She is best known for her 1954 solo recording '"Little Things Mean a Lot" — a song that stayed at the U.S. number one spot for nine consecutive weeks, charted in the U.S. for almost seven months, hit #1 on the UK singles chart, and sold more than two million copies. AllMusic called the recording a "monster hit", music historian Jonny Whiteside said the song "ably characterizes Kallen’s impressive, and graceful, transition from classic big band swing to modern post-war pop".
Voted "most popular female singer" in 1954 in both Billboard and Variety polls, Kallen lost her voice at the Palladium in 1955 at the top of her career and left singing for four years, suffering paralyzed vocal cords. After testing her voice under a pseudonym in small town venues, she ultimately returned and went on to achieve 13 top-ten career hits.
Kallen performed at numerous prominent live venues including Manhattan's Copacabana, Morris Levy's Versailles, the Capitol Theater, the Maisonette Room at the St. Regis, the Cafe Rouge at the Hotel Pennsylvania and the Plaza Hotel's Persian Room. As well, she starred on Broadway in Finian's Rainbow; in the 1955 film The Second Greatest Sex and on numerous television shows including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Big Beat with singer-host Richard Hayes, American Bandstand, and Fred Allen's Judge for Yourself. In 1951, Kallen appeared with Buster Crabbe as the Queen and King of Winter at the Lake Placid resort.
During the height of her popularity, three imposters billed themselves as "Kitty Kallen". When one of them — Genevieve Agostinello — died in 1978, it was incorrectly reported that Kallen herself had died. On February 8, 1960, Kallen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (located on the north side of Hollywood Boulevard at #7021), and in 2009 she was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Some sources give Kallen's birth name as Katherine Kalinsky, but according to records cited by her son, the name was Katie Kallen. She was born May 25, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of seven children, to Russian Jewish immigrants Samuel and Rose Kalinsky (later Kallen). As a child, she won an amateur contest by imitating popular singers. When she returned home with her prize, a camera, her father did not believe her, and punished her for stealing the camera. Only when neighbors subsequently visited to congratulate her, did Kallen's father realize she had actually won it.
While performing with Jack Teagarden's band, she married Clint Garvin, the band's clarinet player. When Teagarden fired Garvin, Kallen left as well, later annulling the marriage. In 1948, Kallen married Bernard "Budd" Granoff, a publicist, agent, and television producer. He later became a pioneering television syndicator. The couple, married for over forty-five years until Granoff's death in 1996, had a son, Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute and Adjunct Professor of International Law at Widener University School of Law.
In 1977, Kallen sued her dermatologist, Norman Orentreich, after he prescribed an estrogen drug, Premarin, for her small facial wrinkles. She subsequently suffered blood clots in her lungs, caused directly by the drug, and won $300,000 by the court's decision.
In 2008, Kallen joined artists Patti Page, Tony Martin, Dick Hyman, Richard Hayman and the estates of Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Sarah Vaughan, Woody Herman, Les Brown, the Mills Brothers, Jerry Murad, Frankie Laine, and the gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe in a suit against the world's then largest music label, Universal Music Group, alleging the company had cheated them on royalties.
Kallen died on January 7, 2016 at her home in Cuernavaca, Mexico at the age of 94.
As a young girl Kallen sang on The Children's Hour, a radio program sponsored by Horn & Hardart, an automat chain. As a pre-teen, Kallen had a radio program on Philadelphia's WCAU, and sang with the big bands of Jan Savitt in 1936, Artie Shaw in 1938, and Jack Teagarden in 1940.
Shortly before her 21st birthday, on May 5, 1942, she sang the vocals for "Moonlight Becomes You" with Bobby Sherwood and His Orchestra at the second every session for what was then still called Liberty Records but would soon be renamed Capitol Records. It was her only session for the label.
Just 21, she joined the Jimmy Dorsey band, replacing Helen O'Connell. In every theater of World War II, a favorite of American servicemen, "They're Either Too Young or Too Old". In 1944, Kallen performed the vocals for Dorsey's number-one hit "Besame Mucho". Most of her singing assignments were in duets with Bob Eberly, and when Eberly left to go into the service toward the end of 1943, she joined Harry James' band.
Between January and November 1945, Kitty Kallen had two songs recorded with the Harry James Orchestra in the top twenty, six in the top ten, and two at the #1 spot—"I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "It's Been a Long, Long Time", which remains deeply associated with the end of World War II and the returning troops.
With the 1954 hit "Little Things Mean a Lot", Kallen was voted most popular female singer in Billboard and Variety polls. She followed up this song with "Chapel in the Moonlight", another million selling record, and a version of "True Love" for Decca. In 1959, she recorded "If I Give My Heart to You" for Columbia Records, and in 1963, she recorded a top-selling version of "My Coloring Book" for RCA. Her final album was Quiet Nights, a bossa nova–flavored release for 20th Century Fox Records. Subsequently, Kallen retired due to a lung ailment.
A compilation of her hits on various labels remains available on the Sony CD set The Kitty Kallen Story.
