Stop Shaming 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' — It's Not A Bad Song Like People Believe | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Lifestyle

Stop Shaming 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' — It's Not A Bad Song Like People Believe

Here's the truth about the commonly miscommunicated Christmas song.

23
Stop Shaming 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' — It's Not A Bad Song Like People Believe

I'm not a huge Christmas person. But one thing I do enjoy about this holiday season is the holiday music, and one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time is "Baby it's Cold Outside."

Now I know this article is probably going to offend some people but please, hold your comments about how this song is about "oppression" and "rape" until I finish making my point. Because I intend to prove that "Baby It's Cold Outside" is NOT at all creepy, and that it is, in fact, quite the opposite, if you actually listen to the entire song and not just the occasional verse.

Origination Of The Song:

Something I feel is important to mention about this song is where it came from. This song wasn't just written by some professional songwriter who thought it would be a sly way to convince women to go along with whatever a man tells them to do. This piece was actually written by a man named Frank Loesser, who created the song so he and his wife could sing it together in front of their friends as a way of expressing their love.

In the 1940s, when this song was written, women were punished for going around with men they weren't married to. And because of that, we should be looking at this song through a different pair of glasses. It features an unmarried couple with a female who knows she shouldn't stay because of how it would affect her reputation but desperately wants to be able to. The entirety of the song is just her giving herself reasons why she can't stay and her male partner telling her that she should stop worrying about what others will think and just give in to her desires.

"Say, What's In This Drink?"

When the argument is made that this song is creepy, the most popular argument that I hear being made is that the line "Say what's in this drink?" implies that the man in the song is drugging the female. Now when you take this line out of context, it's going to sound bad no matter what it originally came from. Which is why I don't think it's fair that people overanalyze this lyric without putting it both in the context of the song and the decade. The part right before she sings, "Say what's in this drink?," the lady says, "But maybe just a half a drink more," showing that she asked her male partner to make her drink and the line that follows is simply her reaction to a tasty drink. You can overanalyze it all you want, but that is the line's intended meaning.

The Song As A Whole

When people criticize this song, they often just look at individual lines and not the song as a whole. As I said before, when you take anything out of context, it's going to lose most of its original meaning, and that's very true with this song.

If you listen to the song as a whole, it becomes clear that the lady in this song wants to be with her male partner, but society is telling her no. Therefore, this whole song is her trying to convince herself to conform to society, while her male partner is trying to get her to follow her heart and do what she wants. And what she wants is to stay with him.

In today's society, I can understand why people are misinterpreting one of my favorite holiday songs. With the 'me too' movement going strong, this song certainly can give off a weird vibe to those who focus on that one lyric. But the history behind the song proves that it was intended to be nothing more than an innocent piece for a husband and wife to sing together.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Entertainment

Disney magic for New Year!

The "Happiest Place on Earth" has a lot of characters with some pretty great advice.

4580
Disney magic kingdom castle on new years
StableDiffusion

Disney movies are well known and very popular in today's world. Although many people appreciate the plot and the storyline, not many people appreciate the wisdom these characters possess. Every Disney movie has unique advice that can be applied to everyday life. Here are 11 Disney quotes to help start your New Year off right:

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

40 Gift Ideas for the Indecisive

It's a time of love, family, memory-making, and gift-giving. But also a time of stressing over the perfect gift.

118977
Christmas gifts around a tree
StableDiffusion

It's officially December. There is less than a month of 2024, and I still feel like yesterday was summer. Now comes the merriest time of the year, the Christmas season.

Everyone has been waiting for this time of year since mid-October (which is way too early, in my opinion) or before. It's a time of love, family, memory-making, and gift-giving. A lot of times when I ask friends and family what they want, I get a lot of "I don't know" or "I don't care."

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

Bucket List To Live In The Now

Find excitement in your life and start exploring wherever you are right here, right now.

997
mu bucket list

I was sitting at my cubicle, now that I am an adult, looking at the rain pouring down on the windowsill, bumming on life, wishing for the rain to just stop for a full day.

There are moments where we count down the hours until work is over and how many more days till the weekend, and this many weeks until something exciting. Or something like that? Well, I was bumming because my next day off from work is not until Memorial Day weekend, which is not until the end of May. And since this is my first year out of college being a “real person,” I am totally missing the winter, spring and summer breaks. I am sure all of us have felt this way even if just for a hot minute…

Keep Reading...Show less
Entertainment

11 Ways To Survive Finals As Told By Leslie Knope

Because you know you're going to be stressed out, and Leslie knows exactly how to survive.

726
Everything hurts and I'm dying

So finals are on their way. That's right everybody, finals are about to start.

But hey, don't panic. Start getting your affairs in order and prepare for a week of hell. Here's a few things Leslie Knope wants you to do to make your finals week just a little bit less stressful:

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

10 Signs You Go To Kent State

You know you're a true Kent Stater when...

809
Kent State University
Great Value Colleges

If you go to or went to Kent State, then more than likely you have done or will do some of these things.

1. You’ve slipped and fallen on the ice at least once.

The winters at Kent are brutal, and while the heated sidewalks and some great snow boots are always a help, there’s no chance you won’t bust it on the ice at least once in your four plus years at school.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments