# In defense of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155 "2016-12-19T17:36:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/181 "2018-12-12T18:04:58Z")
2016 ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/182 "2018-12-12T18:08:46Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > 2016 I was just about to come back and note that correction! How the time flies. Just now was the first time I had read the OP this year. One thing I enjoyed about it in its original iteration was that we generally focused more on my complaint that no one performs the song correctly (or more specifically, that there are a couple women who do it right and one man—Seth McFarlane—who nails it, but never both in the same version). ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/183 "2018-12-12T19:31:42Z")
I’ve always found talky songs difficult to pull off. It’s different from singing. You have to talk, but still stay on pitch. Staying in rhythm is tricky. I’ve seen Baby It’s Cold done at various holiday parties. It’s not quite the same as the record. I remember an old gf wanted me to sing it with her. We quickly picked another song for the party. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/184 "2018-12-12T19:56:45Z")
How would you say it comes across at parties? I have never seen this, but I know that is how it started. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/185 "2018-12-12T20:07:06Z")
Party versions are hard to describe. I remember more regular speech instead of the sing/talk you hear Dean Martin use. Depends on how much everyone’s had to drink. 😉 Dean’s version is my favorite. The woman’s part sounds like a blend of several singers. This is the version I keep in my Christmas playlist. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/crFQpOCDfEc/hqdefault.jpg "Dean Martin - Baby It's Cold Outside") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crFQpOCDfEc) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/186 "2018-12-12T20:16:47Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > The CBC most definitely did not do it to “pull a stunt”. They’re not a commercial radio station. They still need listeners. And donations. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/187 "2018-12-12T20:24:19Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > They still need listeners. And donations. No, they don’t. They are government funded. The television side has ads, which requires viewers, but the the radio side is ad free and doesn’t get donations. It’s not like NPR. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/188 "2018-12-12T20:24:49Z")
Doesn’t Dean’s version seem less awkward than the original? It seems more playful and silly. I rarely hear the original version and I’ve never seen the movie. I watched the YouTube video. It’s certainly very dated by today’s values. That’s true of a lot of the old movies. Relationships were depicted from a masculine view that seem so odd compared to today. It’s a reminder of how much society has changed. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/189 "2018-12-12T20:44:31Z")
Not a fan of Dean-o’s version. As I said (somewhat ungrammatically) in the OP, it’s too “uptempo and unvarying a swing, and having the female part be a chorus makes no sense.” I would say few people alive have heard the original version, as it was a sort of party trick the songwriter and his wife would perform at parties. I suspect it was better than the versions I’m complaining about, but who knows. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/190 "2018-12-12T21:05:33Z")
The original in the movie can look bad, because it’s a little physical. In my impression, they are basically doing a dance but it can definitely be interpreted as way too pushy. It’s funny because with all the people hoping for a gender flip, that happens in the original movie with similar physicality. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fRGZULIkfwE/hqdefault.jpg "Baby Its Cold Outside - Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban + Betty Garrat and Red Skelton.flv") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRGZULIkfwE) (both versions from Neptune’s Daughter) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/191 "2018-12-12T22:35:17Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I was just about to come back and note that correction! How the time flies. > > Just now was the first time I had read the OP this year. One thing I enjoyed about it in its original iteration was that we generally focused more on my complaint that no one performs the song correctly (or more specifically, that there are a couple women who do it right and one man—Seth McFarlane—who nails it, but never both in the same version). > [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ve always found talky songs difficult to pull off. > > It’s different from singing. You have to talk, but still stay on pitch. Staying in rhythm is tricky. > > I’ve seen Baby It’s Cold done at various holiday parties. It’s not quite the same as the record. > > I remember an old gf wanted me to sing it with her. We quickly picked another song for the party. BICO outside has a special quality. It’s a _performance_ song. The woman isn’t talking to the man: she’s talking to the _audience_, goosing them about society’s ridiculous morals and sanctions. The man is there only to balance the performance. The song could be done by a woman talking to an offstage man whose lines are never heard and it would still work. The audience would get the point just as well. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/192 "2018-12-13T14:25:45Z")
