Hey, everyone! I decided to share some of my favorite edits/MV’s on YouTube (DISCLAIMER: NONE OF THEM ARE BY ME). I spend a lot of time watching these videos (almost too much lol).
your yearly reminder that Baby It’s Cold Outside is a song about a woman having CONSENSUAL sex, at a time when premarital sex was frowned upon. The female singer is offering up the token demurrals society expects her to, because it’s expected, not bc she doesn’t fully intend to stay and have awesome sex with a dude she’s into. The male singer knows this, and is in turn offering her an excuse to give to the neighbors in the morning (“it was too cold for me to go home, the only responsible thing to do was spend the night at his place. because of the weather, get your minds out of the gutter”). A 1950s audience would have understood all this, but the nuance gets lost in a modern age where women are actually allowed to say yes when they mean it.
Also the “hey what’s in this drink” thing was a common joke at the time, where the punchline was that there was in fact nothingin the drink. the woman’s making a joke that she wouldn’t do this if she was sober, oh goodness no! it’s only a joke bc both she and the man are in on the punchline: she is sober, and is only staying bc she wants to
my tags: The female singer IS saying yes but using an outdated social script that doesn’t translate well to the 21st century. this song was funny and sweet to 1950s audiences bc it was about two people having fun and hooking up, and using the winter weather as an excuse
#it’s a fun song about having fun sex while being snowed in together. which as i say it i realize is ABSOLUTELY a fanfic trope #they were SNOWED IN TOGETHER. and there was only ONE BED #OH MY GOD THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED
I still love this cheeky, sarcastic duet!
It’s just “perverse” and not aged well according to our current-day culture
It’s contemporary to the time. Here’s the original. Has me laughing every time, especially the guy who put on his lady’s coat and hat, indignantly grabs her purse, does a little ‘good day’ bounce, and leaves, then realizes what he’s done. His lady is relentless. :D
i’ve never seen the original and it’s a lot funnier than i expected!
there’s 2 couples, and one of the women sings the part “traditionally” sung by men
“what’s in this drink” the second guy asks after drinking out of a vase full of flowers
the whole accidental crossdressing bit
anyway, this song was fun in the context of its time, and it’s fine to still appreciate it in that context. but the lyrics have aged poorly, and we probably shouldn’t be blaring re-mixes every year at grocery stores. the context makes it better, but the context has been largely removed by time, and there’s nothing stopping us from writing new songs. it’s a fun novelty, but (much like the romantic partners in this video) it shouldn’t be forcing itself so relentlessly on modern audiences.
