Baby, its cold outside! Feels like
winter/Christmas. Color me happy! The heat was not on and I was bundled in blankets
and comforters and wrapped in bliss. My feet are cold and I am wearing a
sweater. Wonderful!
Baby, it is cold inside too! During your
Christmas season and hearing Christmas songs I am sure you came across this
one. Everyone has by now heard of this song….Baby, its Cold Outside. Not once
in the lyrics does it mention the word Christmas, Holiday, New Years, nothing
that could indicate it is a Christmas song. Yet it gets plenty of air time.
Curious, I was.
The song was written in 1944 by Frank Loesser
and was intended to be a Christmas song. He and his wife performed it for the first
time at the end of their Navarro Hotel housewarming party. He later sold the
music to MGM and his wife who considered it to be “their” song was angry. It is
a duet and each part was marked by wolf and mouse on the printed score.
Frank Loesser wrote the music and lyrics
to the music in the Broadway Play “Guys and Dolls”. The song Luck be a Lady is
from this play. He has won Tony Awards and several Academy Awards including one
for the song Baby, Its Cold Outside. This song appears twice in the MGM movie
Neptune’s Daughter being sung by Ricardo
Montalbán and Esther Williams with Ricardo as the wolf and Esther as the mouse.
The second performance is by Red Skelton and Betty Garrett with Betty as the
wolf and Red as the mouse.
The first recording was March 17 1949 by
Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark by Columbia records. It reached #4 on the Billboard
Chart.
Today is the third day of Christmas it is
the Feast of St. John the Evangelist. John was one of 12 disciples of Jesus and
had a brother James. They are often referred to as "the sons of
Zebedee". They were originally fishermen. John is said to have lived well
into his 90s. The gift of the Three French Hens is said as “Three Britten Hens”
in French versions and indicates a gift of rare or exotic birds. But then I
also found in an obscure Biblical tale a story of a juniper tree. One version
of the 12 Days of Christmas song has the first verse written in French as
containing the words joli perdrix. This translates to pretty juniper but may to
English ears have sounded like pear tree.
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A parent partridge will feign an injury in
order to lure prey away from its nest to protect its family. Keeping that in
mind here is the tale regarding the flight of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus to
Egypt. That at one point in the journey they hid Jesus under a juniper tree to avoid
him being caught by King Herod’s soldiers. Juniper trees are plentiful in Egypt
and were a main ingredient in the embalming process. This tale could be the
beginning of the junipers reputation as being a symbol of protection against
harm. Perhaps the rare and exotic birds referred to in the third day verse
could be the three Maji who helped the young family.
So if gin is made from juniper berries
does it mean drinking gin will keep you safe from harm?
Happy 3rd day of Christmas!
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