Actor and singer Frank Sinatra with fellow performer Dean Martin during filming. Both singers have performed the song "Baby It's Cold Outside," with Martin's rendition being the most played version. (Keystone Features/Getty Images)
One of the few radio stations to pull “Baby It’s Cold Outside” from its Christmas playlist has put the song back on the airwaves after polling its listeners.
After an Ohio station pulled the Christmas favorite, citing concerns about it being “manipulative and wrong” in the #MeToo age, San Fransisco’s KOIT followed suit on Dec. 3, saying the song was on pause while it consulted its audience.
A week later, after a poll of thousands of listeners, and the song is back.
Other stations have also banned the song, only to reverse the decision after it sparked outrage.
“More than seven out of every 10 listeners who responded said although some lyrics of the song may reflect a different era and a different sensibility than today, still they love the tradition and history of the song, and want to hear it as part of their holiday season,” Figula said.
“Baby It’s Cold Outside” is a duet featuring a woman saying she will leave a man’s house as he implores her to stay (although in some performances the roles are switched).
A Husband and Wife Duet
Cleveland station WDOK Christmas 102.1 sparked the controversy when it pulled the song from its around-the-clock rotation of Christmas music last week after a listener complained.
“When the song was written in 1944, it was a different time, but now while reading it, it seems very manipulative and wrong,” wrote Glenn Anderson, one of the station’s hosts, in a post on the WDOK website. “The world we live in is extra sensitive now, and people get easily offended, but in a world where #MeToo has finally given women the voice they deserve, the song has no place.”
Two Canadian broadcasters have also said they intend to pull the song from their playlists, along with other stations in Cleveland and Denver.
The song was originally written in 1944 by Guys and Dolls writer Frank Loesser as a duet to be performed with his wife.
It became an instant hit in their circle of friends. Loesser sold the rights to MGM, and the song found fame in the 1949 movie “Neptune’s Daughter.”
The most popular version piped out over the airwaves is Dean Martin’s 1959 rendering on his album “A Winter Romance.”
Deana Martin, daughter of the legendary singer, recently dismissed the concerns about the song, telling Fox News it was just a “cute, flirtatious, and romantic song”—and that she’s going to keep singing it.
Singer Deana Martin at The Players Club in New York City on Nov. 12, 2008. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
“It’s been recorded by dozens of the world’s top recording artists for over 60 years, including my dad Dean Martin,” she said.
Here are the full lyrics to the song:
I really can’t stay (but baby, it’s cold outside)
I’ve got to go away (but 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)
But maybe just a half a drink more (put some records 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 in closer?)
At least I’m gonna say that I tried (what’s the sense in hurtin’ my pride?)
I really can’t stay (oh baby don’t hold out)
But baby, it’s cold outside
I simply must go (but baby, it’s cold outside)
The answer is no (but baby, it’s cold outside)
Your welcome has been(how lucky that you dropped in)
So nice and warm (look out the window at this dawn)
My sister will be suspicious (gosh your lips look delicious)
My brother will be there at the door (waves upon the tropical shore)
My maiden aunt’s mind is vicious (gosh your lips are delicious)
But maybe just a cigarette more (never such a blizzard before)
I’ve gotta get home(but baby, you’d freeze out there)
Say lend me a coat(it’s up to your knees out there)
You’ve really been grand (i thrill when you touch my hand)
But don’t you see? (how can you do this thing to me?)
There’s bound to be talk tomorrow (think of my lifelong sorrow)
At least there will be plenty implied (if you got pneumonia and died)
I really can’t stay (get over that old out)
Baby, it’s cold
Baby, it’s cold outside
Simon Veazey is a UK-based journalist who has reported for The Epoch Times since 2006 on various beats, from in-depth coverage of British and European politics to web-based writing on breaking news.
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