John Legend’s holiday album
The hunky crooner is ready for Christmas – with a revamped holiday classic to boot
COMPILED BY DENNIS CAVERNELIS
PLAY IT AGAIN, JOHN It’s A Legendary Christmas all over again, with the re-release of John Legend’s 2018 holiday album as a deluxe edition with four new tracks – This Christmas, My Favourite Things, Christmas in New Orleans, and an updated duet of Baby It’s Cold Outside featuring Kelly Clarkson.
“I’ve loved holiday music since I was a kid in Ohio singing with my family every Christmas around my grandmother’s piano,” said John ahead of the re-release.
“I’m particularly excited about the new version of Baby It’s Cold Outside featuring my friend Kelly Clarkson. I co-wrote a fun reimagined version of the lyrics with [Insecure writer and actress] Natasha Rothwell, and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.”
THE CLASSIC Baby It’s Cold Outside was originally written in 1944 by award-winning American composer Frank Loesser to perform with his wife at parties as a hint for guests that the party was winding down. It earned Loesser an Oscar after it was used in the 1949 comedy Neptune’s Daughter, and has been covered by many artists over the years, including, most famously, Dean Martin.
CONTEXT IS KING It’s a sweet, funny track when a couple in a relationship are singing it to their guests, but some have said that without this context it’s hard not to see it as being about date rape.
The lyrics are about a man forcing a woman who still lives with her family into sticking around for another drink. He talks about getting closer and tells her not to “hold out”.
First she says her mother will start to worry, then she says maybe just half a drink more and later she says her answer is no. He persists and asks how she can do this to him.
MODERN VERSION The new lyrics now have the man calling a taxi for the woman instead: “I really can’t stay (Baby it’s cold outside)/I’ve gotta go away (I can call you a ride)/This evening has been (So glad that you dropped in)/So very nice (Time spent with you is paradise)/My mother will start to worry (I’ll call a car and tell ’em to hurry).”
THE OUTRAGE The late Dean Martin’s daughter, singer Deana Martin, said her father wouldn’t have approved of the changes. He famously recorded the song in 1959 for his album Winter Romance. “My dad would be going insane right now,” she said. “He’d say, ‘What’s the matter with you? Get over it. It’s just a fun song’.”
The singer added that she understands “the #MeToo movement and everything. I’m all for that. But this? We gotta relax and have fun again”.
Responding to the grumbling, John posted a link to the track and wrote: “A welcome update or ‘PC culture run amok and destroying everything great in the history of music’? You decide.”