I love listening to Christmas music, with the exception of a handful of songs that irk me. "Baby It's Cold Outside" is a song I've always liked, musically. I love male/female duets, and I like the tune.
But I started thinking more about the lyrics lately and it's pretty much a terrible song about a guy who doesn't get that "no means no."
I never really thought about it that way. I looked at it as, the girl is trying to do the right thing but what she really wants is to stay. Kind of an internal squabble with herself.
But then there's lyrics like this that blatantly disregard her response:
"I ought to say 'no, no, no sir.'" - her
"Mind if I move in closer?" - him
I mean all throughout the song he disregards her concerns by citing the weather as a reason to stay, but in this case he is specifically doing the opposite of what she is saying.
And then there's the guilt-tripping:
"At least I'm gonna say that I tried [to say no]" - her
"What's the sense in hurting my pride?" - him
"How can you do this thing to me?" - him
Because if you turn a guy down for sex, you'll hurt his feelings. So say yes, even if your gut tells you you need to get out of there. Um...no.
He also guilt trips her by saying, "Think of my life long sorrow...if you caught pneumonia and died..." - not really showing a concern for her own life but just that he'd suffer if she died.
But the line that really gets me is this one:
"Say, what's in this drink?" - her
"No cabs to be had out there..." - him
So he spiked her drink with, at the very least, more alcohol than she intended, and at the worst...well, some kind of drug? It's not clear since he completely ignores her question. Although her following line "I wish I knew how...to break the spell..." could be referring to hormones or the impact of alcohol/drugs.
So...maybe this song will become another one in my handful that I turn the radio off for.
