Baby It's Cold Outside: then & now

The Academy Award winning song, "Baby It's Cold Outside" was originally written by Frank Loesser and Lynn Garland in 1944 and was made famous in the 1949 Ester Williams film, Neptune's Daughter. The holiday jingle was sung at house parties to indicate to guests that the party was over and it was time to leave. By the time it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song it was already a Christmas time classic. 

The duet features lyrics that are sung in conversation style by the "host" (called the wolf which is usually sung by a male) and a "guest" (called the mouse which is usually sung by a female). 

Over the years, the song has been covered and remade countless times: Sammy Davis Jr and Carmen McRae in 1957, Dean Martin in 1959, Ray Charles and Betty Carter in 1961, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey and in 2004 along with Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart that same year, Willie Nelson and Nora Jones in 2009, and there's more where that came from, a lot more.

It's continued to pop up in movies over the decades too: 1991's For the Boys with Bette Midler and James Caan, 1996's Starlight with Vanessa Williams and Bobby Caldwell, 2003's Elf with Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell/Leon Redbone, just to name a few. 

Sixty years after it's release, since 2009, "Baby It's Cold Outside" has gotten criticism and backlash  over it's lyrics, deeming them to imply or depict sexual assault or harassment. Ten years after the controversy began, we have a brand new "Baby It's Cold Outside" with brand new lyrics. 

Jon Legend and Kelly Clarkson got together and recorded what some are calling a "modernized" version of the classic Christmas song. It's the duo's first time doing a Christmas collaboration and this new version is on Legend's updated 2018 A Legendary Christmas album which just dropped last month.

The beloved song sounds exactly the same as the original: Clarkson's delivery whispy and timid while Legend is charming and flirty. The only difference is the lyrics but even then, you have to listen closely. Most of the changes are in the male's response to the female's lyrics. 

For example: 

- "what will my friends think..."

- "I think they should rejoice" 

- "... if I have one more drink"

- "it's your body, it's your choice" 

Some see the lyrics in the original song not as being about a guy at a party who won't take no for an answer but as a glimpse at a time when woman were not allowed to be openly sexual. Meaning, the woman being portrayed in the song is in a tug of war with the expectations of what a woman "should be" in society's standards and her natural desires.   

Both are profound, really. When it comes down to it, the gift of "Baby It's Cold Outside" is that it's given woman a voice for over 70 years now. It just depends on how you look at it and there's no denying, either way, that this Holiday favorite is here to stay.