VS.
...which features some good-natured country-style old fashioned unwelcome advances! Hilarious!
11/30/08
So, what's wrong with this song?
Um... maybe the June Carter + Homer & Jethro version...
VS.
...which features some good-natured country-style old fashioned unwelcome advances! Hilarious!
VS....which features some good-natured country-style old fashioned unwelcome advances! Hilarious!
So, why do I know this song?
You know this song because of the Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark version (1949).
VS.
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!)
VS.
Originally by Frank Loesser, it was featured in the film Neptune's Daughter - by both duets.
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.
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!)
VS.
Originally by Frank Loesser, it was featured in the film Neptune's Daughter - by both duets.
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...
The Seed
...but it wasn't the James Taylor vs. Natalie Cole version that I heard in the car (referenced in last post). It was actually, a fairly good version by the lovely/talented starlet/singer Zooey Deschanel singing with mystery-shrouded old bluesman Leon Redbone.
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).
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).
The Premise
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.
VS. 
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.)
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.
VS. 
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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