Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)

Subject: Chord Req: Leon Redbone-Baby It's Cold Outside
From: GUEST,Sara
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 07:59 PM

Does anyone know the chords for the Leon Redbone & Zooey Deuchanel version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" from the Elf Soundtrack? We are trying to figure it out but just can't get it.

Any help would be appreciated!!!

Thanks in Advance!
Sara

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjYUzpdKMZs

Subject: Lyr Add: BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE (from Leon Redbone
From: pdq
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 08:07 PM

Here 'tis...


Baby It's Cold Outside Lyrics

I really can't stay - Baby it's cold outside
I've got to go away - 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
well Maybe just a half a drink more - Put some music 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 a little closer
At least I'm gonna say that I tried - What's the sense in hurting my pride
I really can't stay - Baby don't hold out
Ahh, but it's cold outside

C'mon baby

I simply must go - Baby, it's cold outside
The answer is no - Ooh baby, it's cold outside
This welcome has been - I'm lucky that you dropped in
So nice and warm -- Look out the window at that storm
My sister will be suspicious - Man, your lips look so delicious
My brother will be there at the door - Waves upon a tropical shore
My maiden aunt's mind is vicious - Gosh your lips look delicious
Well maybe just a half a drink more - Never such a blizzard before

I've got to go home - Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there
Say, lend me your comb - It's up to your knees out there
You've really been grand - Your eyes are like starlight now
But don't you see - How can you do this thing to me
There's bound to be talk tomorrow - Making my life long sorrow
At least there will be plenty implied - If you caught pneumonia and died
I really can't stay - Get over that old out
Ahh, but it's cold outside

Baby it's cold outside

Brr its cold….
It's cold out there
Cant you stay awhile longer baby
Well…..I really shouldn't...alright

Make it worth your while baby
Ahh, do that again….

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Leon Redbone-Baby It's Cold Outside
From: GUEST,Sara
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 08:09 PM

Thank you, pdq. However I am looking for the guitar chords as well. It might be a losing battle unless some diehard Leon Redbone fan shows up!!

Thanks again, pdq.

Sara

Subject: Chords Add: BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE (Frank Loesser)
From: pdq
Date: 17 Dec 06 - 09:21 PM

This looks like a winner...


CHORDS USED IN THIS SONG:

F
F7
Gm7
C7
Bb
Bb7
G7
        "Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Frank Loesser

I [F]really can't [F7]stay
But baby it's cold outside
I've [Gm7]got to go [C7]'way
But baby it's cold outside
This [F]evening has [F7]been
Been hoping that you'd drop in
So very [Cm7]nice
I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice

My [Bb]mother will start to worry
Beautiful words you're humming
And [Bb7]father will be pacing the floor
Listen to the fireplace roar
So [F]really I'd better [Dm7]scurry
Beautiful, please don't hurry
Well, [G7]maybe just a half a drink [C7]more
Put some records on while I pour

The [F]neighbors might [F7]think
But baby it's bad out there
Say, [Gm7]what's in this [C7]drink?
No cabs to be had out there
I [F]wish I knew [F7]how
Your eyes are like starlight now
To break the [Cm7]spell
I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell

I [Bb]ought to say no, no, no sir
Mind if I move in closer?
At [Bb7]least I'm gonna say that I [C7]tried
What's the sense of hurtin' my pride?
I [F]really can't [F7]stay
Oh baby don't hold out
Ah but it's [G7]cold [C7]out[F]side
Baby it's cold outside

I [F]simply must [F7]go
But baby it's cold outside
The [Gm7]answer is [C7]no
But baby it's cold outside
The [F]welcome has [F7]been
How lucky that you dropped in
So nice and [Cm7]warm
Look out that window at that storm

My [Bb]sister will be suspicious
Gosh your lips look delicious
My [Bb7]brother will be there at the door
Waves upon a tropical shore
My [F]maiden aunt's mind is [Dm7]vicious
Gosh your lips are delicious
Well, [G7]maybe just a cigarette [C7]more
Never such a blizzard before

I've [F]got to get [F7]home
But baby you'd freeze out there
Say, [Gm7]lend me a [C7]coat
It's up to your knees out there
You've [F]really been [F7]grand
I'm thrilled when you touch my hand
Why don't you [Cm7]see
How can you do this thing to me?