Never in a Million Years
Kitty Kallen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Surround myself around my own fantasy
You just gotta be strong and believe in yourself
Forget all the sadness 'cause love is all you need
Love is all you need
Do you know what it's like to be alone in this world
When you're down and out on your luck and you're a failure
You think it's all been a waste of time
It's been a bad year
You start believing everything's gonna be alright
Next minute you're down and you're flat on your back
A brand new day is beginning
Get that sunny feeling and you're on your way (way)
Just believe - just keep passing the open windows
Just believe - just keep passing the open windows
Do you know how it feels when you don't have friend (friend)
Without a job and no money to spend
You're a stranger
All you think about is suicide
One of these days you're gonna lose the fight
You better keep out of danger - yeah
That same old feeling just keeps burning deep inside (inside)
You keep telling yourself it's gonna be the end
Oh - get yourself together
Things are looking better everyday (day)
Just believe - just keep passing the open windows
Just believe - just keep passing the open windows
This is the only life for me - yeah
Surround myself around my own fantasy
You just gotta be strong and believe in yourselves
Forget all the sadness 'cause love is all you need
Just believe - just keep passing the open windows
Just believe - just keep passing the open windows
You just gotta be strong and believe in yourselves
Forget all the sadness 'cause love is all you need yeah
Love is all you need
Oh baby love is all you need
Just believe - just keep passing the open windows
Just believe - just keep passing the open windows
Just keep passing the open windows
Just keep passing the open windows
Just keep passing the open windows
Just keep passing the open windows
Just keep passing the open windows
Just keep passing the open windows
Keep passing the open windows
The song "Never in a Million Years" by Kitty Kallen talks about the power of self-belief and the importance of surrounding oneself with positivity. In the first verse, Kallen talks about her own fantasy world that she has created, where love is all that is needed to be happy. She encourages listeners to forget their sadness and have faith in themselves. The second verse describes the feelings of loneliness, failure, and suicidal thoughts that one can experience when going through tough times. However, Kallen reminds us to stay strong and not give up, as things can get better with time. The chorus repeats the phrase "just keep passing the open windows," which can be interpreted as a metaphor for looking ahead and not dwelling on the past.
Overall, the song has a hopeful message and encourages listeners to have faith in themselves during difficult times. The phrase "love is all you need" is a reference to the popular Beatles song of the same name, which also promotes the idea that love is the key to happiness. The song's upbeat tempo and catchy melody make it an uplifting and inspiring tune that can help lift spirits during tough times.
Line by Line Meaning
This is the only life for me - yeah
I have committed to my own fantasy life, and it's the only life for me.
Surround myself around my own fantasy
I have created a world of my own imagination to shield myself from reality.
You just gotta be strong and believe in yourself
You have to believe in yourself and stay strong, no matter how hard things get.
Forget all the sadness 'cause love is all you need
If you focus on love and positivity, you can overcome any sadness.
Love is all you need
Love is the most important thing you can have, and it's all you need to be happy.
Do you know what it's like to be alone in this world
Have you ever been so lonely that you feel like there is no one else in the world?
When you're down and out on your luck and you're a failure
When you have hit rock bottom, and you feel like a complete failure in life.
Wake up screaming in the middle of the night
You wake up in the middle of the night, scared and screaming.
You think it's all been a waste of time
You start to feel like everything in your life was pointless and a waste of time.
It's been a bad year
You've had a rough year, and everything seems to be going wrong.
You start believing everything's gonna be alright
You try to stay positive and believe that things will get better.
Next minute you're down and you're flat on your back
But then you get knocked down again and feel like the wind has been knocked out of you.
A brand new day is beginning
You realize that every day is a new start and a new opportunity.
Get that sunny feeling and you're on your way (way)
If you can focus on the positive and get that sunny feeling, you can overcome anything.
Do you know how it feels when you don't have friend (friend)
Have you ever been so alone that you don't have any friends to turn to?
Without a job and no money to spend
When you're broke and unemployed, and you feel like you have no hope.
You're a stranger
You feel like you don't belong anywhere and that you're a stranger in your own life.
All you think about is suicide
You start to have suicidal thoughts and feel like there is no way out.
One of these days you're gonna lose the fight
You feel like you're fighting a losing battle and that eventually, you'll lose the fight.
You better keep out of danger - yeah
You need to stay away from anything that could put you in danger.
That same old feeling just keeps burning deep inside (inside)
You keep feeling the same pain and sadness deep inside, and you can't shake it off.
You keep telling yourself it's gonna be the end
You start to tell yourself that things will never get better, and it's the end for you.
Oh - get yourself together
You need to pull yourself together and get back on your feet.
Things are looking better everyday (day)
If you keep looking for the positive and focusing on the good, things will get better every day.
You just gotta be strong and believe in yourselves
No matter what happens in life, you have to believe in yourself and be strong.
Just keep passing the open windows
Keep moving forward and don't dwell on the things you can't change.
Keep passing the open windows
Continue to push forward and don't give up on yourself or your dreams.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Geoffrey Downes, John Wetton
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind