That's a 1928 song with lyrics by Lorenz Hart.
I'm thinking about it this morning after reading the questions Michael Avenatti proposed that the Senate Judiciary Committee ask Brett Kavanaugh: "Did you ever witness a line of men outside a bedroom at any house party where you understood a woman was in the bedroom being raped or taken advantage of?” and whether "he ever tried to prevent men from raping or taking advantage of women at any house party." I called "taken advantage of" a "strange locution." You're inquiring about rape, but you're lumping it together with sex where there's "taking advantage."
I'm so hot and bothered that I don't knowOr — to read Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker — you're so drunk you don't know a plastic penis from a fleshly one.
My elbow from my ear...
Here I am with all my bridges burnedThe Wikipedia article about the song says it "can be sung by either gender, but has traditionally been sung by women." Here. Check out the feeling when a man sings it (and here's my 2005 post "Songs transformed with the sex of the singer"):
Just a babe in arms where you're concerned
So lock the doors and call me yours
'Cause you took advantage of me
I have no will, you've made your kill...
What's the use of Brett Kavanaugh trying not to fall?
I'm just like an apple on a bough/And you're gonna shake me down somehow...
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51 comments:
Have YOU ever taken advantage of anyone sexually?
Is it taking advantage, sexually, to present yourself as a sentimental sap with no will? Looking for romance... going to the party...
I'm titillated! It's great!
So women cannot make their own sexual decisions at a party and white males are supposed to rescue them from their bad choices? How? Should they propose a duel with potential sex partners?
Sounds like he'd be accused of slut shaming if he got involved.
Sonia: Do you think he'll make it through?
Elena: Well, if all these stories are true, I sure hope so.
The lyricist, Lorenz Hart, was as gay as a day in the month of May, so transform that.
I know that Atlhouse has a tag for "The Era of That's Not Funny," and I think she's made good use of it.
I just have to say; I find absolutely nothing funny about these character attacks on Judge Brett Kavanaugh from 30 years ago and more.
Linda Ronstadt made the best-ever recording of this song.
A buzzard took the monkey for a ride in the air
The monkey thought that ev'rything was on the square
The buzzard tried to throw the monkey off his back
But the monkey grabbed his neck and said, "now, listen, jack
Straighten up and fly right, straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and fly right, cool down papa, don't you blow your top
Ain't no use in divin'
What's the use of divin'?
Straighten up and fly right, cool down papa, don't you blow your top"
The buzzard told the monkey, you're choking me
Release your hold and I'll set you free
The monkey looked the buzzard right dead in the eye and said
Your story's touching, but is sounds like a lie
Straighten up and fly right, straighten up and stay right
Straighten up and fly right, cool down papa, don't you blow your top
The buzzard told the monkey, you're choking me
Release your hold and I'll set you free
The monkey looked the buzzard right dead in the eye and said
Your story's touching, but is sounds like a lie
Straighten up and fly right, straighten up and stay right
Straighten up and fly right, cool down papa, don't you blow your top
Straighten up and fly right, straighten up and stay right
Straighten up and fly right, cool down papa, don't you blow your top
Q: Who's the monkey? Who's the buzzard?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyCkIk8ezdg
Obama sent race relations back 30 years. Now that record has been shattered by Bret's accusers. I suppose Blasely will get all the credit.
Thanks for the heads-up on the bad link. (Comments like that are much appreciated but I'm also deleting them as a distraction now.)
The youtube version of that song (mysteriously!) omits the first verse:
You Took Advantage of Me
When a girl has the heart of a mother
It must go to someone of course
It can't be a sister or a brother
And so I love my horse
But horses are frequently silly
Mine ran from the beach of Okhala
And left me alone for a filly
So I picked you up
"She was at first hesitant to speak publicly, partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident."
I believe the technical term is "blackout drunk". Been there myself many times. Maybe these gals should put on a chastity belt before they imbibe. Save us all a lot of trouble.
Like trial law, initial love is an adversarial system in which one learns more from a defeat than from another easy a victory. Or think of it more like Racquetball, where you are taken advantage of by every new opponent's shots until you learn to return them.
