Hat tip to Lesley Gore, known forever as the whiny kid in "It's My Party," as she was only seventeen when she wrote it but she knew exactly what she was doing. You could use this one on Facebook just about every day, it's as appropriate to the themes now as it was fifty years ago.
In contrasting then and now, Katy Perry sings that she kissed a girl but that's largely so what when the sexual revolution was fifty years ago as well. It talks somewhat about the sexual confusion of an emerging human and it was immensely popular but the lyrics to "It's My Party" are rather more banal while still showing something much deeper.
Your sexual proclivities don't mean much if you hang yourself in a closet. It may be that confusion over your sexual proclivities is why a kid hangs herself in a closet but that wasn't part of Perry's song. It's a party song much more than one of the desperation of a seventeen-year-old girl who was just slammed and her heart is broken.
In fact, Lesley Gore did kiss a girl and she liked it quite a bit. She kept doing it for the rest of her life. She has been out for fifty years so I doubt she saw much controversy in Katy Perry.
Check out what else Lesley Gore did. There's a lot more to her than I realized. She was a very bright lady as very few have the wit to parody themselves ... and get away with it. She was known forever after as the whiny kid at the party but "You Don't Own Me" has been a feminist mantra ever since.
She gave us something to ridicule but she also gave us something to respect and it was genius how she did it.
R.I.P. Lesley Gore
In contrasting then and now, Katy Perry sings that she kissed a girl but that's largely so what when the sexual revolution was fifty years ago as well. It talks somewhat about the sexual confusion of an emerging human and it was immensely popular but the lyrics to "It's My Party" are rather more banal while still showing something much deeper.
Your sexual proclivities don't mean much if you hang yourself in a closet. It may be that confusion over your sexual proclivities is why a kid hangs herself in a closet but that wasn't part of Perry's song. It's a party song much more than one of the desperation of a seventeen-year-old girl who was just slammed and her heart is broken.
In fact, Lesley Gore did kiss a girl and she liked it quite a bit. She kept doing it for the rest of her life. She has been out for fifty years so I doubt she saw much controversy in Katy Perry.
Check out what else Lesley Gore did. There's a lot more to her than I realized. She was a very bright lady as very few have the wit to parody themselves ... and get away with it. She was known forever after as the whiny kid at the party but "You Don't Own Me" has been a feminist mantra ever since.
She gave us something to ridicule but she also gave us something to respect and it was genius how she did it.
R.I.P. Lesley Gore
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