# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/41 "2016-12-20T08:40:27Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Here’s a question: have there been any major stagings or performances of this song where it was clear that the singers and/or director DID think the female part’s objections were sincere? [Casey Wilson & Scott Aukerman](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6f9f628aed/baby-it-s-cold-outside?_cc= __d___ &_ccid=d7842a21-b89e-471b-a3e1-eb04466985ce) They staged it this way specifically to point out how “terrible” the song is. While I generally like both of them as comic actors, I think they totally miss the mark on this one. I’m more inclined to agree with the OP. Wilson specifically seems like she’s working through some demons with this performance, so I’m not inclined to criticize her too harshly, I just don’t at all agree with her objections to the song. > [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > That said, I’d love to hear a role-reversal version, with some aging cougar trying to convince a young stud to stay the night with her. Some gender reversed versions have already been linked, but the ultimate gender reversed version was done by [Miss Piggy & Rudolf Nureyev in a performance that makes all other versions unnecessary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EJ1SBAO1HU). ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/42 "2016-12-20T13:27:06Z")
I agree that the annual tradition can die any time now. I do love this song. But in defending it, I always get as far as “Say, what’s in this drink?” and kinda falter a bit. . . The truth is that boyfriends, like parents, could go to jail today for things that were considered perfectly normal in the 40’s and 50’s. I’m happy to say that society has evolved substantially since then. It doesn’t mean we can’t read “Tom Sawyer,” and it doesn’t mean we can’t sing this song. Let’s just be cognizant of the anachronisms, and refrain from using them as “proofs” that it’s “really OK” to do/say such things. And for the next year or two I’ll continue to indulge the conversation. If 2016 has taught us anything at all, then we have learned that there are still people in this country who need for these things to be pointed out to them. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/43 "2016-12-20T13:50:35Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > The truth is that boyfriends, like parents, could go to jail today for things that were considered perfectly normal in the 40’s and 50’s. I’m happy to say that society has evolved substantially since then. It doesn’t mean we can’t read “Tom Sawyer,” and it doesn’t mean we can’t sing this song. OK, and it is also true that husbands, and teachers, and boyfriends, and parents, and… can go to jail today for things which were either ignored, received with a “what did you do to earn it” or considered her fault way after the '40s and '50s. But as **Exapno** said, it’s all about context. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/44 "2016-12-20T14:02:11Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > …If 2016 has taught us anything at all, then we have learned that there are still people in this country who need for these things to be pointed out to them. You mean this version: \*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 grab your pussy, it’s just like ice)\* \>\>Woman dashes out the door into the freezing cold\<\< ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/45 "2016-12-20T14:59:05Z")
I’m rather fond of the [Jimmy Fallon/Cecily Strong version](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/baby-its-cold-outside/n44614?snl=1) from SNL, where, after the loving, he’s trying to convince her to leave and she wants to stay. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/46 "2016-12-20T16:03:26Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The drink contains alcohol, not roofies. Agreed. ‘What’s in this drink?’ She’s not asking if she’s been drugged. She’s asking what kind of alcohol (or how much alcohol) is in the drink. ETA: Grrrrrrr! I hate how Exploder says, ‘Hey, he doesn’t need that bracket? What, he thinks if it’s missing, it will mess up the code?’ . ---
**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 20, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/47 "2016-12-20T16:53:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ETA: Grrrrrrr! I hate how Exploder says, ‘Hey, he doesn’t need that bracket? What, he thinks if it’s missing, it will mess up the code?’ [clueless old guy] Exploder says? I don’t see anyone named Exploder in this thread. Are you sure you’re in the right thread? Or are you talking about a missing blanket? I’ll go turn the thermostat up. I’m always cold these days.[/clueless old guy] ---
**Author:** ![holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/holmes)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/48 "2016-12-20T17:15:18Z")
My dad always played the [Ray Charles/Betty Carter version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvWuy-4dOv0), which seems just right balance to me. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/49 "2016-12-20T17:19:40Z")
The song reveals the cultural attitudes of its time, and it should be a good thing if it sparks a discussion on the changing value systems. The “OMG, it’s just a meaningless _song_, so shut up!” and the “This is date-rapey and I don’t want to hear about context!” factions are equally annoying. It’s a bad song, though, so I wouldn’t mind if the latter group succeeds in limiting its play time. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/50 "2016-12-20T17:20:04Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I like that song, and the more the PC Patrol howls, the more I like it. Now that’s the Christmas spirit! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/51 "2016-12-20T21:32:06Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [clueless old guy] Exploder says? I don’t see anyone named Exploder in this thread. Are you sure you’re in the right thread? Or are you talking about a missing blanket? I’ll go turn the thermostat up. I’m always cold these days.[/clueless old guy] MS Explorer. When highlighting the text I want to delete from a quote, Explorer – or ‘Exploder’, as I call it – likes to disregard my wishes and take out things I don’t want taken out, such as the closing bracket on ’ [quote=Exapno Mapcase] '. It made it ‘[quote=Exapno Mapcase’, causing me to go back to edit the post. ---
