STACK #183 Jan 2020

FEATURE MUSIC

from Lauper’s greatest hits album, Twelve Deadly Cyns… And Then Some . (Fun fact: an Alvin &The Chipmunks rendition of Girls Just Want To Have Fun exists.) Can you believe that Lauper actually had to push for Girls Just Want To Have Fun to be released as She’s So Unusual ’s lead single, after her label had already fallin in love with Time After Time ? Cowritten with Rob Hyman fromThe Hooters (who also contributed BVs),

Above: Lauper at at party thrown by Bette Midler, 1984. Right: In her NewYork apartment, 1995

experience in life, and that freedom of spirit is not necessarily a bad thing.” Originally written by Robert Hazard as a song for a guy to sing, Lauper immediately saw the potential for Girls Just Want To Have Fun to flip the script and empower womankind. Speaking to Paul Willistein, Hazard said, “I changed all the lyrics over the phone with [Lauper]... We had to make a lot of gender changes.” A reworked, reggae-tinged version of the song, titled Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun) , was released in 1994 as the lead single

Lauper on stage at Madison Square Garden performing in a benefit concert for the needy of NewYork City, 1986

the ballad Time After Time (Lauper’s first U.S. #1) was released as the follow-up single. The album’s third single, She Bop is Lauper’s tongue-in-cheek ode to

same album on the Billboard Hot 100: Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Time After Time, She Bop and All Through The Night . Following the worldwide success of Lauper’s Breakout Belter, she was called upon to sing two lines of the charity single We R The World by the supergroup U.S.A. For Africa. Studio footage shows Lauper singing alongside Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis and Kim Carnes, until a voice from the control booth addresses her specifically: “You have a lot of bracelets!” Lauper quickly apologises before systematically removing countless necklaces, bracelets and earrings, and piling them up on the studio floor. After the next take, Lauper inquires, “Am I still clinking?” Her two-tone hair during this recording session is fluorescent yellow and bright orange, and Lauper pretty much started this trend more than 16 years ago back when hair dye colour charts were limited to natural hues. She’s So Unusual was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry, which guards America’s sound recording heritage, just this year. Of her debut album, this Queens- born icon with a four-octave vocal range acknowledged: “It empowered all us freaks − we stood up and showed them how many of us there really were.” And Lauper’s message – imploring us all to celebrate individuality – is needed now more than ever: “So don’t be afraid to let them show/ Your true colors/ True Colors are beautiful/ Like a rainbow...” BC

female masturbation (“Hey, they say that a stitch in time saves nine/They say I better stop, or I’ll go blind”). During the aforementioned 30th anniversary show, Lauper revealed she recorded this song – which was included on the Parents Music Resource Center’s ‘Filthy Fifteen’ list, and copped a “Parental Advisory” sticker – while topless and tickling herself. All Through The Night – the fourth single and second ballad to be lifted from She’s So Unusual – was also a hit, despite being released sans accompanying music video. Check out the version of All Through The Night featuring Shaggy (no sh-t!), which appears on Lauper’s 2005 album, The Body Acoustic ! Based on the strength of She’s So Unusual ’s album tracks, six of the record’s ten songs were released as singles, and Lauper became the first female artist to release four Top 5 singles from the

Lauper photographed byTerry Lott, 1983

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