ed note: This article was originally published on December 2nd, 2015
The pre-Christmas Day season of Advent is upon us. Here at SeedSing we love the chocolaty goodness of getting a piece of candy once a day until we get to open our presents. As our gift to you we will present a new awesome holiday song for every day of Advent. This is the greatest music of the season. Enjoy.
Day 2: "Baby It's Cold Outside"
Opened Doors: One
Ed note: I was originally going to write about "Baby It's Cold Outside" and talk about how much I liked the song in spite of the frightening message. There are great renditions of this song always coming out, including the gender reversal version with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lady Gaga. Ty wanted to get into the fun so he gets the floor for today,
Continuing the new countdown of holiday music, the "Advent Calendar of Awesome Holiday Music", I'm going to write about a very famous holiday song that has an extremely horrifying scenario proposed throughout its entirety. The song I'm speaking of is "Baby It's Cold Outside".
Everyone knows this song. It was written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and it's been performed by a lot of musicians, most notably, Dean Martin and a female chorus in 1959. Some other notable performers include Sammy Davis Jr and Carmen McRae, Ray Charles and Betty Carter, Robert Palmer and Carnie Wilson and most recently Michael Buble and Idina Menzel. This is a very famous, very popular holiday song, but as I've gotten older and listened to it more and more, it portrays a possible sexual assault.
My wife loves holiday music and I've never been that much of a fan. It's too slow and makes me tired. I also dislike the new fad of playing holiday music before Thanksgiving is over. Let Thanksgiving be its own holiday. But, I'm not going to make my wife listen to only my music, I've stated before that I have very different taste in music from my wife, so it's easier to just let the holiday music play until the holiday is over. With that being said, I've heard "Baby It's Cold Outside" about ten million times in the past nine years. I've heard a lot of holiday songs, but "BICO" is the one that sticks out most to me. I originally thought it was a pretty cool tune. I never really thought about the song, but the more I heard it, the more I listened and started to make out the lyrics to this song and they are disturbing.
The song opens with the lady saying, "I really can't stay" and the man responds, "But baby it's cold outside". The following lyrics in the first verse are as follows, with the lady singing first, then the man, "I've got to go away", "but baby it's cold outside", "the evening has been", "been hoping you'd drop in", "So very nice", " I'll hold your hand, they're just like ice". Let's break this down. Right off the bat the lady is ready to go. She's stated that she REALLY has to go. She clearly doesn't want to stay. But, the guy insists she stays by telling her it's too cold outside. The lady follows up saying she has got to go away. She is trying anything to get away from this man. The man, once again tells her it's too cold for her to leave. I imagine some creep standing in the doorway, a la Christopher Walken on the SNL skit, "The Continental". Then the lady even pays the man a compliment by saying the evening was nice, but reiterates the fact that she has to go. The man, unrelenting, tells her he will hold her hands to warm her up. In the next verse, the creepiness is ramped up. Throughout the second verse, the lady claims that her parents will worry if she's not home soon. She even claims she has to scurry. But, the man turns on the "charm" and calls her beautiful, asks her what's her hurry, proclaims he has a great fireplace, then makes her a drink. So, she starts out by telling the man that she has to leave because her folks will worry and this creep makes her a drink. This is beyond creepy now, this is sexual assault territory. In the third verse, the lady begins to worry what the neighbors will think if they see her there. The man once again hits her with the fact that it's cold and snowy outside, as if to say that the neighbors will be too preoccupied with the weather to worry about the upcoming sexual assault that most assuredly is going to occur. Then, the most messed up line of the whole song happens. The lady asks, "what's in this drink". Okay, back in the 40's that may have been cute, but in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's 2000's and especially now, how is that anything but a roofie in that drink. He's clearly slipped her something to make her inhibitions go away.
So creepy and just wrong.
Go and listen to the Buble and Menzel version and try not to be creeped out when you hear this line. The lady follows that up with "I wish I knew how to break this spell". The guys only response, there are no cabs, her eyes look like star lights and he takes her coat and hat, complementing her hair. What a god damn creep. The lady goes on to say she ought to say no to this man, he decides to move closer. She says that she will tell people at least she tried, almost saying, she tried to get away from him, but she was drugged. The man's response, "What's the sense of hurting my pride". What an asshole. This lady wants nothing to do with him, but he cannot take a hint. The lady then says things like "I simply must go", "the answer is no", the man's reply to this, "baby it's cold outside". So what if it's cold, she can make her way home. She's said no to you multiple times now, let it go, she doesn't want your company. Later, after talking about how her parents would worry, she starts to bring up her brother, sister, aunts and uncles. This lady is really grasping at straws trying to get out of this horrible situation. The creepy guys responds with stuff like, "never such a blizzard before", "waves upon a tropical storm" and the most creepy pick up line of all, "gosh your lips look delicious". What the hell is that! Is this some frat boy that won't take no for an answer? By this point, the lady should say no means no, blow her assault whistle and call the cops because this guy has bad intentions.
Thankfully, the lady finally gets out of the situation by grabbing her coat and saying she will see this man tomorrow. He responds with by asking how could she do this to him and think of his sorrow and even telling her she will get pneumonia and die. This guy is a straight up douchebag. He is what I envision every frat boy that's even been accused of sexual assault acts and looks like. Who gives a shit about your pride and sorrow, you slipped drugs into a lady's drink to try and get laid. You're a monster.
I CANNOT believe that this is a classic holiday song. It is the Christmas version of "Blurred Lines". Next time you hear "Baby It's Cold Outside", think about how disturbing this song truly is. I cannot hear it the same anymore. The creepiness has been burned into my brain. The fact that it's still performed and beloved is astounding, especially in the new PC culture we live in. I thought the song was ok before, but now I hate it since I understand how disturbing it is.
It's frightening.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He doesn't care how cold outside it is, if Michigan Football is on he is going home. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.
