I think the Barry Manilow version is best represented by this World of Warcraft machinima featuring a couple of lovestruck gnomes lookin to cozy up for the Feast of Winter Veil (WoW's version of Christmas for the nOObs).
But if you want to experience his version with de-gnomeified voices, then you can enjoy this other version, which is... strangely also set in World of Warcraft! (If you can believe it, this is the ONLY other version of the song on Youtube - Barry must have good lawyers)
I think it's clear who the real winner of this competition is...
Now, Tom Jones was dead sexy in his prime (I mean, look at that 'Best Of' cover ladies: if he wants to break you off, he's gonna break you off) Even if his Travolta-style revival after The Full Monty soundtrack hadn't elevated him to that rare status of ironic icon, he woulda STILL been legendary because of 'Delilah.' And if we hadn't gotten the later years, we woulda totally missed out on 'Sex Bomb!'
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But this version of Baby, It's Cold Outside with forgettable Welsh post-hottie Cerys Matthews is unforgiveable...
And frankly, this video version with it's mixed symbols, which, um, takes place in the...uh...yeah I guess that's the fiery pit of Hell...
...and seems to cast Jones as the, um, Prince of Darkness...and Matthews as a... caged virgin turned succubus...with a REALLLY clever plot twist at the end! (doubt you'll make it that far - I forced myself for research purposes)
Screw this, let's just remember the good ole days!
Imagine this one night of stolen Yuletide bliss between Dolly and Rod... I picture a bear rug, a box of wine, and a shitstorm of feathered platinum hair. Horrifying.
In fact, if you skip to around 2:30 of 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy', you can see pretty much exactly what I'm picturing. Or heck, just watch the whole thing. You deserve it.
I mean... if they'd made it 30 years earlier, I mighta bought it...
Or... maybe because of the Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer version... (which also charted in 1949! - I guess they just couldn't get enough of this song!)
Please. Don't let me keep you from enjoying this song if it's your favorite Christmas carol. The old versions capture that great old-timey repressed sexuality and moral-forthrightness-despite-temptation which gives a clever wink to horniness that we all associate with the '50s!
But my issue: These days, they drudge up this song to be nostalgic and sweet, when really it's a song about finding an excuse to stay over and get freaky! And that forces artists to make a choice: do they play up the overt sexuality of the song, or neuter it in keeping with the 'family spirit' of Christmas? Can you really tell me that the James Taylor and Natalie Cole version approaches sexuality with anything other than total weirdness? I mean, they're kinda askin me to imagine them hookin' up.
Now maybe we can picture it with these two, but what about...
VS. Their version appears only on the Elf soundtrack, but in the movie the tune is translated into a heart-warming shower scene, which I thought was probably the funner version to include here.
Seems like another opportunity for Will Farrel to prove he has some musical moxy, and for Zooey Deschanel to validate her recent and excellent collaboration with M. Ward (whose excellence is only compounded by his being from my home town).
I was recently treated to a day-after-Turkey-Day car ride where the Christmas tunes were already jinglin'.
The tune that stuck with me on that car ride to the Christmas tree farm (I roll with some hardcore Xmas-lovers) was this odd little nugget of a duet called Baby, it's Cold Outside.
This song seems to get dragged out every few years, often with middling to poor results.
Coincidentally, a friend mentioned a particularly pungent rendition by James Taylor and Natalie Cole on her blog.
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Since this bizarre song scratched at my consciousness twice in two days, I couldn't help but ask the question: Who hacked out the very WORST rendition of Baby, It's Cold Outside?
(Two caveats: 1. This Youtube version is one of those photo montages made by a die-hard fan, but the song is all there. 2. Of particular creepiness is the way they treat the seduction dialog that starts at 3:31 - don't miss James Taylor trying his darndest to cash the check with Natalie - but she just ain't havin it! Actually 3 caveats: 3. If this is you're favorite song, I'm so so sorry for what I'm about to do to it.)
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