There's [Bb]bound to be talk tomorrow
Think of my lifelong sorrow
At [Bb7]least there will be plenty im[C7]plied
If you caught pneumonia and died
I [F]really can't [F7]stay
Get over that hold-out
Ah but it's [G7]cold [C7]out[F]side
Ah but it's cold outside

Baby it's [G7]cold, [C7]cold out[F]side

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Baby It's Cold Outside
From: keberoxu
Date: 29 Dec 17 - 03:24 PM

What a checkered history this song has.
For years I have been mistaken,
familiar with the Johnny Mercer / Margaret Whiting duet recording,
and I believed that Mercer had written it.

Well before my time,
Loesser, the actual author,
got the song into an Esther Williams movie of all things.
And the song won itself an Oscar there.

The radio gives a lot of airplay to certain versions of
"Baby It's Cold Outside" every year,
particularly at the end of the calendar year,
leading up to Christmastide and New Year's.   

The recording by Ray Charles and Betty Carter,
with a big-band arrangement
and with Ms. Carter singing very much like a horn,
is a performance that people still talk about,
long after both singers have passed away.

It troubles me that THEIR version doesn't turn up on the radio.

Is it because it is so sophisticated and grown-up sounding
that it makes all the other recordings
sound like child's play?

Ray Charles and Betty Carter

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Baby It's Cold Outside
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 06:36 PM

Let's bring back the link, in the previous post,
for Ray Charles and Betty Carter
singing
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" as a duet.

This was a hit record, this performance ...
many many winters ago.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Baby It's Cold Outside
From: Helen
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 06:53 PM

This is a set of chords posted to another site, specifically for the the version in The Elf.

Baby Its Cold Outside chords by Leon Redbone

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Baby It's Cold Outside
From: Helen
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 06:57 PM

But another site has chords beginning with Bflat, Gm, Cm, F


Baby Its Cold Outside chords - Leon Redbone

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Baby It's Cold Outside
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 06:39 PM

What chords you use will depend on your voice. For example, a soprano will want a different key, thus different chords, than an alto. In a duet like this, the key has to suit both singers.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Baby It's Cold Outside
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 07:27 PM

Of course there's nothing in the words that actually determined which singer is the man or the woman. Or even whether they aren't both the same sex.

Subject: ADD: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 09:15 PM

Here's the song from a source that's usually a very accurate account of the original version of lyrics, Reading Lyrics, by Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball (Pantheon Books, 2000), page 448

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE (Frank Loesser)

REFRAIN 1
SHE: I really can't stay!
 HE: But baby it's cold outside!
SHE: I've got to go 'way!
 HE: Baby it's cold outside!
SHE: This evening has been...
 HE: Been hoping that you'd drop in!
SHE: So very nice.
 HE: I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice.
SHE: My mother will start to worry...
 HE: Beautiful, what's your hurry?
SHE: And Father will be pacing the floor...
 HE: Listen to the fireplace roar!
SHE: So really I'd better scurry.
 HE: Beautiful, please don't hurry.
SHE: Well, maybe just a half a drink more.
 HE: Put some records on while I pour.

SHE: The neighbors might think...
 HE: But baby, it's bad out there.
SHE: Say, what's in this drink?
 HE: No cabs to be had out there.
SHE: I wish I knew how...
 HE: Your eyes are like starlight now.
SHE: To break the spell.
 HE: I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell.
SHE: I ought to say, "No, no, no, sir!"
 HE: Mind if I move in closer?
SHE: At least I'm gonna say that I tried.
 HE: What's the sense of hurting my pride?
SHE: I really can't stay...
 HE: Oh, baby don't hold out.
SHE: Ahh, but it's...
 HE: Baby it's
BOTH: Cold outside

REFRAIN 2

SHE: I simply must go!
 HE: Baby, it's cold outside!
SHE: The answer is No!
 HE: But baby, it's cold outside!
SHE: This welcome has been...
 HE: How lucky that you dropped in!
SHE: So nice and warm.
 HE: Look out the window at that storm.
SHE: My sister will be suspicious...
 HE: Gosh, your lips look delicious.
SHE: My brother will be there at the door...
 HE: Waves upon a tropical shore!
SHE: My maiden aunt's mind is vicious...
 HE: Gosh your lips are delicious.
SHE: Well maybe just a cigarette more.
 HE: Never such a blizzard before.

