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The Annual "Baby, It's Cold Outside" Discussion
2
I like the version by Rufus Wainwright and Sharon Van Etten. I'm pretty sure that in that cover, no one involved is planning on date raping anyone else.
4
It's a great song. The offending line is about as evil as going "WOO-EE!" to indicate that your new drink is strong, or teenagers trying to convince each other that Jägermeister has hallucinogens in it.
5
I've always found the song fun and flirty. I also find the nickname "The Date Rape Christmas Carol" to be pretty funny.
@3--Thanks for the link to Key and Peele. That had the people in my office laughing out loud.
@3--Thanks for the link to Key and Peele. That had the people in my office laughing out loud.
7
OK, I thought this song was creepy from memory, but after this version, now I remember how much I liked it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgdLdl60E…
8
There is nothing offensive or creepy about "Baby It's Cold Outside." It's a cute and memorable duet recorded by many talented people. Always a joy to hear it.
9
My biggest problem with the song is that so many people torture it. They don't get the timing at all right between the two parts so it comes off feeling really awkward
The Olivia Newton John Travolta version gets my award for most awkward version this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkZh3g8av…
Compare to Elle Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-70qMhLfj…
Honorable mention to Velma Middleton and Louis Armstrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZBFk-Y-4…
The Olivia Newton John Travolta version gets my award for most awkward version this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkZh3g8av…
Compare to Elle Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-70qMhLfj…
Honorable mention to Velma Middleton and Louis Armstrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZBFk-Y-4…
10
By far my favorite version, from the jazz-singer goddess Blossom Dearie.
Then there's this fun gender-reversal version with Broadway musical goddess Betty Garrett.
The ultimate may be this version with Country-music comedians June Carter Cash and Homer and Jethro.
Then there's this fun gender-reversal version with Broadway musical goddess Betty Garrett.
The ultimate may be this version with Country-music comedians June Carter Cash and Homer and Jethro.
11
Antiquated vernacular! As you would no longer say:
"I just had rousing intercourse with John in the hall! We had a gay old time!"
to mean that you had a high-spirited conversation with John in the hallway.
"I just had rousing intercourse with John in the hall! We had a gay old time!"
to mean that you had a high-spirited conversation with John in the hallway.
12
what, no mention of the Scrubs version? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfLp7qFHL…
Zack Braff is adorable.
Zack Braff is adorable.
13
I don't know how to do those new-fangled blue link thingies, but back when Buster Poindexter was a regular on SNL, he did a great version with Sigourney Weaver. Lookit up!
15
@3 Glad that you provided the link to the Key & Peele parody.
I had mentioned to a friend on Facebook when the date-rapey aspects of the song were being discussed.
I had mentioned to a friend on Facebook when the date-rapey aspects of the song were being discussed.
16
It's not only an endorsement of rape but it actually drives all mammals who are with in three miles of hearing it to rape the nearest defenseless mammal not also currently engaged in wanton rapage. This song caused the Korean war and polio. This song is worse than Hitler or gay marriage or a gay marriage to Hitler. In fact this song is so evil it's almost as bad a Reddit meme. Yes. THAT bad!
18
I like it.
I like it because it is not about the spirit of christmas or chestnuts or santa or presents (I like presents btw) or jesus or the most wonderful time of the year or dreaming of a white christmas or...
I like it because it is not about the spirit of christmas or chestnuts or santa or presents (I like presents btw) or jesus or the most wonderful time of the year or dreaming of a white christmas or...
19
@2 What! Really? Why haven't I heard of this? I have failed myself..no, the WORLD has failed me in not informing me of this sooner!!!
21
The joke about the spiked drink isn't the creepiest thing about "Baby, It's Cold Outside." The creepiest thing is that it was played at a party in Colorado attended by a religious young Egyptian, Sayyid Qutb, who was so upset by the sexy way people danced to it that he decided that American culture, and Americans, should die. As Mark Steyn wrote in his review of Lawrence Wright's masterpiece The Looming Tower:
"What was so awful about Sayyid Qutb's experience in America that led him to regard modernity as an abomination? Well, he went to a dance in Greeley, Colo. a dance in Greeley, Colo.: 'The room convulsed with the feverish music from the gramophone. Dancing naked legs filled the hall, arms draped around the waists, chests met chests, lips met lips . . .'
