Too darned hot!

It’s too darned hot for me, anyway, and we’re not within hailing of high summer. By that time, it may well be cold and wet and miserable.

 ‘Too Darn Hot’ was a song written by Cole Porter in 1948 for the musical ‘Kiss Me, Kate.’ I’ve never seen it.

It was inspired by the arguments, both on stage and off, between two married actors performing Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ in 1935.

I always thought the words were ‘too darned hot’ but discovered my error when I looked up the lyrics. I found the words quite surprising, and rather risqué for the period in which they were written.

The song has no bearing on the plot in film or on stage. In the theatre version, the song shows the company taking a break during the interval and complaining that it’s too hot. The complaints, apparently off-stage, are that it’s too hot for them to keep their assignations later that night.

According to the Kinsey Report
Ev'ry average man you know
Much prefer to play his favorite sport
When the temperature is low,
But when the thermometer goes 'way up
And the weather is sizzling hot,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 . . . it's too, too
Too darn hot,
It's too darn hot,
It's too, too, too, too darn hot.

I shall never think of ‘it’s too darn hot’ in quite the same way in future, but will continue to think, ‘it’s too darned hot.’

Many people in UK will be revelling in the soaring temperatures, which are set to reach their peak on Tuesday, at 34˚C (93.2˚F) in my region, the south of England.

Thereafter, they will drop until they are a more manageable 25˚C, gradually reducing to 22˚C, with the threat, or promise, of rain. We need rain, for the ground is very dry, and the risk of wildfires is correspondingly high.

I appreciate that what I consider high temperatures probably seems laughable to those in countries where heat is inescapable in the summer months, in tropical, and arid zones, and where water conservation is a major concern. I still think it’s too darned hot!