"Just An Old Fashioned Girl" is a popular song written by Marve A. Fisher and best known in its 1956 recording by Eartha Kitt. The song was recorded with

Henri René Henri René (born Harold Manfred Kirchstein; December 29, 1906 – April 25, 1993), was an American musician who had an international career in the recording industry as a producer, composer, conductor and arranger. Early years Born in New York ...

and his orchestra, and was included on Kitt's

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

album ''Thursday's Child'' which she recorded between December 1955 and April 1956. Reviewer William Ruhlmann refers to the song as a "novelty... to exploit Kitt's promiscuous gold-digger image, as she wooed millionaires and their money."William Ruhlmann
Review of ''Thursday's Child''
Allmusic.com. In 1958 the song was issued as a single in the UK, but failed to chart. It became a minor chart hit in Australia in 1963. "Just An Old Fashioned Girl" became a cornerstone of Eartha Kitt's stage act, as her popularity developed around the world at the same time as her novel and provocative image became less of an attraction to US audiences. It became her signature tune in Britain, so much so that it is prominently mentioned in "The Cycling Tour," a Series 3 episode of '' Monty Python's Flying Circus''. Some of the song's lyrics have been included in directories of quotations:

I'm just an old fashioned girl with an old fashioned mind
Not sophisticated, I'm the sweet and simple kind
I want an old fashioned house, with an old fashioned fence
And an old fashioned millionaire.

The song's lyricist and composer, Marvin A. "Marve" Fisher (June 21, 1907 – September 1, 1957), was an

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

-born and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

-based writer of comic and novelty songs, including "Ring Those Christmas Bells", recorded by Peggy Lee and others, which Fisher co-wrote with Gus Levene. He is sometimes confused with another songwriter, Marvin Fisher (1916–1993), who wrote "When Sunny Gets Blue" and "Destination Moon", and was the son of

Fred Fisher Fred Fisher (born Alfred Breitenbach, September 30, 1875 – January 14, 1942) was a German-born American songwriter and Tin Pan Alley music publisher. Biography Fisher was born in Cologne, Germany. His parents were Max and Theodora Breitenb ...

. "Marvin Fisher Is Dead"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', August 24, 1993.

References

External links

Commentary on "Just An Old Fashioned Girl"
{{authority control 1956 songs Eartha Kitt songs