Jewish Stereo Types

I bet you thought this was going to be about "Baby, It's Cold Outside," but no. Not tonight. Tonight we're spotlighting "Santa Baby," written by Philip Springer and Joan Javits, which was controversial enough when it came out in 1953 to be banned by some stations, because--*gasp!*--it was too sexy. (One wonders what those stations would have made of, oh, say, "WAP"...ah, well, autre temps and all that.) Here's a cover by Kelly Clarkson singing "Santa Baby," full dressed and doing nothing untoward to her mike: Video posted by The Kelly Clarkson Vault "Santa Baby" was another of the Christmas classics written to order --in this case, it was a record company wanting a Christmas number for Eartha Kitt, who surprised absolutely no one when she later titled her memoir Confessions of a Sex Kitten . Philip Springer, who had written a few hits by then, and Joan Javits, a Brill Building staff writer, came up with a list for S...

Here's a relatively new one--the Phil Spector-influenced "Underneath the Tree," by Kelly Clarkson and Greg Kurstin, sung by Kelly Clarkson: Video from KellyClarksonVEVO [I]n December, 2013, Clarkson told Jay Leno that she waited to do a Christmas album until [Kurstin] was available. She added, "He's Jewish, so he didn't know any of the songs. We were in the studio and I was like 'Rudolph'? No. 'White Christmas'? No. But he's so talented." "I say: 'Mr. Kurstin, aren't you ashamed to not know the songs of your landsmen?'" ( Source: Nate Bloom, Jewish World Review ) *** Kelly Clarkson is not Jewish, but songwriter/musician/record producer Greg Kurstin is . Kurstin started out as a jazz pianist, is a founding member of both Geggy Tah and The Bird and the Bee, and has worked in various capacities with, among others, Beck, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink, Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen, Sia, and Adele. The list ...