The song needed for the drunks at parties is Anticipation. You have to anticipates the other's moves. And that actually takes courage to play the game.
The Professor knows that the woman's best shot is a helpless sexual surrender. Always anticipate it.Timing is everything.
And no, I don't believe Mr.Perfection is a novice at the game.
I had dinner last night with my daughter-in-law and her two girls or I would have given up on women by now.
My wife, even my ex-wife, think this stuff is all bullshit.
Where do these women, including Althouse, come from ?
Maybe there is a hothouse in Maryland, or at Yale, where these shrinking violets are cultured.
The two Navy ships that collided with freighters killing sailors were part of the women's Navy.
During the early weeks after the USS Fitzgerald was speared by a lumbering Philippine container ship, it was noteworthy that the captain and a couple of admirals were publically named, but not the actual officer in charge, the officer of the deck. (OOD) The other person who should have kept the Fitz out of trouble is the person in charge of the combat information center, the Tactical Action Officer. That individual is supposed to be monitoring the combat radar, which can detect a swimmer at a distance of two miles.
Not until a year later, when the final reports are made public and the guilty parties have been court-martialed, does the truth come out. The OOD was named Sarah, and the Tactical Action Officer was named Natalie, and they weren’t speaking to each other!!!
Go Navy !
Then, we have female Rangers.
In 2015, former Secretary of Defense Ash and Trash Carter desperately needed some proof; real or fraudulent, that women could hack it in the combat arms. The $36 million dollar, Marine Corps study couldn’t do that. It clearly showed in minute detail how all female and coed units were slaughtered by all male units in simulated combat.
Enter Captain Griest and First Lieutenant Haver, who, along with several other females, were attending Ranger School down at Fort Benning, Georgia. The word quickly went out. There would be one or two Lady Rangers presented to the world, in order to give Carter the ‘proof’ he needed to authorize women to serve in the combat arms and special operations forces of the US military.
As Griest and Haver went through the grueling course and then ‘graduated’, rumors began to seep out that they were being given special treatment in the form of dieticians, endless chances to repeat the school, multiple opportunities to pass patrols, showers every three days and pink curtained cat holes for privacy. Fueling the fire was their plump appearance at graduation. Normally, Ranger School males look like Japanese POW camp survivors on graduation day, strangely, the ladies looked well fed.
Go Army !
I recently came across Cake's spoken-word cover of Gloria Gaynor's I will Survive.
This is not a cover that reveals ironic depths. It's more a bunch of words that supports a fantastic rhythm section.
Or, as one of the commenters says, "The original song is more of a victory theme of someone breaking free of a bad relationship, while Cake's version is more of a bitter "Fuck you and everything you stand for" kind of song."
"Have YOU ever taken advantage of anyone sexually?"
Trick question. If you answer 'No' you obviously don't remember, perhaps because of rampant alcoholic amnesia.
You break it, you bought it.
I am Laslo.
Practice Tip: a woman who seeks blackout drunkenness is either a sober actress or a mentally ill detroyer of herself and of those who risk loving her.
Evidently, Trump must appoint a gay man or a woman to insulate his appointee from 20th century #metoo snowflake claims. He needs to hurry.
The real rub here is that in addition to denigrating the constitutional process Democrats and women like these devalue the suffering of genuine victims of sexual assault.
There is no cure for this shameless political corruption. It has nothing to do with Trump. Cavanaugh was the likely appointee of any Republican. These two bedwetters were waiting in the wings. If there are other male appointees other bedwetters will appear.
America is neither great nor good. The swamp rules.
Step 1: Change sexual morality to encourage promiscuity.
Step 2: Mock people who don't embrace the new morality.
Step 3: Encourage women to cry rape when cads take advantage of them.
Step 4: Prosecute these men for embracing the new morality.
Is that about right?
Brandi Carlisle always has a great cover or two in her live shows. Carlisle is so ridiculously wholesome and has such a big voice that she turns Radiohead's dirge to alienation into an anthem to self-awareness.