SHE: I've got to go home...
 HE: But baby, you'd freeze out there.
SHE: Say, lend me a comb...
 HE: It's up to your knees out there.
SHE: You've really been grand...
 HE: I thrill when you touch my hand.
SHE: But don't you see...
 HE: How can you do this thing to me?
SHE: There's bound to be talk tomorrow...
 HE: Think of my lifelong sorrow —
SHE: At least there will be plenty implied...
 HE: If you caught pneumonia and died...
SHE: I really can't stay...
 HE: Get over that old doubt...
SHE: Ah, but it's
 HE: Baby it's
Both: Cold outside.

from the 1949 movie, Jupiter's Darling, performed by Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban, Betty Garrett, and Red Skelton

Betty Garrett turns the tables nicely on Red Skelton in the movie version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MFJ7ie_yGU

---

There are some creepy elements in this song that in these days could result in a sexual assault charge (What's in this drink?). But I first heard the song from Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé. And they were married, so I guess it was all right.. Here's a recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dImQllSJ36w

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 10:06 PM

Homer & Jethro recorded a parody version of this song with June Carter (who was later to be known as June Carter Cash) in 1949. You can hear it at YouTube.

Compared to their other parodies, it’s surprising how little they changed the words from the original.

I posted my transcription here.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 10:24 PM

I've always enjoyed the songs of Frank Loesser. I suppose my favorites are "Fugue for Tinhorns," "Baby It's Cold Outside," and "Two Sleepy People." There's a conversation going on between the singers in the best of Loesser's songs, and there's always a lot of clever humor.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Helen
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 01:11 AM

OMG. I am not sure what I think about this idea.

I always thought it was just a yes-no-yes-no conversation with no sinister overtones. Was I wrong, or is this PC gone mad?

Are the lyrics to Baby, It's Cold Outside now too inappropriate for radio?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 03:04 AM

Hi, Helen -
Well, I think it's a lesson that we tread a thin line, and we all need to be more understanding of each other. I'm sure many of us have been in a situation where the other person is more (or less) amorous than we are, and there's a "leap" that takes us to the next level in a relationship - or not. It can be awkward, but such is life.
"Say, what's in this drink?" has different implications now, than it had in 1949.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 04:14 AM

Sorry for the blank post - this web interface can be a little precipitous.
Leenia's point about key is valid, but the relationships of the chords would be the same - a I, VIm, IV, V chord sequence is the same basic sequence whether it's C, Am, F, G or G, Em, C, D.
Perhaps a good argument for Nashville notation.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 01:30 PM

All of the PC / #MeToo viewpoints are not to be counted out.

Having said that,
I feel that at least the interpretation recorded
by Betty Carter (at the high extreme of her voice)
and Ray Charles leaves little doubt
that both parties are consenting adults,
and the entire back-and-forth between them is about
an understanding between two grown-ups who know what they are doing.

For example, when Betty Carter half-sings, half-speaks
"I gotta go home -- "
I hear a complete absence of victim or fear in her voice.
She sounds as though she knows exactly what she is about.

So maybe it is an interpretation question?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Helen
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 02:21 PM

I think you are correct, Joe.

"Say, what's in this drink?" has different implications now, than it had in 1949.

Hindsight, in view of the #MeToo movement and other social issues, and the change in acceptable social behaviour over the decades, makes us rethink the old songs and movies.

