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'Baby It's Cold Outside' banned by Cleveland radio station


Flossie

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'Baby It's Cold Outside' banned by Cleveland radio station

A Cleveland radio station dedicated to Christmas music has decided to remove the song 'Baby It's Cold Outside' after a listener complained about the lyrics.  After the initial complaint, the station polled listeners and then took the song off it's playlist.

Article about the removal of the song:

https://ew.com/music/2018/12/02/baby-its-cold-outside-banned-by-cleveland-radio-station/

Song lyrics:

The woman leads, the mans lyrics are in italics.

"Baby It's Cold Outside"

(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
 (Well, maybe just 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 of hurting my pride
 (I really can't stay) Baby, don't hold doubt
[Both] Baby, it's cold outside

 (I simply must go) Baby, it's cold outside
 (The answer is no) Baby, it's cold outside
 (The welcome has been) How lucky that you dropped in
 (So nice and warm) Look out the window at the storm
(My sister will be suspicious) Gosh your lips look delicious
 (My brother will be there at the door) Waves upon a 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 got to 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 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 doubt
[Both] Baby, it's cold
[Both] Baby, it's cold outside

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Unpopular opinion. This isn't about date rape. She clearly wants to stay but is afraid of what other people will think. That's my interpretation of the song.

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Maybe the reason* is that as it is currently cold outside, the lyrics will encourage people to stay over at their boyfriends'?  That's all I've got.

Actually I suppose it could be that her wishes are being ignored by the man who is hassling her to stay and have sex with him, but that is incredibly tenuous.

*using that word in its loosest sense

@RosyDaisy That's what I thought as well.

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I am more offended by that Horrible Tom Jones song about his  graceful women knowing   her place  so she is winner and he can even take to dinner because she can act well in public . Sounds like he is talking about a purebred dog. Why he can trust her to be by herself! He can leave her alone without her making a mess! Can’t figure out why that has never got flack. 

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Actually, I never liked the song.  The man is clearly ignoring her desire to leave and pressuring her to stay.  I wish I could find the video that went with the song, he's removing her stole when she puts it on, then takes her hat off and takes her purse, tries to corner her on the couch, etc.

When the song was written in the 1940's the author wrote it for he and his wife to sing, apparently a tongue in cheek story about how she valiantly tried to uphold her virtue when he knew that they were destined to marry and live together happily ever after, and in the end she finally succumbed to his charms and true love won out.  But today?  It's just another man trying to get his way, especially when the woman asks "Say, what's in this drink?"

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@Flossie If the video is like that I agree with you.  The lyrics on their own are innocuous, I thought, but if that's what's supposed to happen then it puts a different spin on it.

They used to write a lot of comedy songs about date rape in the 40s/50s; I remember one called 'Have Some Madeira' or something similar, where the man pumps the woman full of wine until she passes out, has sex with her while she's unconscious and then pushes more booze on her when she comes round.  Hilarious.

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I don’t think this song is at all date rapey. When you listen to it, or watch the video, they are both clearly being playful. In the context of the time and her culture she could not stay the night at a man’s house without a really good “excuse” - wanting to get laid was not a good excuse. Being snowed in, was. 

http://persephonemagazine.com/2010/12/listening-while-feminist-in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/

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I'm with @RosyDaisy on the meaning of the lyrics. However, the words of the song are ambiguous. How they are interpreted, is up to the listener. 

That said, if the original authors of the song meant it to be innocuous, why should we now attach another meaning into it?

I've found a video. Please look at the whole thing, there is a twist at the end...

 

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On Sketchy songs from the 50’s here is Doris Day singing  about how a Guy is a Guy 

 

I walked down the street like a good girl should
He followed me down the street like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
So listen and I'll tell you what this fella did to me

I walked to my house like a good girl should
He followed me to my house like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
So listen while I tell you what this fella did to me

I never saw the boy before
So nothin' could be sillier
At closer range his face was strange
But his manner was familiar

So I walked up the stairs like a good girl should
He followed me up the stairs like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
So listen and I'll tell you what this fella did to me

I stepped to my door like a good girl should
He stopped at my door like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
So listen while I tell you what this fella did to me

He asked me for a good night kiss
I said, it's still good day
I would have told him more except
His lips got in the way

So I talked to my ma like a good girl should
And Ma talked to Pa like I knew she would
And they all agreed on a married life for me
The guy is my guy wherever he may be

So I walked down the aisle like a good girl should
He followed me down the aisle like I knew he would
Because a guy is a guy wherever he may be
And now you've heard the story of what someone did to me

And that's what he did to me

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54 minutes ago, tabitha2 said:

I am more offended by that Horrible Tom Jones song about his  graceful women knowing   her place  so she is winner and he can even take to dinner because she can act well in public .

I'm curious now...  What's the name of the song?

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1 hour ago, RosyDaisy said:

Unpopular opinion. This isn't about date rape. She clearly wants to stay but is afraid of what other people will think. That's my interpretation of the song.

This is what I think. But I admit it still annoys me. Fuck your neighbors! I know it was a reflection of the time but boy am I glad I don’t live back then! 

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It's a song. A stupid song. Sorry, I'm not going to see boogeymen everywhere and require that all playfulness between the sexes be eliminated. Issues like pay parity are where I wish people would focus. And yes, sexual predators should be exposed and prosecuted, but this ain't that. I agree with RosyDaisy. It's a song about what will people think. Geesh.

