John Legend has rewritten the lyrics of Baby It’s Cold Outside to replace what have been described as ‘date rapey’ elements of the song with phrases such as ‘it’s your body and your choice’ and ‘I’ll call you a car’.
The singer’s re-imagined version of the iconic festive track will appear on his new Christmas album. He plans to sing it as a duet with Kelly Clarkson.
While Legend has not revealed all of the new lyrics, he teased some in a recent interview with Vanity Fair and others emerged in Entertainment Weekly.
What was originally ‘I’ve got to go away, but baby it’s cold outside’ in Frank Loesser’s 1944 version of the song is replaced with ‘I’ve got to go away, I can call you a ride’ in Legend’s. He teamed up with Insecure star Natasha Rothwell to pen the new lyrics.
It is not the first time the song’s lyrics have sparked controversy.
And while many embraced Legend’s ‘woke’, #MeToo-era version of it, others called it ‘pathetic’.
John Legend and Kelly Clarkson (pictured in May 2018) will team up for his new Christmas album to sing the re-imagined version of the song
Among critics was Gayle King who sighed on CBS This Morning after hearing the new lyrics and said: ‘It makes me nash my teeth to powder.
‘You have to look at the intent of the song. They’re flirting, it’s fun.
‘Good on John Legend and Kelly Clarkson, but cranky yankies – its OK, it’s a fun song!’
The original song lyrics have been criticized in recent years as seemingly diminishing the idea of female consent to sex.
The line ‘say what’s in this drink?’ has been particularly controversial and, some have claimed, is a reference to date-rape.
Some have also argued that the tug of war it portrays, with the female singer protesting that she must leave while her male counterpart tries to convince her to spend the night, is a reference to a woman’s ongoing struggle against society and being expected to be well-behaved.
Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban singing the song in Neptune’s Daughter in 1949. It was originally written in 1944 and has been sung by a number of famous musicians
Gayle King sighed on Tuesday and said that while she liked John Legend and Kelly Clarkson, the original song was ‘fun’ and had nothing wrong with it
The song was written in 1944 by Frank Loesser, an iconic American songwriter who penned the music for Guys and Dolls among other Broadway shows.
It has long been claimed that he wrote the song to sing with his wife for a housewarming party to indicate to guests that it was time for everyone else to leave.
Over the last 70 years, it has been recorded by artists including Dean Martin, Doris Day and Bing Crosby, James Taylor and Natalie Cole, Michael Buble with Anne Murray and then Idina Menzel, Christina Aguilera with Cee-Loo Green.
Legend himself has not yet commented on the new lyrics, nor has Clarkson who recorded the song with the original lyrics for her 2013 Christmas album with Ronnie Dunn.
In recent years, Legend and his wife Chrissy Teigen have gained a reputation as outspoken Democrats who sympathize with liberal causes.
Their ongoing criticism of Trump attracted the president’s attention and in a Twitter tirade last month, he lashed out at them.
Negative response: Some called it ‘pathetic’ that they had rewritten the classic holiday song
He called Legend ‘boring’ and Teigen ‘filthy mouthed’, complaining that they did not give him any credit for signing into-law a criminal justice reform which he was propelled towards by Kim Kardashian West.
Legend, in his recent Vanity Fair interview, called the president a ‘terrible human being’ and said he believes he only signed in the reform to win credibility with stars.
‘It’s a cheap win for [Trump]. But the people being granted clemency are real people with families.
‘So even if the clemency is won through his celebrity-whore tendencies, it’s still helpful for that family and that person.
At the same time, he’s locking kids in cages and he’s a terrible human being,’ he said.
Praise: Others welcomed the refreshed version and said it would be the ‘anthem of the future’