Baby, it’s cold outside...
Yes, anything below 70 will chill the Captain's bones!
But this is supposed to be a blog, not a weather report.
Just understand that if there’s anything the Captain is NOT dreaming about,
it’s a white Christmas!
But things are heating up about, of all things, a Christmas
song.
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”.
The First Mate tells me this argument has been coming around
for several years at Christmastime when the song hits the airwaves and, like a
handful of other annoying Christmas favorites, gets played over and over
until we are all sick and tired of hearing it!
The controversy apparently began about 2005, when one writer
called it a “date-rape Christmas carol”.
The Captain will let that sink in while we explore the
origins of the song.
It was written in 1944 by Frank Loesser (also known for his
work on “Guys and Dolls”). “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is not a Christmas song
per se, but I guess since it talks about cold weather and snow, it gets lumped
in with “Frosty the Snowman” and a number of others.
Loesser wrote this song for his wife. It was “their song”, which
they would perform together at Christmas parties. It is a romantic and flirty
little back-and-forth between a man and woman – she says she wants to go home,
he gives every excuse to convince her to stay.
In the mid-1940s, it was cute. As I said, flirty.
When properly sung, it becomes obvious that the woman doesn’t
really want to go home.
'What’s the big deal,' the modern reader might ask. 'Why doesn't she just stay?'
Well you see, once upon a time, dear children, it was
considered “improper” for a single young lady to stay overnight at a gentleman’s
house. If you read the lyrics (see below) you’ll see that most of her arguments
revolve around “What will people think” rather than “I’ve got to get out of
this place”.
Loesser allowed the song to be used in the 1949 hit movie, “Neptune’s
Daughter”. A young Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams do us the honors:
Her: Him:
I really can't stay (but baby, it's cold outside)
I've got to go away (but baby, it's cold outside)
This evening has been (been
hoping that you'd drop in)
So very nice (I'll hold your hands, they're just
like ice)
My mother will start to worry (beautiful what's your hurry?)
My father will be pacing the floor (listen
to the fireplace roar)
So really I'd better scurry (beautiful please don't
hurry)
But maybe just a half a drink more (put
some records on while I pour)
The neighbors might think (baby, it's bad out there)
Say what's in this drink? (no
cabs to be had out there)
I wish I knew how (your eyes are like
starlight now)
To break this spell (I'll
take your hat, your hair looks swell)
I ought to say, no, no, no sir (mind if I move in closer?)
At least I'm gonna say that I tried (what's
the sense in hurtin' my pride?)
I really can't stay (oh
baby don't hold out)
Together: But baby, it's cold outside
I simply must go (but baby, it's
cold outside)
The answer is no (but
baby, it's cold outside)
Your welcome has been (how lucky that you
dropped in)
So nice and warm (look
out the window at this dawn)
My sister will be suspicious (gosh your lips look delicious)
My brother will be there at the door (waves
upon the tropical shore)
My maiden aunt’s mind is vicious (gosh your lips are delicious)
But maybe just a cigarette more (never
such a blizzard before)
I've gotta get home (but baby, you'd
freeze out there)
Say lend me a coat (it's
up to your knees out there)
You've really been grand (I thrill when you touch my
hand)
But don't you see? (how
can you do this thing to me?)
There's bound to be talk tomorrow (think of my lifelong sorrow)
At least there will be plenty implied (if
you got pneumonia and died)
I really can't stay (get
over that old out)
Together: Baby, it's cold
Baby, it's cold outside
Later in the same movie, Red Skelton and Betty Garrett
reverse the roles – he wants to leave, but she is insistent that he stays!
What, you think Lady Gaga and Joseph Gordon-Levitt just
thought that up?
Loesser received an Oscar for “Best Original Song” that
year, it has been nominated as one of the “100 Greatest Christmas Songs Ever”,
and it has become a standard for singers from Bing Crosby and Doris Day to
Indina Menzel and Michael Buble’.
Captain’s Note: For
what it’s worth, a different Loesser song was intended for the movie, but “I’d Like
to Get You on a Slow Boat to China” was considered too risque’ for 1949!
I'd like to get you
on a slow boat to China
All to myself alone
Get you and keep you in my arms evermore
Leave all your lovers weeping on the faraway shore
Out on the briny with the moon big and shiny
Melting your heart of stone
I'd love to get you on a slow boat to China
All to myself alone
Here’s the Captain’s thoughts – because I know you want to
know… otherwise, why are you still here?
We cannot judge a song written in 1944 by modern-day
standards, especially standards that have been created largely by current
events. If Bill Cosby and the long list of newly-outed celebrity sexual
predators had not become the focus of virtually every news headline today, this
song might still be seen as romantic and flirty.
But in the current state of romance and flirtation - concepts almost
completely destroyed by men behaving badly - this simple little ditty can easily be distorted
to be a song about sexual predation: he is holding her against her will despite
her efforts to get away.
As one recent critic points out, “She says ‘no’ three times!”
And “no” means “no”. Right?
Captain’s note: If
you look closer at that line in the song, the woman actually says, “I ought
to say, ‘No, no, no sir’.” But she doesn’t. Because she is flirting. She wants to stay, but what would her parents say? "There's bound to be talk tomorrow... At least there will be plenty implied..."
The Captain sees the current slough of criticism against
this song in the same way as I see modern readers of the Bible shocked – “JUST SHOCKED!”
– when they realize that slavery is acceptable, even approved of, in the scriptures.
Those holy writings were from a different part of the world,
some from thousands of years ago. Hopefully we have progressed in our
understanding of and appreciation of all human life since then.
And, for those readers older than your Captain, should I
remind you of your own history with slavery?
But I digress…
In 2010, Persephone Magazine jumped into the fray in defense
of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”:
At the time period the song was written [1944], “good
girls,” especially young, unmarried girls, did not spend the night at a man’s
house unsupervised. The tension in the song comes from her own desire to stay
and society’s expectations that she’ll go. We see this in the organization of
the song — from stopping by for a visit, to deciding to push the line by
staying longer, to wanting to spend the entire night, which is really pushing
the bounds of acceptability. Her beau in his repeated refrain “Baby, it’s cold
outside” is offering her the excuses she needs to stay without guilt.
Did I mention that Persephone Magazine is a feminist blog?
To be sure, the Captain finds nothing good to say about sexual
harassment / sexual abuse.
But this is not that.
I just think “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is a cute little song
from a previous era. It perhaps gets more attention than other songs from that
same era (go watch “Guys and Dolls” and come back and let’s talk) because it is
overplayed during the holiday season.
But if you really want to talk about sexual predation and
the abuse of women, turn on a modern day radio station and listen to some of
the lyrics of today’s music.
Take, for example, “Blurred Lines”, by Robin Thicke:
What do they make dreams for
When you got them jeans on
What do we need steam for
You the hottest bitch in this place!
And then there’s the refrain, “I know you want it…”
Or the song “Mr. Carter”, sung by Lil Wayne:
Girl you're cold,
Girl you're cool
You herd of salt and pepper,
But girl you food
Girl you're hot like a bowl of stew
And I just stood over my stew and just blew
And when there was no more you in the soup,
I remove my spoon and drank you juice
You wanna do me do what you wanna do
No, the Captain will not print the refrain here.
Even I have my limits!
And this one from Maroon 5 called “Animals”:
Baby I'm preying on you tonight
Hunt you down eat you alive
Just like animals
Animals
Like animals…
And that’s the “safe” part of the song!
So now, after reading those lyrics, tell me again how
bad “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is…
Time to pick a different fight.