Pre-contraception era was a different game altogether for women, too. (I was going to say "ballgame" but that might be misconstrued in this context. LOL)

Mark Bluemel, thanks for the chord info. Yes, I realise that it is different key change, but I went searching for the actual chords used in the Redbone/Deschanel version and then was surprised that there were two offerings in different keys. The suggestion of using the notation is good for adjusting to different vocal ranges.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 02:47 PM

You have to be searching pretty hard to find anything "sinister" in this amusing bit of fluff.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 06:46 PM

–––"Say, what's in this drink?" has different implications now, than it had in 1949.

I'm not so sure about that. Chloral hydrate was around long before 1949.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 12:05 PM

Anyone raised on ancient black and white crime movies
will be familiar with the term "Mickey Finn"...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: leeneia
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 12:38 PM

Now that I think about it, every recording I have ever heard of this song has featured two adults. It would be an entirely different thing if the female sounded 17 while the male sounded 40.

I think it would be great fun to switch the roles and have the male sing "I really can't stay..."

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: pdq
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 02:13 PM

great version

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 02:15 PM

The onus should be on oversensitive folks who complain about such cultural trivia,
to prove they aren't complete pillocks...

They shouldn't be automatically pandered to...

as they actually undermine debates about far more important issues that cause real problems in society......

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Helen
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 02:23 PM

We could hold a D&M (deep and meaningful) discussion on the change in social mores over the decades concerning consensual intimate relations, especially in relation to the difference between the decision a woman had to make, a) prior to the invention of reliable contraception, b) in the light of the prevalent beliefs - in Hollywoodland at least - that if she "did it" then she "wasn't the marrying kind".

Jump forward 3 decades from Baby It's Cold Outside and you get this:
Racey - Some Girls 1979

Some girls will, some girls won't
Some girls need a lot of lovin' and some girls don't
Well, I know I've got the fever but I don't know why
Some say they will and some girls lie

So here I am in front of you
Not really knowing what to do
My heart is feeling something new
Nervously I turn away from you
I see the looks you're sending me
Is this the way it's meant to be?
It's something we should talk about
Just give me time to work it out

Some girls will, some girls won't
Some girls need a lot of lovin' and some girls don't
Well, I know I've got the fever but I don't know why
Some say they will and some girls lie

I find your company to be
Something completely new to me
Now that I know you socially
Obviously I'll fall heavily
I've seen those looks you're sending me
This is the way it's meant to be
There's nothing left to talk about
Oh, how I wish you'd work it out

Some girls will, some girls won't
Some girls need a lot of lovin' and some girls don't
Well, I know I've got the fever but I don't know why
Some say they will and some girls lie

Songwriters: Michael Donald Chapman / Nicholas Barry Chinn
Some Girls lyrics © O/B/O Apra Amcos
Artist: Racey
Album: Smash and grab
Released: 1979
Genres: Rock, Pop

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 02:51 PM

So ... I don't see any sentiment being expressed in the Rock song that would have been out of place 30 years earlier - did I miss something, or is that your point?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 02:52 PM

"Some Girls"

Can't tell if you are pro or anti this song...????

I was a 1970s teenager, and a product of very liberal progressive educated thinking,...

I can read that as quite a positive pop song about the clumsy confusion of making the 'right move'...

It's alo a classic bubble gum pop single... one of my favourites...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Helen
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 05:40 PM

No nasturtiums being cast by me. I see it as pretty much the same sentiment as the old song. It popped into my head this morning and I realised how similar the songs are in intent, but Baby It's Cold Outside is more subtle, based more on innuendo which probably fitted that time better.

Take it forward another decade or three and there's not much subtlety about some of the songs. And then flick forward to this last decade which, coming after The Noughties then came into The Tweenies, should be possibly renamed to The Twerkies to better reflect the rock/pop atmosphere. LOL

On another note, I saw an interview with the current line-up of The Four Tops and they sang a little snippet of Cole Porter's song, In the Still of the Night. This isn't a song about getting someone into bed for a quickie. It's a song about a lovely, dreamy expression of romantic hopes and fears.

