# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/81 "2018-11-28T04:04:06Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Link me to any and all suggestions and I’ll try 'em! 🙂 You can’t go wrong with [Ann-Margret and the Brian Setzer Orchestra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMkiItNH_UY&app=desktop). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/82 "2018-11-28T05:24:22Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > You can’t go wrong with [Ann-Margret and the Brian Setzer Orchestra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMkiItNH_UY&app=desktop). She has the right voice and the accompaniment\* is great but his voice is wrong for it. Good try. Nothing beats Deano. - and the instrumental solo ! ---
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/83 "2018-11-28T06:17:29Z")
I completely agree with you, the complaints about this song are so tedious. Have you heard the Haley Reinhart/Casey Abrams version? I like her take on it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DO8vD0ClzbE/maxresdefault.jpg "Haley Reinhart, Casey Abrams - Baby, It's Cold Outside") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO8vD0ClzbE) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/84 "2018-11-28T07:22:00Z")
The version I remember best was by a real-life married couple, Nina and Frederik, and FWIW my mother (no mean feminist herself) loved it and them. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhLL1v05E6Q) (I wonder if “Jonathan and Darlene Edwards” ever recorded it? That would be something) I can see how a potential rapist might twist it, but that’s his fault and responsibility. Are we to ban Mozart’s “Deh vieni” or any of the other seduction songs around? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/85 "2018-11-28T12:21:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > 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. > > . Exactly. Thinking that line ( the only real problematic one in the song) is about roofies is pure ahistorical ignorance. Given the time frame, the answer to the question “What’s in this drink?” Was always “nothing.” It was a joke used when people spoke their mind and got embarrassed by how it was received and I’ve seen it in several comedies of the era. In other words, a cover story. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2018, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/86 "2018-11-28T18:42:43Z")
I can NOT believe it’s been 7 years since I commented here on this song on another thread! Well, time to do so again! I love this song, there, I said it. And I HAVE LIVED IT. Back in my 20’s when I lived at home, I just couldn’t ‘stay over’ at some Tom, Dick, or Harry’s apartment overnight, even if flaming shit was falling from the sky. I had to be home at a ‘decent hour’ even if it was blizzarding like a mofo, even if I was at my steady boyfriend’s house. I heard all the nagging and persuading, and much as I hated to go out in the cold and snow, that was what I did. Who would want to leave and go out in that? Not me, but I did, not out of ‘morality’ but there would have been hell to pay at ‘home’. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/87 "2018-11-29T07:25:40Z")
Missed this thread the first time. I recommend the version with Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark. Great performance. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/88 "2018-11-30T00:41:58Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > You’re all wrong. The gold standard is Blossom Dearie and Bob Dorough. OK, this one intrigued me enough to look up. For those not familiar with these names, they are the two most used voices from Schoolhouse Rock (Bob being the creator) . Hearing those very distinctive voices sing this song is pretty interesting. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/TioWJltl2wU/hqdefault.jpg "Blossom Dearie & Bob Dorough - Baby it's cold outside") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TioWJltl2wU) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/89 "2018-11-30T01:17:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bumped. > > The perfect greeting card for the season: [https://www.raygunsite.com/collections/top-collection/products/cold-outside-greeting-card](https://www.raygunsite.com/collections/top-collection/products/cold-outside-greeting-card) Maybe we can get this merged with the Rudolph thread… ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/90 "2018-12-06T22:34:00Z")
It’s really not a Christmas song…it’s a winter song…which kind of defaults to the Christmas genre. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/91 "2018-12-07T14:58:15Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I can NOT believe it’s been 7 years since I commented here on this song on another thread! Well, time to do so again! I love this song, there, I said it. > > And I HAVE LIVED IT. Back in my 20’s when I lived at home, I just couldn’t ‘stay over’ at some Tom, Dick, or Harry’s apartment overnight, even if flaming shit was falling from the sky. I had to be home at a ‘decent hour’ even if it was blizzarding like a mofo, even if I was at my steady boyfriend’s house. I heard all the nagging and persuading, and much as I hated to go out in the cold and snow, that was what I did. Who would want to leave and go out in that? Not me, but I did, not out of ‘morality’ but there would have been hell to pay at ‘home’. I hear ya! I was at my boyfriend’s (now husband) house one evening (along with our little girl) when it started snowing really hard. Back in the late '70s 4WD wasn’t all that common. Backstory: We were engaged and had been together for a few years and like I mentioned we had a baby together. We both still lived at our parents’ homes and would be married after we both finished school. I was probably 18 and he was 20. I called home and told them we were going to stay over because the weather was bad and we didn’t want to be driving around in a crappy car with a baby. My dad picked us up in his jeep within the hour! ---