In a similar vein, a story about a high school student play featuring KKK costumes [blew up](https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/kkk-costumes-at-high-school-play-shock-students-outrage-parents) here. While lots of students may well be shocked (I would be) there was only one parent who complained. In any event, the KKK members in [_The Foreigner_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foreigner_(play)) were ridiculed. > [@Wiki](#): > > Owen finds Charlie alone and threatens him, saying that when the Ku Klux Klan is in power, they will kill all the foreigners. Charlie cheerfully babbles some words, then sets out to frighten Owen: > > Charlie: (Same voice.) Hello! Good-bye! One-two-three. (Owen snorts, looks away. Pause. Different tone.) I look tru your bones. (Owen looks at him, startled by this. Charlie looks back with ancient eyes and the ghost of a smile.) > Owen: (Finally.) You say what? > Charlie: Yes. Me see. Moon get beeg. You sleep—sleep out, out. All you skin—bye-bye. I come. I look tru your bones. > Owen: What you talkin’ about, mister? > Charlie: (His eyes close.) Round an’ round, and in de town— . (His eyes open slightly, still looking at Owen.) Gonna look into your bones, when de bees come down. > … > Through the window they see headlights and torches as some Klan members approach. > … > Charlie sends Catherine and Ellard upstairs, and he and Betty face five men wearing sheets over their heads. Owen says that they will kill Charlie and destroy the house with the munitions in the van outside, and that Betty, Catherine and Ellard will disappear. Charlie, recalling the science fiction he has read, alarms Owen with more “Hoodoo talk”: > > ``` > You—dare—to—affront—me? I, who have lain in wait, lo, these many centuries for such a night as this! ... I, child of Hrothgar and of Moloch! I, whom the Old Ones have given suck, to rise now from the forest mold and smite thee! Klatu! Barada! Nikto! ... You dare to sneer at me! You—puny earthling![7] > > ``` > > With the help of the trap-door to the cellar, Charlie appears to disintegrate a Klansman, and the rest run away in terror. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/193 "2018-12-13T15:17:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > BICO outside has a special quality. It’s a _performance_ song. The woman isn’t talking to the man: she’s talking to the _audience_, goosing them about society’s ridiculous morals and sanctions. The man is there only to balance the performance. The song could be done by a woman talking to an offstage man whose lines are never heard and it would still work. The audience would get the point just as well. Who would have thought a song knocked out to encourage people to go home because the party was over had such deep nuance and _actually_ meant the exact opposite? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/194 "2018-12-18T15:09:09Z")
[Radio statton plays 2 hour Baby It’s Cold Outside marathon](https://1010wins.radio.com/articles/radio-station-plays-2-hour-baby-it-s-cold-outside-marathon) Pooh on the ones who ban it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/195 "2018-12-18T16:07:13Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > …My wife and I drove to my sister’s home about 250 miles away last weekend, and we had a holiday music channel on the satellite station for both legs of the trip. We heard the song being sung by James Taylor/Natalie Cole; Dean Martin/Golddiggers; Lady Antebellum; Dean Martin/Martina McBride; Blake Shelton/Gwen Stefani; Seth MacFarlane/Sara Bareilles; Rod Stewart/Dolly Parton and Brett Eldridge/Meghan Trainor (I think they left out Michael Buble/Idina Menzel because they thought it would be overkill)… Well, I’m glad they didn’t play it \*too \*much. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/196 "2018-12-18T16:22:15Z")
Even though I started the thread to defend the song, hearing it covered by various people for hours on end sounds like effective psychological warfare. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/197 "2018-12-18T20:58:54Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Even though I started the thread to defend the song, hearing it covered by various people for hours on end sounds like effective psychological warfare. 😃 Could be worse, could be\* Santa Baby\* for hours…:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/198 "2018-12-18T22:00:03Z")
I think the best defense is it’s a 74 year old song, written by and for people that don’t think like we do in a lot of ways. So are a lot of books. Shall we have a nice book burning next? Has Peta tried to ban Pepe Le Pew reruns, for him sexually assaulting cats in a children’s show yet? Surely that must be offensive to somebody. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/199 "2018-12-18T22:19:44Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > I think the best defense is it’s a 74 year old song, written by and for people that don’t think like we do in a lot of ways. So are a lot of books. Shall we have a nice book burning next? > > Has Peta tried to ban Pepe Le Pew reruns, for him sexually assaulting cats in a children’s show yet? Surely that must be offensive to somebody. Cite for anyone advocating erasing the song from history? ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/200 "2018-12-19T05:34:09Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Cite for anyone advocating erasing the song from history? It’s not about erasing, it’s about censorship. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155.md?page=11)