In The Still Of The Night
As I gaze from my window
At the moon in its flight
My thoughts all stray to you

In The Still Of The Night
All the world is in slumber
All the times without number
Darling when I say to you

Do you love me, as I love you
Are you my life to be, my dream come true
Or will this dream of mine fade out of sight
Like the moon growing dim, on the rim of the hill
In the chill, still, of the night

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 06:19 PM

I don't think Baby It's Cold Outside - not that it bears much analysis - is necessarily about a 'quickie'. I know I never thought of it that way; I assumed the couple were in love - but then I'm a big old mushy, romantic, sentimental softie, as everyone knows.

Btw, I just heard on the news that this song has been pulled from the Christmas playlists of several prominent music outlets in North America. Can't say I'll miss it greatly - but ... pc gone mad, blah, blah, blah, grumble, grumble ......

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Helen
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 06:55 PM

No, me neither. The "quickie" reference I made was more about modern rock/pop songs than this one. I was trying to be funny.

It's obviously not written about a quickie when you watch Frank & Lynn Loesser perform the song

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 11:08 PM

I was just surprised that out of all the millions of candy floss pop songs "Some Girls"
suddenly popped up out of nowhere as an example...

Considering the vast numbers of brutally misogynistic rock and rap songs
that actively propagandise the most severe disrespect, social mistreatment & sexual abuse of women...???


In UK pop, Baby It's Cold Outside has always only ever been held as a lightweight fun novelty song...

Re, the more recent turn of the 21st cent Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews version...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m3JfmExzsQ


two of my wife's Welsh favourites...



btw.. Racey are local West Contry pop heroes - we don't have that many.
I saw them in a pub a week before they changed their name to Racey
and moved to London,
and I once lived across the road from one of them...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Helen
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 11:35 PM

Well punkfolkrocker, you'd have to ask my brain why it suddenly decided to play that tune over and over in my head this morning. LOL

Actually, I probably know the answer to that question. I had been pondering the old dichotomy between "girls who do it" and "girls who don't do it until after marriage" and the difference in the way some blokes treated those two types of girls.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 11:42 PM

"Well punkfolkrocker, you'd have to ask my brain why it suddenly decided to play that tune over and over in my head this morning. LOL"

easy answer, it's a near perfect 1970s pop song - no other reason needed...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: leeneia
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 12:55 AM

Once again we see that you can get a lot more free publicity by being silly than by striving to do good.

The media won't publicize not-for-profits that try to help prostitutes (who are often minors), but they'll give precious inches to somebody complaining about an old song.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 04:10 AM

The appalling Piers Morgan has just had a lot of fun on ITV this morning, arguing for the innocence of this song against a committed feminist. I found myself in agreement with him, having always assumed that the song's couple were already in a relationship, but taken in isolation it's certainly possible to read a dark side into the lyrics.

Luckily there's nothing more important going on in the world to distract from this pressing problem.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 05:30 AM

For a different take on the song here's Tallulah Bankhead and Jack Carson. It's certainly not Tallulah who's in peril!

Tallulah

LFF

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 11:05 AM

I was reading a defence of this song by a "committed feminist" last night - no, I don't have too much time on my hands, thank you; I'm just easily distracted - in which she said, among other things, that the question, "Say, what's in this drink?" was a humorous catch-phrase of the day, that shows up here and there in old movies in situations where someone is agreeing to something despite whatever their qualms may be. Now, I've never noticed that ... anyone?

Subject: Baby Its Cold Outside - radio ban
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 12:53 PM

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Article about banning of the song by some radio stations

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baby-its-cold-outside-backlash-as-more-radio-stations-ban-song-over-lyrics-amid-metoo-movement/


Mudcat Thread with Lyrics
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=97295#1912223

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

time for the pendulum to begin swinging back...its reached its apex

Subject: RE: Baby Its Cold Outside - radio ban
From: robomatic
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 01:00 PM

They should re-write the lyrics to make it acceptable to the Me2s.

Where's Stan Freberg when he's needed?