**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 7, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/92 "2018-12-07T15:06:48Z")
It’s certainly possible the characters in the song could have slept in separate rooms. That’s why apartments have sofas. But, this song was written at a time when it wasn’t socially acceptable to spend the night. Unless someone older, like the man’s mother was there too. It’s a great song and a standard part of my Christmas mp3 playlist. A similar song is Wake Up Little Suzy. Characters fall asleep on a date. Next morning they are concerned what people will assume happened. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/93 "2018-12-07T15:17:15Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Here’s the thing. The woman singing \*is \*being oppressed, but not by the man singing! He’s not the bad guy. She’s having a lovely time hanging out with him, listening to records, having a couple drinks, and presumably doing a little canoodling in front of that roaring fireplace. The oppression comes from a patriarchal society (remember, this was written in the 1940s) that restricts her agency as a young single woman. Her mother and father are worrying and pacing the floor. Her maiden aunt’s mind is vicious, her sister’s suspicious, and her brother will be “waiting at the door”. They, and the neighbors, “might think” that she’s promiscuous: “There’s bound to be talk tomorrow/At least there’ll be plenty implied”. You know, that’s a very good point. The attitude back then was that men were horny sex toads, but women didn’t really like sex. “Good girls” didn’t do it until married, EVER. That she really wanted to stay but didn’t dare to do so is a very real possibility because that’s the way it was back then. God help a girl who “did it” and got pregnant out of wedlock! ---
**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 7, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/94 "2018-12-07T17:09:32Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > It’s really not a Christmas song…it’s a winter song…which kind of defaults to the Christmas genre. As long as all secular winter songs default to “Christmas” songs, then there’s no such thing as the War on Christmas. ---
**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 7, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/95 "2018-12-07T17:17:15Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Here’s the thing. The woman singing \*is \*being oppressed, but not by the man singing! He’s not the bad guy. She’s having a lovely time hanging out with him, listening to records, having a couple drinks, and presumably doing a little canoodling in front of that roaring fireplace. The oppression comes from a patriarchal society (remember, this was written in the 1940s) that restricts her agency as a young single woman. Her mother and father are worrying and pacing the floor. Her maiden aunt’s mind is vicious, her sister’s suspicious, and her brother will be “waiting at the door”. They, and the neighbors, “might think” that she’s promiscuous: “There’s bound to be talk tomorrow/At least there’ll be plenty implied”. Even when I was little I wondered why she was old enough to drink yet still living with her parents. I wasn’t thinking of the meme 75 years ago where a young woman would go directly from her parents’ house to her husband’s (Do not pass college; do not collect employable skills). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/96 "2018-12-07T20:06:24Z")
As long as we’re posting links to recordings of this song, [here is another one.](https://youtu.be/-kMpMRoSPJg) The singers are husband & wife, and this is part of the annual Hagen Family concert. Doesn’t seem controversial to me or them. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/97 "2018-12-07T20:42:25Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > As long as all secular winter songs default to “Christmas” songs, then there’s no such thing as the War on Christmas. I would agree with you. Christmas is more of a secular holiday than a religious holiday in most cases anyway. ---
**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 10, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/98 "2018-12-10T14:25:28Z")
Radio stations decide whether or not to play “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”: [As debates over music in the age of #MeToo rage on, radio is still about the power of the people | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/07/entertainment/radio-baby-its-cold-outside/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/99 "2018-12-10T14:43:49Z")
The only feeling of rage this song ever brought me was all the nosy ass people that were up in this poor girl’s business. She \* obviously\* wants to stay (if you can’t see that, well, I don’t know what to tell you)but can’t because god forbid, “what will everyone think”? What a shame to have this lovely tune taken off the air. Of course, that’s what Spotify is for. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155/100 "2018-12-10T14:48:12Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > (I wonder if “Jonathan and Darlene Edwards” ever recorded it? That would be something) [Sort of](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW6z0Hcc3OI), in that their alter egos did (or rather Jo Stafford sang it with the Starlighters in the other role and Paul Weston did something or other instrumental). Did Weston even sing? But you’re right - a Jonathan and Darlene Edwards version would have been something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/775155.md?page=6)