It wasn't until last Christmas that I really started paying attention to the contents of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and began to take issue with the lyrics. In an age where consensual sex is a hot and important topic, I wasn't surprised to find that other people find the lyrics as problematic as I do.
Disgusted with the undertones of the song, Minnesota couple Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski recently rewrote the lyrics to be consensual, and let the woman leave like she wants, with the male voice crooning "Baby, I'm fine with that." The infamous original lyric, "Say, what's in this drink?" is still included in the new version, but is instead followed up with "Pomegranate La Croix!" The singer-songwriters are working on having the track be available on Spotify and iTunes, and proceeds will be donated to organizations that help survivors of sexual assault.
Liza and Lemanski aren't the only people to find the lyrics creepy and indicative of date rape. Many shows over the years have contested the content of the song through comedy sketches, including Key and Peele, Saturday Night Live, and Funny or Die.
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" was originally written in 1944 by Frank Loesser, lyricist and composer of the musical Guys and Dolls. He wrote it as a duet with his wife (who regarded it as their special song), to be sung at dinner parties before selling it in 1948. The following year, it was recorded for the film Neptune's Daughter, and has been a mainstream Christmas song ever since.
Ironically, around the time it was written, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" was regarded as an anthem for progressive women, as it was viewed that the woman's voice would very much like to stay, but is worried about the social implications that come with staying the night at a man's house as a young woman, noting the line, "My maiden aunt’s mind is vicious"--and would therefore assume that she, a supposed good girl, is having premarital sex with her beau. It can also be said that the line, "Say what's in this drink?" was a common phrase of the time period and refers to the woman wanting to stay, but is again worried about what society will think of her.
Whatever the intentions and historical context, it is still important to note that there were predatory undertones in the original writing of the song. In the call-and-response style format, the lyrics typically sung by a male voice were labeled "wolf" by Loesser and the lyrics typically sung by a female labeled "mouse."
It's likely that we find the lyrics so deplorable due to our modern day view, even though the lyrics were just seen as "flirty" in the 1940s. Today, the majority of rapes are committed by a non-stranger. Rapes occur on college campuses (and very little is done about it) frequently, with the victim often forced to take the blame. Women heading off to college are often warned not to leave their drink unattended at a party.
It's time to embrace Liza and Lemanski's new, consensual version, and leave the supposed progressive for its time period version in the past.
