вЂњI took the song directly to RCA Victor and played it for the musical director, Henri RenГ©, and he made that great arrangement that you hear when Eartha Kitt sings,вЂќ says Springer. вЂњOnce you find a title, you then write a little tune, or the lyric writer writes a line, and you work on the song together.вЂќ Using a standard chord progression, Springer crafted a catchy melody within KittвЂ™s vocal range. Springer came up with four perfect notes to match the syllables. вЂњPeople ask me what comes first in songwriting, the music or the lyrics,вЂќ he says, вЂњand the answer is neither: the title comes first.вЂќ And Javits delivered a beauty: вЂњSanta Baby.вЂќ It clicked. So Springer did, but he didnвЂ™t have to worry too much. When Springer raised his concerns, the bosses told him, вЂњJust worry about the music.вЂќ Christmas songs meant sleigh bells, Yule logs, and a plump, chaste, white-bearded man in a red suit, and Kitt, who would call her memoir Confessions of a Sex Kitten, was not to be confused with Bing Crosby. Eisenhower вЂ™47HON in the White House and the radio in every Studebaker on the parkway yipping with вЂњ(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window,вЂќ Springer and Javits set out for Hit City.ДЄ few months later, the bosses at RCA Victor told Javits and Springer that they wanted a Christmas number for Eartha Kitt, a sultry twenty-six-year-old entertainer who had sizzled in a sleeveless mini-dress in the Broadway revue New Faces of 1952, and whose recording of the French song вЂњCвЂ™est si bonвЂќ was riding the charts. So in the spring of 1953, with former Columbia president Dwight D.

It was a hit.вЂ™ I said, вЂDid you ever write a hit?вЂ™ She said, вЂNo.вЂ™ I said, вЂYouвЂ™re gonna tell me that a songwriter who never had a hit is refusing to work with a songwriter who had a hit?вЂ™ She said, вЂWhat are you doing tonight?вЂ™ I said, вЂIвЂ™m writing with you.вЂ™ And thatвЂ™s how we started.вЂќ вЂњShe said, вЂI donвЂ™t have time to write with you.вЂ™ I said, вЂDo you know my song вЂTeasinвЂ™вЂ™?вЂ™ She said, вЂOf course. вЂњI called her and said, вЂI would like to write songs with you,вЂ™вЂќ says Springer, in a rich New Yorkese cured with the salt of old Broadway. Now Springer sought to join forces with Javits.

A sly sendup of coquetry, вЂњTeasinвЂ™вЂќ had reached no. And his 1950 song вЂњTeasin,вЂ™вЂќ sung by Connie Haines, had lyrics by Richard Adler, later known for The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees.

HeвЂ™d written вЂњHeartbrokenвЂќ with Fred Ebb, who with John Kander вЂ™54GSAS would go on to create the musicals Cabaret and Chicago. Springer had already worked with some of the best lyricists around. It wasnвЂ™t a hit, but it had sassy lines like The ladies used to like my lovinвЂ™ / And I ainвЂ™t forgot a thing / I got some oats need sowinвЂ™, out IвЂ™m goinвЂ™ / Have me a second fling. Javits had penned the words to вЂњSecond Fling,вЂќ a plucky ditty sung by country crooner Eddy Arnold and released earlier that year. Her name was Joan Javits, and she was a staff writer in the Brill Building, the eleven-story song factory at Broadway and 49th where writers, publishers, producers, and performers churned out material in pursuit of the golden apple - a hit record. In April 1953, the month Judy Garland recorded his song вЂњHeartbroken,вЂќ Phil Springer вЂ™50CC, a twenty-seven-year-old composer on the Upper East Side, phoned a lyricist whose work he admired.

Who sings roll with it baby