Creep by Brandi Carlisle
Amanda Palmer, who doesn't mind the creepy, keeps the vibe closer to the original:
Creep by Amanda Palmer on Ukulele
Maybe these gals should put on a chastity belt before they imbibe.
Fat lot of good that'll do when someone's waving a dick in your face.
Creep is a song for the accusers. It can be sung as accusatory anthem or paranoid fantasy:
I want you to notice
When I'm not around
You're so fuckin' special
I wish I was special
But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here
Jesus Christ on a stick! Science must now discover and name an entirely new and even more slime-covered and spineless form of life from somewhere more basal on the Tree of Life than the proverbial slug to give us a fitting lawyer metaphor for would-be inquisitor creeps like Michael Avenatti. Something ethically south of the tapeworm, if there is such a thing.
The Senate needs to vote on Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh needs to provide the vote that overturns Roe V Wade and he needs to smirk for the camera after he does it.
The US Senate is going to be a long time recovering from this clown show - if they ever do.
In A STAR IS BORN (1954) Judy Garland sings that song in the "Born In A Trunk" movie-within-the-movie sequence which shows her going from agent to agent, flirting and singing a verse to each one and getting a firm "NO" as a response...until the last agent chases her around his desk, leers at her and says "YES!" and shocked, she replies "NO!" Very Weinsteinian. Starts about 1:45 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpd_eBTAjkk
"Did you ever witness a line of men outside a bedroom at any house party where you understood a woman was in the bedroom enjoying herself?”
A safe place to start.
"Evidently, Trump must appoint a gay man or a woman to insulate his appointee from 20th century #metoo snowflake claims. He needs to hurry."
Gays are not capable of being vaguely accused of long past sexual assault with zero evidence?
As long as the Althouses of the world are more likely to believe the accuser than the accused, we are screwed.
Judy Garland sang this very song in "A Star is Born" as part of an extended sequence where she visits various agents and producers trying to get on the stage. One of them actually tries to take advantage of her, and she runs out of the room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYoHVuI4eZE
So even Judy Garland(!) showed more presence of mind than these drunken high-school and college students...
Sorry, @glam1931, you beat me to it. Great minds, etc.
"Have YOU ever taken advantage of anyone sexually?"
Where have you gone, lonely David Souter? A sated nation turns its eyes to you.
Remember articles like this?
Friends say his failure to marry has been a disappointment to Souter. He dated a woman he knew at the attorney general's office -- holding off on asking her out until after leaving the office, for reasons of propriety -- but she married someone else.
JHapp said...
"Obama sent race relations back 30 years."
Wait - when were race relations ever up-to-speed? I woulda thought blacks woulda heard. Didn't Mitt Romney say the Republican Party had a race problem after his loss in 2012? Wasn't Obama president then? Then how's he the bad guy? What great strides has the Right made in this regard? What effort have they shown? Trump is the first man to think employing blacks is a good idea, when it should be normal - the rest of you brag about it like it's the second moon landing. "Lowest black unemployment ever!" Yeah - so what were y'all doing before he came along, but talking shit to our faces about how poor we are?
Y'all need to get your heads right.
Besides being gay, Lorenz Hart was an alcoholic and a midget. Only gay, alcoholic midgets have a true insight into the utter futility of romantic love. If Cary Grant's soul could be made flesh and visible it would look like Lorenz Hart.
How about a simple song of empowerment?
I am Woman, hear me weep
as I lie here in a heap
too distraught to function in a world so mean.
When I was young and innocent
a boy I thought was a nice gent
tried to put his hand in places best unseen.
Oh oh oh, yes I’m weak,
And hysterical to boot!
Some guy must pay the price
cuz I played with his skin flute.
I may be wrong.
I may be risible.
But I’m a woooo-man!
Ain’t that enough?
Real Genius is such a great movie.
That is all.
FWBuff, I only beat you by a few minutes, because I was trying to find the damn clip. Looking at it, I was struck by how she was really throwing her skirt around and trying to look seductive...yet her costume was amazingly unsexy. That whole sequence, which was filmed by Roger Edens after Cukor left the picture, is kind of a mess.