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33 minutes ago, Botkinetti said:

The song is called She’s a Lady. Revolting lyrics.

Thank you!  I remember that song.  But I was probably around 9 or 10 last time I heard it, so didn't pay much attention to the lyrics.  My mother was crazy about Tom Jones though.  ? 

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1 hour ago, Mama Mia said:

I don’t think this song is at all date rapey. When you listen to it, or watch the video, they are both clearly being playful. In the context of the time and her culture she could not stay the night at a man’s house without a really good “excuse” - wanting to get laid was not a good excuse. Being snowed in, was. 

http://persephonemagazine.com/2010/12/listening-while-feminist-in-defense-of-baby-its-cold-outside/

I perceive the meaning the same way. She really wants to stay with her lover; she's afraid of what people would think if she did!

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Here's a link to She's a Lady, with the lyrics.

 

 

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1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

This is what I think. But I admit it still annoys me. Fuck your neighbors! I know it was a reflection of the time but boy am I glad I don’t live back then! 

Yeah, I get that she wants to stay but feels she can't because of what people might think, but I still really don't like the song. Sure, it's meant to be playful, and it's very much of it's time, but still...

It just reminds me of the way, way, way too many times I've wanted out of a situation and "no" was not an acceptable answer. Luckily for me it's mostly been just awkward social situations, but still. It's super uncomfortable and awkward, and every time I hear that song it brings it all back up.

I would never want to ban a song just because it makes me uncomfortable, but I admit I change the station every time that one comes on. It just raises my stress level too much. And I can't imagine what younger women must think of it, who have little concept of how it was seen when it was a new song. 

To me it's one of those things like Dumbo and Song of the South, where I feel like we don't want to forget the history they show, but I kind of wish they could come with a brief history lesson first to put them in context. Because just looking at them with no context, they're pretty awful.

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I hate this dilemma because ever since I saw Buster Poindexter perform it on SNL in the 80s, I've always been really fond of the song, particularly the playful nature of the lyrics as they are clearly bantering.

However.  We are culturally at this point in time where we have to say things that should be obvious like "No means no" and still have men [primarily] behaving badly.  So the line in the song where she says "The answer is no" and he just keeps on pushing, feels like it NEEDS to be objected to because it WOULD be objectionable if that actual interaction happened.

I personally like the song, as I said, but I totally understand why some stations might feel like it's not culturally correct at this point in time.

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The phrase “say, what’s in this drink?” Was apparently a common phrase at that time, kinda like saying “whoa this is one strong drink”. So her saying “say what’s in this drink” isn’t her implying that it’s drugged, it’s her trying to come up with an excuse to stay. 

 

But, culture should be taken into consideration on both sides. I can see how this song, while totally innocent at the time it came out, can appear less than innocent in today’s society.

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It's one thing to say "This song should be retired as an outdated cultural artifact" and another to say it's a rape song. It's not. It's coy and flirty and very much about the rules that dictated "acceptable" social behavior of the time and how people got around them. Claiming otherwise is like saying that the heroines of Jane Austen had sex, because they referred to "lovers." (For some reason, the closest equivilant I can think of in modern English is "beau" but even that's outdated). 

My big issue is that people can't just say "I don't like it" or "It reads badly in modern terms." No, they have to make up some justification that it's "problematic"  by it's very nature, even if they're completely wrong.

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44 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

Yeah, I get that she wants to stay but feels she can't because of what people might think, but I still really don't like the song. Sure, it's meant to be playful, and it's very much of it's time, but still...

It just reminds me of the way, way, way too many times I've wanted out of a situation and "no" was not an acceptable answer. Luckily for me it's mostly been just awkward social situations, but still. It's super uncomfortable and awkward, and every time I hear that song it brings it all back up.

I would never want to ban a song just because it makes me uncomfortable, but I admit I change the station every time that one comes on. It just raises my stress level too much. And I can't imagine what younger women must think of it, who have little concept of how it was seen when it was a new song. 

To me it's one of those things like Dumbo and Song of the South, where I feel like we don't want to forget the history they show, but I kind of wish they could come with a brief history lesson first to put them in context. Because just looking at them with no context, they're pretty awful.

And it's totally ok not to like it, too! I dislike certain songs because they have certain associations for ME as well. Totally fine!

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I also have always looked at it as a flirty song made in another time. Everyone seems to have covered it because it's a fun duet. What cracked me up the other day was that more recent versions of the song have replaced the line "Maybe just a cigarette more" with a repeat of "just another drink more". Can't have smoking in a song these days! :pb_lol:

 It's kind of annoying  because it seems like it comes up on holiday music stations' playlists about every three songs. There's  a wealth of Christmas music out there, people! Play some of it rather than the same 4 or 5 songs over and over. Except Christmas Shoes. That song needs to go away forever. It can be consigned to the trash heap where horrible music fades into obscurity.

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4 hours ago, tabitha2 said:

I am more offended by that Horrible Tom Jones song about his  graceful women knowing   her place  so she is winner and he can even take to dinner because she can act well in public . Sounds like he is talking about a purebred dog. Why he can trust her to be by herself! He can leave her alone without her making a mess! Can’t figure out why that has never got flack. 

Or how about "Delilah"? Guy sees his girlfriend cheating on him, she laughs in his face, he kills her.(And in many jurisdictions at the time, he could've gotten off with a relative slap on the wrist.)

ETA:  Also "Hey Joe"("My woman cheated on me, so I'm gonna kill her").

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