Congratulations to Winnie Branton of Food Shelter Public Relations, who won our October DCV Rocks contest. Branton noticed the item "Baby, it's cold inside," about a new Ocean Spray warehouse designed to freeze 79 million pounds of cranberries at a shot. The story's headline was a play on the much-discussed song "Baby, It's Cold Outside."
The song was written by Frank Loesser and first sung by him and his wife, Lynn Garland, at parties. It first was heard by the general public in the 1949 movie Neptune's Daughter, where it was sung twice: first by Ricardo Montalbán and Esther Williams (pictured above); then, with the gender roles reversed, by Betty Garrett and Red Skelton. You can see both renditions in this video. It won that year's Oscar for Best Original Song and was released as a record. Seven other audio recordings of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" were released that year, according to Wikipedia, including versions by Pearl Bailey and Hot Lips Page and country artists June Carter and Homer and Jethro It's since been recorded by scores of artists.
Another song reference was to be found in our intermodal feature "Off the rails." There are three wildly divergent songs with that title. One is a lovely, melancholy recording by German indie band The Notwist, which appears on their 2002 album Neon Golden. Another is by country rap artist Bottleneck. A third (which can be heard in the video below) is by Canadian Christian metal band Thousand Foot Krutch.
SUBMIT JANUARY ANSWERS BY FEB. 17
You'll be entered into our drawing for a three-pack sampler of Joey Kramer's Rockin' & Roastin' Organic Coffee if you correctly spot the rock reference in our January 2019 issue. Email the solution to dcvrocks@dcvelocity.com by midnight Pacific time on Sunday, Feb. 17. If you don't have a copy of the magazine handy, you can look through the headlines in our mobile version or online. Hint for January: The Beatles. (Please note: previous contest winners may not enter for three months following their win.)