Subject: RE: Baby Its Cold Outside - radio ban
From: Helen
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 03:22 PM

Hi guys, we have already been discussing the radio ban in this thread, if you would like to wander over there for a chat:

Baby Its Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)

I also posted a link to an Oz news article about the radio ban in that thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 03:35 PM

Hi, Helen - I think Garg was trying to separate the song from the controversy, and there are worthwhile reasons for doing that - but it's confusing to have two current threads on the same song, so I've combined them.

I've always liked the song. I mean, heck, it's a very clever song. But then, I can see how problematic it can be in the face of a very legitimate and necessary campaign to end male sexual harassment of women. I like it that the movie turned the tables and made Betty Garrett the aggressor against Red Skelton, but I think even that doesn't save the song. It's too easy for this song to be used as a tool for perpetuating the Harvey Weinstein / Roger Ailes mentality.


-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Helen
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 03:36 PM

Oops! I meant to post that previous post into the OTHER thread that was started. Help, please Joe!! Could you delete it from this thread please?

No, hang on a minute Joe or Joe-clone. Are you trying to MESS WITH MY HEAD? LOL It's working. You've already melded the two threads together.

Thanks heaps.

The feminist perspective mentioned by meself.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 03:38 PM

It's OK, Helen..... I suppose I could alter the posts from you and Gargoyle to make them perfect, but I think that "perfect" is highly overrated...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Helen
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 03:52 PM

I count myself as a feminist, and I totally agree that the #MeToo campaign should have happened a long, long time ago.

I also count myself as a person who prefers to act on rational, evidence-based decision making, so that's why I personally think that in this instance, the banning of this song on a radio station is taking PC a step too far. However, sometimes I think it's worthwhile to flag an issue and evaluate it e.g. looking at a line in an old song from a new perspective, rather than simply ignoring the issue.

In my final analysis, I've always liked this song, both musically and lyrically.

I've tended to see it in the context in which it is set, and I also tend to look at it in the context of women's choices in that society, at that time in history rather than trying to force-fit it into the current social and moral context.

Humans evolve - sometimes not necessarily in the most productive directions (twerking, for example? Why does the world’s top player refuse to play for her country?) - but on the whole, usually for the better of humankind so the analysis of an old song within the current social climate serves a purpose but it would be a shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I am again adding my fave quote for the decade:

"If we’re to survive this post-truth world we seem to have found ourselves in, it’s time to stand up for evidence-based decision-making, critical thought, facts, rational discussion and transparent, open communication." Joanne McCarthy

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 04:08 PM

"It's too easy for this song to be used as a tool for perpetuating the Harvey Weinstein / Roger Ailes mentality."

Joe, you usually talk sense - but come on ... !

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Dec 18 - 03:20 AM

Meself, I gotta say, I'm torn on this one. I see both sides. But then again, I really like this song. I can think of a number of women I'd like to sing it with, but I don't think I'd get up the courage to ask them. All in all, it IS a pretty daring song, to have been written in 1944.

The Wikipedia article on the song is interesting, as is a piece from National Public Radio. Oh, and there's an interesting take on the issue in Variety.

But what I called the "Weinstein/Ailes" mentality is very strong, and it's a daunting hurdle for women. Seems to me, we may need a little overcorrection to defeat Weinstein/Ailes - I'm willing to sacrifice this song, if that's what it takes.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 06 Dec 18 - 08:32 PM

Okay, well - while we're at it, let's get rid of all those carols that are preoccupied with the status of a teenage girl's hymen; they certainly seem to be promoting outdated patriarchal control of female sexuality ....

There are few older songs that can withstand this kind of scrutiny; I suggest we simply ban from public performance all songs whose lyricists are no longer alive and able to be held to account.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 04:09 AM

My feeliong about the song is that it's mutually flirtatious.
I very much doubt the woman is being led astray.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Senoufou
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 07:21 AM

I very much like your post of 5th Dec Helen. Feminist and rational.
I agree totally.

There are so many songs which are 'of their time' and would be howled down today. But they are part of our history and our past.
As long as one is aware of the slightly dubious content, one can generally have them around without getting too aerated.

