With the weather cooling down and Christmas just around the corner, Idina Menzel and Michael Buble have released their own rendition of the holiday classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”.
The music video features some cute kids dancing to the conversation. Menzel and Buble also make brief cameos.
Since it was first written in 1944 by Frank Loesser, various artists have recorded their own renditions of the duet. One of the most popular songs of the Christmas season, the duet is designed to be a conversation between two people, marked as “mouse” and “wolf” on the printed score. Every line in the song features a statement from the “mouse” followed by a response from the “wolf”.
Here are some of the most notable and memorable renditions of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”.
Ricardo Montalbán and Esther Williams
After Loesser sold the song’s rights to MGM in 1948, MGM inserted the song into the 1949 musical romantic comedy Neptune’s Daughter. The song is performed twice during the film, once by Ricardo Montalbán and Esther Williams and the second by Red Skelton and Betty Garrett, with the roles of the wolf and mouse reversed. The song went on to win the Oscar for the Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.
Sammy Davis Jr. and Carmen McRae
The duet was recorded in 1957 as part of the two’s collaborative album, Boy Meets Girl. The conversation at the beginning and the occasional spoken lines and laughter makes the duet seem like a real life conversation.
Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart
Perhaps the most famous country version of the song is between old-timers Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart, which made it to number two on the US Adult Contemporary chart when it was released in 2004.
Darren Criss and Chris Colfer
This unconventional and at the time groundbreaking rendition of the duet featuring two male voices saw the TV show Glee‘s favourite couple Kurt and Blaine tackle this classic. It proved to be an instant hit.
Zooey Deschanel and Leon Rathbone
The duet between Zooey Deschanel and Leon Rathbone appeared on the soundtrack of the 2003 Christmas movie Elf starring Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel. In the film, Deschanel sings part of the song with Ferrell while she is showering and he is sitting on the bathroom counter. If you’re a fan of Deschanel’s vocals, she also recorded the duet with M. Ward, with whom she forms the musical duo She & Him, for their album A Very She & Him Christmas, but this time with a “wolf” and “mouse” role reversal.
Norah Jones and Willie Nelson
Norah Jones and Willie Nelson’s jazzy version of the song is also very popular, serving also as an instrumental duet between her piano and his guitar.
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