The Surprising Backstory of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”

“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is one of the most beloved winter duets in the Great American Songbook, but its origins might surprise you.

It wasn’t written for Christmas, and it didn’t debut onstage. It began as a private party song between husband and wife.

In 1944, composer Frank Loesser wrote the duet as a playful performance piece for him and his wife, Lynn Garland. The couple would sing it at the end of glamorous Manhattan parties as their “signature” moment. Guests adored it, and it quickly became their calling card. A few years later, Loesser sold the song to MGM for the 1949 film Neptune’s Daughter. His wife was devastated. It felt like giving away something personal, but Loesser knew it had star power. In the film, the song appears twice: once as a flirtatious scene between Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalbán, and again in a comedic, gender-reversed version. Audiences fell in love instantly.

In 1950, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, cementing its place in the Songbook.

In recent years, the song has sparked conversation. Still, historically, it was understood as a witty, flirtatious call-and-response duet, mainly since the film includes both a male-pursuing-female and a female-pursuing-male version. Its charm lies in the playful back-and-forth.

Even though it’s not technically a Christmas song, its cozy imagery, flirtatious melody, and old Hollywood glamour have made it a winter essential. Nearly every major singer, including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin, and modern jazz vocalists like Michael Bublé and Lady Gaga, have kept it alive. A little duet written for fun became one of the most iconic winter songs of all time.