Obviously, there are limits to this, and several songs which are overtly racist or dreadfully offensive should be avoided.
It's surely just a case of using some common sense.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 04:40 PM

Me and the mrs just watched the Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews video from nearly 20 years ago...

Rakish devil Tom does slyly slip a magical love potion into the drink...

What was a casual joke back then, really is cringy now...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 06:20 PM

As I said, if you switch the allocation of lines so the woman has the man's lines and vice versa it would still work. Where's the rule that women can't make the running in this kind of situation?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 07:06 PM

A song from the mid to late 60s on a similar theme, featuring a duet with a borderline folk singer ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCsp5WBk7kw

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 07:30 PM

Here's the 1999 Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews performance of Baby It's Cold Outside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m3JfmExzsQ

Kinda reminiscent of Bluebeard, I think.



Here's their 2008 effort:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNWsk6AUqGU

Still sexy, but not kinky like the 1999 performance.



-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Loesser)
From: robomatic
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 08:33 PM

I grew up with this song. Loved it, as I did pretty much anything done by Flanders and Swann.

But can it survive in this day and age. Does its humour outlast its subtext?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 08:43 PM

Yes, I see the dilemma:

Have some Madeira, m'dear!
I've got a small cask of it here,
And once it's been opened, you know, it won't keep.
Do finish it up, it will help you to sleep ...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 08:53 PM

"Have Some Madeira, M'Dear!" was a trademark song for Lou Gottlieb of the Limeliters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hO4qvEtPZ4

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: robomatic
Date: 08 Dec 18 - 08:22 PM

I have several Flanders and Swann records, and Flanders post-scripted a performance of this song on a live recording saying:

"Donald Swann's ten year old nephew loves this song...
Sings it all the time. . .
He thinks it's about CAKE!"

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: leeneia
Date: 09 Dec 18 - 03:40 PM

Back to Baby It's Cold Outside.

There was a heartfelt letter to the editor today. This writer expressed dismay about "Say, what's in this drink?" I can see how somebody who got dosed with rohypnol and then raped would find that line hard to take.

Would somebody please folk-process that rhyme and get the bad taste out of our mouths? We don't have to throw away a brilliant set of lyrics because of one line.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 09 Dec 18 - 04:33 PM

Well, one way to go at it would be to consider the rhyme in the couplet.

You could start, for instance, by changing

"the neighbors might think"

to, say,

"the neighbors might tell" ...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: robomatic
Date: 09 Dec 18 - 05:37 PM

Another song that for all I can find out has been ignored but should be on the #METOO list is playing right now at Starbucks:

"Santa Baby"


Sounds cute, dunnit? But it sorta sounds like the cutesie-pie antics of a kept 'person' who is trying to up the take. . .

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 09 Dec 18 - 08:22 PM

D'ya think?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Dec 18 - 09:04 PM

They taught my grandson in school to sing,

"Don we now our fine apparel."

And as somebody just pointed out on the radio, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was bullied by all of the other reindeer.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Dec 18 - 06:23 PM

Finally, a "woke" version we can all sing with gusto:

BABY, JUST GO OUTSIDE by the Holderness Family

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Dec 18 - 04:14 PM

I think Bill Cosby gave a death sentence to the "Say, what's in this drink?" version. There needs to be a revision, and it's an interesting challenge to revise the song in a way that respects its original clever, literate humor.

Here is a revision from a couple who are what I'm guessing to be millennials. I kinda like it. It's not prudish, and it's not just an attempt to censor out objectionable things like cigarettes and spiked drinks. Take a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amK4U4pCTB8

It's by Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski.

---

And here's a really cute one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bbuBubZ1yE

It's by Idina Menzel & Michael Bublé. They also edited out the objectionable parts - but in 2014, before all this kerfuffle.

---

And here's one where Lady Gaga and Joseph Gordon-Levitt sing the original words on a special Lady Gaga did with the Muppets - they even included the cigarette:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtoW4aV-CIc

I don't think that "pre-enlightened" recordings of the song should be banned, but I do think that, since the conviction of Bill Cosby, there's a need for new recordings to "re-envision" the lyrics.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Dec 18 - 11:19 AM

The way it is now, Santa can't say "ho ho ho" anymore.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 13 Dec 18 - 11:22 AM

Sing or don't sing, just don't ban. It is only a song. If we banned all non-PC songs most of the blues and folk repertoire would be out. "Shake your money-maker" anyone?
RtS

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: keberoxu
Date: 06 Dec 19 - 11:50 PM

refresh?

