
Let's give it a chance and see if we can fall in love.
Irresistibly, delightfully, fascinatingly wrong
Despite the risks of something going wrong, falling in love with you would be irresistibly, delightfully, and fascinatingly wrong.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: EARTHA KITT, JOACHIM KUEHN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Majestically made
"A man always wanted to lay me down but never wanted to pick me up " Those words Ertha spoke carried soooo much weight.
Junior Blanc
Yea if you put that energy out you get that same energy response back
Evette Matthews
@Yvonne Hullo got worse
Steven Jr
Those words really touched me too
Divas Live
A very sad words but very powerful at the same time.... it breaks my heart .....💔💔💔💔
Bruce Wayne
Damne! I love her so much! I remember her in boomerang with eddie! I love that movie too!!! R.i.p
Stephen F
“A man has always wanted to lay me down, but never wanted to pick me up”. that hit hard. I felt that. What a beautiful soul she was. ❤️❤️❤️
romstar
Same! I’m shaking after watching this-poor Eartha -I know she is at peace now,lifted up to glory!🙏🙏👍
Brittani Furman
"Men always wanted to lay me down but never wanted to pick me up."
Powerful.
Jessica Walden
😭😭😭