~ UT's bait is always top rate! ~
Quote:
I think that:
#1: the behavior depicted in the song is, at face value, what we now consider "rapey" behavior, e.g. being pushy and trying to wear down someone's resistance over an extended period, where you're physically preventing them from leaving, until you achieve a nominal "green light"
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Unless he knows she wants to stay.
We know that: musically. At the end of the call and response verses, they BOTH sing the line "Baby it's cold outside". It's indicating her agreement with his point. And what's more -- if it's written like the versions I've just listened to -- she sings the melody on that line, and he harmonizes. Musically, by taking over the melody for the title line of the song, she is making that point more strongly than he is.
What's more, this song has no chorus; that single co-sung line is the end of the first half, and the conclusion of the whole thing. They meet in agreement, and they end in agreement. They were always in agreement.
We also know her concern is mostly with what her family and society will think. In turn, she worries about her mother, her father, the neighbors, her sister, her brother, and her maiden aunt.
My mother will start to worry --
My father will be pacing the floor --
The neighbors might think --
My sister will be suspicious --
My brother will be there at the door --
My maiden aunt's mind is vicious --
It's not by chance that the song goes in that order. By the time we're down to her maiden aunt, we know her objection is more than diminishing. It's not just that the maiden aunt is lowest rung on the family ladder. It's way more specific than that, the songwriter put her there for a reason:
Since her aunt is maiden, her aunt passed up the opportunity to stay the night, if she was ever offered it.
Wow, huh? That's art!