I still like
Ray Charles and Betty Carter
balancing cool and hot together.


And I agree,
how the interpretation is put across can make all the difference.
The song is supposed to tickle,
not inflame ...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Dec 19 - 02:59 AM

As long as the relationship is consensual, there's nothing at all wrong with the flirtation in this song. It reminds me of some lovely, cold nights in the days when I was single. It was nice, snuggling under the skylight and looking up at the stars...and much warmer than doing it alone.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 07 Dec 19 - 05:28 AM

As soon as you hear the dreaded “ problematic” , run away...as fast as you can.
However “ committed feminist” has a Nice ring to it.
But then there is the retirement of St. George., having slain the most dangerous dragon, he is now turning his sword and lance upon newts.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Dec 19 - 09:31 AM

It is only nice by the fire if you aren't trying to leave.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 09 Dec 19 - 12:56 PM

It's "Lord Gregory" backwards.

The heroine of that one did leave and look what happened to her.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 11 Dec 19 - 10:41 AM

Well, I hadn't thought of it as Lord gregory in reverse, but it makes sense. As for what happened to "her", well, there was likely no good outcome for her either way.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: leeneia
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 11:57 AM

People who don't like "Say, what's in this drink?" can change it. It's called folk process.

"I don't need a drink." comes to mind.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 12:23 PM

Changing the well known lyrics of a fifty year old song probably has a name, but it isn't "folk process".

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 12:52 PM

Wondering if we can call this a Christmas tradition yet: the annual show of indignation inspired by Baby, It's Cold Outside. You know, like the traditional late spring, early summer outrage over "dress codes; violations and consequences" in a sample of American high schools ....

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 01:12 PM

So, what do we do about "Sweet Little Sixteen", She was just seventeen, John Lennon..I used to be cruel to my woman, I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved, Dire Straits; that little faggot is a millionaire. Mike MacGear...Norton; Norton is a pansy boy.... Some schools have banned Deck The Halls.."don we now our Gay apparel..where does this end. See my comment in an earlier post about the Retirement of St. George. This is right up there with the "outrage" about Halloween costumes and the protests in Washington state against women who were not Mexican selling tacos from a street cart....I sometimes think there are no adults left.
   Music is of its time and place and should be regarded not through the prism of "outrage", but through the ethos of the time in which it was written, otherwise there would hardly be a song left.
I shudder to think what would happen to" Get Back" by the Beatles..Joe joe was a man who thought he was a woman but he was another man,,, of where is the fainting couch ?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 01:26 PM

Changing the well known lyrics of a fifty year old song probably has a name, but it isn't "folk process".

Bowdlerization comes to mind.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 01:29 PM

Would you be able to provide a link to something that supports the 'schools banning Deck the Halls' claim? Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 01:43 PM

I can't provide a link but the school, Cherry Knoll elementary Is in Michigan. It was the music teacher who insisted on the change. However, parents were not at all pleased with this imposition of political correctness, took the matter up with the school administration who quickly decided to withdraw support for this absurdity. This teacher should not be in a classroom, he/she should be in therapy. If you are that determined to take offence, you need to take a long rest and get over yourself.
Thank you SRS, Bowlderize is exactly the word...and the Puritans are still here.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: meself
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 02:23 PM

Thanks for that background. I would point out that that seems to have been one teacher at one school - as opposed to "some schools".

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 02:29 PM

Apparently it was not an isolated incident, several schools in California had the same Prproblematic approach to the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 03:16 PM

To Deck the Halls, or baby it's cold outside, which last is rapey rapey rapey?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Baby It's Cold Outside (Frank Loesser)
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 12 Dec 19 - 03:19 PM

It,s What ? Explain please...please!