Leon Redbone & Zooey Deschanel - Baby, It's Cold Outside

Thank you, my friend CW5 Jack Cardwell for posting the music video of Leon Redbone & Zooey Deschanel performing a duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside"
This song has been performed for decades by various duets since Frank Loesser wrote this song in 1944 as a "party song for him and his wife, Lynn, to perform for the purpose of entertaining guests."

Here is the songwriter and his wife
Here is composer Frank Loesser (1910-1969) in a duet with his wife Lynn Loesser. The couple original sang the song at Hollywood parties, before it was featured in the Esther Williams film "Neptune's Daughter".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pfvZo2gmm8


1. 1949 Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban; most popular "Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer, backed by the Paul Weston Orchestra."
2. Dinah Shore & Buddy Clark; Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan; and Don Cornell & Laura Leslie
3. 1957, Mae West and Rock Hudson
4. Ray Charles and Betty Carter
6. 1991 Bette Midler and James Caan [1991 movie For The Boys (it plays over the end credits).]
7. 1990's Robert Palmer & Carnie Wilson and Vanessa Williams & Bobby Caldwell

Song background
"One of the classic Tin Pan Alley duets, "Baby It's Cold Outside" has become a holiday favorite, but it was originally a party song written by Frank Loesser for him and his wife, Lynn, to perform for the purpose of entertaining guests. The Loessers knew their way around a song: Frank composed Guys and Dolls and many other musicals; Lynn, a former nightclub singer, co-produced the musical The Most Happy Fella, which Frank wrote.

In 1949, "Baby It's Cold Outside" was used in the movie Neptune's Daughter, where it was performed twice; once with Ricardo Montalban trying to persuade Esther Williams to stay, and again with Betty Garrett trying to detain Red Skelton. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song that year.
Frank Loesser wrote this song in 1944 for a housewarming party he and his wife were throwing after moving into the Hotel Navarro in New York. Their rendition proved very successful and the couple continued to perform the song at parties they attended in New York and Hollywood. Their son John Loesser recalled to The Palm Beach Post December 7, 2010: "It was something that songwriters did in those days. If you were invited to a party, you were expected to sing for your supper. Oscar Levant, Roger Edens, Harry Warren – they all did it. But the song was a private social piece for parties. My mother just loved both the song and the fact that it was hers. And it kept them in champagne and caviar."
Eventually, MGM offered Frank Loesser good money for the song, and used it in Neptune's Daughter. However his wife was not impressed. "He went home and told my mother and she was furious," John recalled to The Palm Beach Post. "You sold our song for Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban!," she complained to her husband. "I felt as betrayed as if I'd caught him in bed with another woman," she complained to their children.
For a long time afterwards, Lynn would simply sigh, "Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban!"
This song is a point-counterpoint between a man and a woman, each with very clear goals: She wants to go home, he wants her to stay. In the end, it's not clear what happens, as they join together to sing the chorus.
The song is generally heard as whimsical fun, but the guy's persistence is a little troubling. When she asks, "What's in this drink?" it makes you wonder if he's trying to get her drunk - or worse.
To keep it from sounding predatory, the female voice in the song is usually a strong one, making it clear that it is her decision.
Several recordings of this song emerged in 1949, the most popular of which was by Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer, backed by the Paul Weston Orchestra. Whiting was a popular singer of the era, but Mercer was better known as a lyricist - he later penned the words to "Moon River." Their version went to #4 on the Billboard chart that year, but renditions by Dinah Shore & Buddy Clark, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan, and Don Cornell & Laura Leslie all charted that year as well.

Oddly, it was the summer of 1949 when the song was hit: Every chart entry happened between May and August. Neptune's Daughter, which popularized it in film, was released that June.
After a wave of recordings in 1949, the song didn't get much attention until 1957, when Mae West and Rock Hudson performed it in a steamy duet at the Academy Awards ceremony. This induced more covers, including a version by Ray Charles and Betty Carter that went to #62 in the US.

There was only a smattering of new recordings in the '70s and '80s, but Bette Midler and James Caan gave it new life when they sang it in the 1991 movie For The Boys (it plays over the end credits). Robert Palmer & Carnie Wilson and Vanessa Williams & Bobby Caldwell are some of the '90s pairings.

In the 2000s, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" found its way onto many Christmas playlists, with the song recorded in every conceivable format. Lady Antebellum hit #103 with their version in 2008, the Glee Cast reached #57 in 2010, and Haley Reinhart & Casey Abrams made #120 in 2011.
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Baby, It's Cold Outside
[She & Him]
I really can't stay, baby it's cold outside
I've got to go away, baby it's cold outside
The 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?
Father will be pacing the floor, listen to the fireplace roar
So really I'd better scurry, beautiful, please don't hurry
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 - Mind if I move in closer?
At least I'm gonna say that I tried - What's the sense in hurting my pride?
I really can't stay - Baby don't hold out
Ah, but it's cold outside
I've got to get home, oh, baby, you'll freeze out there
Say, lend me your coat, it's up to your knees out there
You've really been grand, thrill when you touch my hair
Why 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 hold out
Ah, but it's cold outside
Oh, baby, it's cold outside
Oh, baby, it's cold outside

FYI FYI SP5 Jeannie Carle SPC Chris Bayner-Cwik SPC Diana Rodriguez SPC Diana D. SSG Diane R. LTC Hillary Luton Maj Kim Patterson Sgt Kelli Mays SFC (Join to see) SGT Elizabeth S SSG(P) James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" MSG Andrew White SSG(P) (Join to see) 1SG Steven Imerman COL Mikel J. Burroughs Col Carl Whicker Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen MAJ Rene De La Rosa TSgt David L.

Always surprised me that her sister rose to prominence first. Zooey is cuter, sexier, and more talented

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