In 1949, Greeley, Colo., was dry. The dance was a church social. The feverish music was Frank Loesser's charm song Baby, It's Cold Outside. But it was enough to start a chain that led from Qutb to Zawahiri in Egypt to bin Laden in Saudi Arabia to the mullahs in Iran to the man arrested in Afghanistan on Sept. 11. And it's a useful reminder of how much we could give up and still be found decadent and disgusting by the Islamists. A world without Baby, It's Cold Outside will be very cold indeed."
"What was so awful about Sayyid Qutb's experience in America that led him to regard modernity as an abomination? Well, he went to a dance in Greeley, Colo. a dance in Greeley, Colo.: 'The room convulsed with the feverish music from the gramophone. Dancing naked legs filled the hall, arms draped around the waists, chests met chests, lips met lips . . .'
In 1949, Greeley, Colo., was dry. The dance was a church social. The feverish music was Frank Loesser's charm song Baby, It's Cold Outside. But it was enough to start a chain that led from Qutb to Zawahiri in Egypt to bin Laden in Saudi Arabia to the mullahs in Iran to the man arrested in Afghanistan on Sept. 11. And it's a useful reminder of how much we could give up and still be found decadent and disgusting by the Islamists. A world without Baby, It's Cold Outside will be very cold indeed."
22
It's shocking to me that anyone could find that song acceptable outside of a history class. If this song is "cute" or "okay", what in the world would cross the line of misogyny? Anything?
Even if you buy the argument that it was okay to berate women who say variants of "the answer is no" over and over back in the 40's, what is that supposed to prove? We don't play blackface Christmas specials or Frito Bandito ads anymore. We shouldn't play ridiculously sexist shit anymore either, women aren't garbage in this society anymore.
Even if you buy the argument that it was okay to berate women who say variants of "the answer is no" over and over back in the 40's, what is that supposed to prove? We don't play blackface Christmas specials or Frito Bandito ads anymore. We shouldn't play ridiculously sexist shit anymore either, women aren't garbage in this society anymore.
24
@22: Compared to "He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)"?
Maybe it's down to acting: if the female can convey that staying were entirely what she wanted, and the male that he were not in the least going to physically stand in the way of her leaving....
Next: require that all singers of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" sound decently plaintive and eschew the 'hang a shining star' excresence for the original 'muddle through' line.
Maybe it's down to acting: if the female can convey that staying were entirely what she wanted, and the male that he were not in the least going to physically stand in the way of her leaving....
Next: require that all singers of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" sound decently plaintive and eschew the 'hang a shining star' excresence for the original 'muddle through' line.
25
Yay, June Carter Cash shoutout!
@Womyn2me: That Scrubs version was great! They are either really good singers (particularly Donald Faison) or heavily produced. :>
@Womyn2me: That Scrubs version was great! They are either really good singers (particularly Donald Faison) or heavily produced. :>
26
haven't you ever wished that the night could go on forever, that the person you were with would stay just a little longer? if you haven't felt that, then you haven't lived.
he's not begging her for sex (well, not directly, though i agree it's implied - by that "not hurting my pride" line, among others) but misogyny? really? anyone who came to that conclusion is trying too hard, in my opinion.
here's one: guns and roses, i don't know the name of the song, but "turn around bitch, i got a use for you/besides you ain't got nothing better to do, and i'm bored."
see the difference? no? well then, never mind, go back to your hand-wringing over "baby, it's cold outside."
he's not begging her for sex (well, not directly, though i agree it's implied - by that "not hurting my pride" line, among others) but misogyny? really? anyone who came to that conclusion is trying too hard, in my opinion.
here's one: guns and roses, i don't know the name of the song, but "turn around bitch, i got a use for you/besides you ain't got nothing better to do, and i'm bored."
see the difference? no? well then, never mind, go back to your hand-wringing over "baby, it's cold outside."
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