**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 21, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/52 "2016-12-21T07:26:09Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > You mean like the version where it won an Oscar for Best Original Song in the musical [Neptune’s Daughter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MFJ7ie_yGU)? (Which takes place in summer in Florida - so it most definitely is not cold outside.) > > ETA: they did the song twice in that film - with genders flipped. The link shows both. That’s a great pair of clips–thanks! I had always heard it first became famous in that movie (after having been a thing the song’s writer and his wife performed at parties), but never saw it before. Early on in the first clip, although I had to get used to Mr. Roarke/Corinthian leather/Khan as the male lead, I was really digging how the woman was singing. This is what I always think they should be doing. Not diva-ing it up, trying to make it into some big torch song, but talk-singing in this style. However, I did think as it went on they kind of messed some of it up. Why doesn’t he actually pour her a drink while she gets a record? Why does he open the curtains for the “storm outside” and then immediately close them? (Why, from what you are telling me, did they even use this in a movie set in summer in Florida?!?) The second one was just…wild. So interesting that they did this role reversal way back there in '49. Actually, the whole thing seemed rather risque physically for that era. I mean, if you go back to films like _Double Indemnity_ a few years before this, there was some very hot talk, in the form of double entendres and such. But I don’t remember seeing a '40s movie with as much physical touching above the knee and so on. > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I’m rather fond of the [Jimmy Fallon/Cecily Strong version](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/baby-its-cold-outside/n44614?snl=1) from SNL, where, after the loving, he’s trying to convince her to leave and she wants to stay. When I followed the link, the title suggested it was what you said, but then it turned out to be a different holiday music thing. > [@TheInimitableMaven](#): > > My personal favorite version is **[Lou Rawls and Dianne Reeves’ take](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3zfqVnPAVs)**. IMO, they nail the chops/tone perfectly. Rawls’s side is awesome–might be my favorite of all the versions I’ve heard. But I’m not fond of the way Reeves sings it. Done right IMO, the female singer has to suppress her ego and not \*really \*sing at all. ---
**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 21, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/53 "2016-12-21T14:52:51Z")
[John Lithgow and Bebe Neuwirth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySMhjGeDEiM) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/54 "2016-12-21T15:56:46Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > When I followed the link, the title suggested it was what you said, but then it turned out to be a different holiday music thing. Yeah, apparently, SNL has taken it down and Hulu is off the air, at least for non-subscribers. Pity, it’s hilarious. ETA: [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcF0bPFyR74) a really bad copy of it. ---
**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 21, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/55 "2016-12-21T22:26:54Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [John Lithgow and Bebe Neuwirth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySMhjGeDEiM) The first verse of this is just about perfect! Then it gets a little…wonky. > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Yeah, apparently, SNL has taken it down and Hulu is off the air, at least for non-subscribers. Pity, it’s hilarious. > ETA: [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcF0bPFyR74) a really bad copy of it. That was pretty funny, thanks. But why oh why can’t people learn to turn their phones sideways? Or why don’t manufacturers just give up and make landscape mode the default when holding the phone upright? Drives me nuts. BTW, a tip for you from a fellow cheapskate who used the free version of Hulu for years: it still exists, albeit migrated to a [different platform](https://view.yahoo.com/). IDK if the SNL stuff is there, but the network shows I relied upon Hulu for (as a cordcutter with no antenna reception where I live) are there. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/56 "2016-12-22T13:42:13Z")
I found the clip at the [view.yahoo.com site](https://view.yahoo.com/show/saturday-night-live/clip/60318755/baby-it-s-cold-outside), but it isn’t playing. I’ll try it again when I get home; my office firewall may block the stream. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/57 "2016-12-22T18:36:13Z")
I think it’s only a small if vocal minority that have problems with the song. In the age of Twitter and the avidity of the media for anything ‘controversial’ their voices are amplified a thousandfold. As said upthread the song still gets plenty of covers and airtime and will certainly continue so to do for the foreseeable future. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/58 "2016-12-26T21:20:49Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I found the clip at the [view.yahoo.com site](https://view.yahoo.com/show/saturday-night-live/clip/60318755/baby-it-s-cold-outside), but it isn’t playing. I’ll try it again when I get home; my office firewall may block the stream. It took a while to start, but this link worked for me. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/59 "2016-12-27T14:52:31Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I wonder whether some people’s opinion of the song might change if they heard a [gender-reversed version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtoW4aV-CIcJFg) … or a [same-sex version](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/baby-its-cold-outside-mister-chase-chris-salvatore_n_1162852.html). Same sex, not so much. But a lot of folks don’t realize that in the movie Neptune’s Daughter, where the song originated, it was done with role reversal. [Here are the two versions.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MFJ7ie_yGU) ---
**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 27, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/60 "2016-12-27T15:28:36Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > a lot of folks don’t realize that in the movie Neptune’s Daughter, where the song originated, it was done with role reversal. Unless they read posts #36 and 52. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155.md?page=4)