Genius, what better way to make the Kavanaugh accusations look rediculous then to push them to the level of the grooming gang?
If there were no Michael Avenatti, Republicans would have to invent him.
"I recently came across Cake's spoken-word cover of Gloria Gaynor's I will Survive. This is not a cover that reveals ironic depths. It's more a bunch of words that supports a fantastic rhythm section. Or, as one of the commenters says, "The original song is more of a victory theme of someone breaking free of a bad relationship, while Cake's version is more of a bitter "Fuck you and everything you stand for" kind of song.""
Thanks, Henry. I loved that. I wouldn't call that spoken-word. It's a style of singing that's very close to talking. I love that kind of singing. I associate it with Lou Reed, but if you think about it while listening to Sinatra, you'll hear it there too.
This is a great example of the gender flip on a song. I like the version as a darker take on the lyrics after SO much playing of the Gloria Gaynor cheer-you-up take.
My favorite line is: "So now you're back/From outer space...."
I firmly believe that women from the hippie chicks of Althouse’s era through the Millennials of today deliberately get stoned or drunk so that they can have sex with a fig leaf of sorts: “I’m not really a slut, he got me drunk or high and he took advantage of me!”
If you weren’t a slut you’d have stayed sober. And you’d have let a friend sober you up and take you home.
PS. Wife agrees 100%
Thanks, Henry. I loved that. I wouldn't call that spoken-word. It's a style of singing that's very close to talking.
You're welcome. You're right about the singing style. I was trying to summarize it in a succinct way, but that isn't quite it.
My take is that the Cake version intentionally drains the meaning out of the words. It's the kind of rock nihilism. Which is certainly darker than the anthem version.
SHE DIDN'T SAY YES
She didn't say yes
She didn't say no
She didn't say stay
She didn't say go
She only knew that he had spied her there
And then she knew he sat beside her there
At first there was heard not one little word
Then coyly she took one sly little look
And something awoke and smiled inside
Her heart began beating wild inside
So what did she do?
I leave it to you
She did just what you'd do too
She didn't say yes
She didn't say no
They very soon stood beside his chateau
They lingered like two poor waifs outside
For well she knew `twas only safe outside
In there it was warm, out there it was cold
The sleet and the storm said, "Better be bold"
She murmured, "I'm not afraid of ice,
I only wish that I was made of ice"
So what did she do?
I leave it to you
She did just what you'd do too
She didn't say yes
She didn't say no
She wanted to stay
But knew she should go
She wasn't so sure that he'd be good
She wasn't even sure that she'd be good
She wanted to rest
All cuddled and pressed
A palpable part of somebody's heart
She'd love to be on rapport with him
But not behind a bolted door with him
And what did she do?
I leave it to you
She did just what you'd do too
She didn't say yes
She didn't say no
For heaven was near
She wanted it so
Above her sweet love was beckoning
And yet she knew there'd be a reckoning
She wanted to climb
But dreaded to fall
So bided her time
And clung to the wall
She wanted to act ad libitum
But feared to lose her equilibrium
So what did she do?
I leave it to you
She did just what you'd do too
We all come from rape.
I read somewhere that "Baby It's Cold Outside" is also taboo for promoting a rape culture.
Blogger Roughcoat said...
Maybe these gals should put on a chastity belt before they imbibe.
"Fat lot of good that'll do when someone's waving a dick in your face."
Yeah, I thought about that. But what if the dick waving in your face is merely the last thing you remember?
I read somewhere that "Baby It's Cold Outside" is also taboo for promoting a rape culture
In Neptune's Daughter (1948) it is sung first by Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams, and then with the roles reversed by Betty Garrett and Red Skelton. It can go either way, to coin a phrase.
I like the Crosby version better. Upbeat and bouncy - which is probably what the song was meant to be. The Clooney version drags it out - and makes it more serious than it's supposed to be.
"Baby It's Cold Outside"
This is constantly mis-identified as Doris Day and Dean Martin on the internet.
I wish that version was available!
You made a fool out of me.
see Mark Steyn, "Baby, It's Rape Outside"
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