Girls Just Want to Have Fun (song)

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For the movie, see Girls Just Want to Have Fun (film).
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" cover
Single by Cyndi Lauper
from the album She's So Unusual
Released 1983
Format 7" Vinyl Single (Worldwide)
12" Vinyl Single (Worldwide)
Genre Pop
Length 3:58
Label Epic Records, Portrait Records or CBS Records
Producer(s) Rick Chertoff
Chart positions

U.S. #2
Cyndi Lauper singles chronology
"Fade"
(1980)		 Girls Just Want to Have Fun "Time after Time"
(1984)

"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was the first major single released by singer Cyndi Lauper as a solo artist. It gained renown as a feminist anthem, an award winning video and a world-wide smash hit.

Contents

[edit] Song Information

With the inclusion of promotional releases, the single has seen over 38 individual versions of release. The most common was a 7" vinyl single (with varying cover artwork) released in 1983/1984 (depending on the country), with the second most common being a 12" vinyl single (also with varying cover artwork) released in 1983/1984.

The song was written by Robert Hazard, who recorded his version of the song in 1979. Lauper changed the lyrics slightly to allow it to be performed by a female and Hazard approved the minor changes. Her version appeared on her 1983 debut solo record, She's So Unusual. It is a synthesizer-backed anthem about the roles of women in society and is considered by many to be a feminist classic of the era.

Originally run on late-night MTV as a novel, inside-industry joke, the video quickly went into heavy rotation and wound up as 1983's "Video of the Year".

The song can be heard in the first flashback of The Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word"; Homer even sings it. It is also one of the songs featured on Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova for the PlayStation 2.

It has been covered on either an album or in live concert by over 30 other artists including but not limited to Pearl Jam, Greg Laswell, John Mayer, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Cybill Shepherd, Lolly, Dandy Warhols, David Rawlings, The Ordinary Boys and Cam'ron. Recently, the Mexican band Los Horoscopos de Durango released a Duranguense version of the song and a Spanish version, Sólo Quiero Bailar (I Just Want To Dance). The song is rumored to be the first single off of The Cheetah Girls latest album due to be released in 2007.

Among the variety of releases of the single include an Austrian birthday card with a 3" CD of the song included inside. The song has been heavily distributed in karaoke version as well. Lauper would later go on to completely re-work the song in 1994 resulting in the new hit "Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)". The song was remade by Lauper yet again in 2005 on her The Body Acoustic album, also produced by Chertoff and Wittman with Lauper, with guest support vocals from Japanese pop/rock duo Puffy AmiYumi. The song is going to be covered by The Cheetah Girls for their upcoming album that is to be released in summer 2007.

[edit] Music video

Lauper in the "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" music video, directed by Edd Griles.
Lauper in the "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" music video, directed by Edd Griles.

The release of the single was accompanied by a quirky music video produced in Mother Studio in the Lower East Side of Manhattan for a cost of less than $35,000, largely due to a volunteer cast and the free loan of the most sophisticated video equipment available at the time. The cast included wrestler "Captain" Lou Albano in the role of Lauper's father while her real mother Catrine played her mother. Lauper's attorney, Elliot Hoffman, appeared as her uptight dancing partner. Also in the cast were Lauper's manager, David Wolf, her brother, Butch Lauper, and a bevy of secretaries borrowed from Portrait/CBS, Lauper's record label.

Lorne Michaels (Broadway Video, SNL), another of Hoffman's clients, agreed to give Lauper free run of his brand new million dollar digital editing equipment, with which she and her producer created several first-time-ever computer generated images of Lauper dancing with her buttoned-up lawyer, leading the entire cast in a snake-dance through New York streets and crashing a giant party.

[edit] Chart Performance

The single reached the top ten in fifteen different countries: number one in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and Norway; number two in Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom; number three in Austria, the Netherlands, Italy and South Africa; and number six in Germany and Switzerland.

Chart (1983) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 2
U.S. Hot Dance/Club Play 1
U.S. Hot Ringtones 25
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 1
Australia ARIA Singles Chart 1
Canadian Singles Chart 1
Chilean Singles Chart 1
Colombian Singles Chart 3
German Singles Chart 6
Holland Singles Chart 3
Israeli Singles Chart 1
Italian Singles Chart 3
Japanese Singles Chart 1
New Zealand Singles Charts 1
South African Chart 3
Switzerland 6
UK Singles Chart 2

[edit] Official Versions

  1. Extended Version 6:08
  2. Fun With V. Knutsn (Instrumental) 7:10
  3. Xtra Fun 5:05
  4. Remix 6:30
  5. Radio Remix 3:39

[edit] Credits

  1. Lyrics: Robert Hazard. Production: Rick Chertoff.
  2. Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper, Ellie Greenwich, Jeffrey B. Kent. Production: Rick Chertoff


[edit] Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)

"Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun) "
Single by Cyndi Lauper
From the album Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some
Released 1994
Recorded 1994
Genre Pop
Record Label Epic Records
Writer Robert Hazard, Lolly Vegas
Producer Cyndi Lauper, Jimmy Bralower
Cyndi Lauper singles chronology
"Hat Full of Stars" "Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)"
 "I'm Gonna Be Strong ('94 Version)"

Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun) was the first single off of Cyndi Lauper's Twelve Deadly Cyns hits collection from 1994

[edit] Song Information

This song is a new reggae-tinged arrangement of Lauper's own Girls Just Want To Have Fun standard, with a musical tip of the hat to Redbone's "Come And Get Your Love".

Lauper performed various versions of "Hey Now" during her concerts before the Twelve Deadly Cyns tour. It is how she eventually came to the final version which appeared on Twelve Deadly Cyns. It all started when she was touring for Hat Full of Stars. She performed a version of it that was very different in the Singapore concert, and it changed a lot for the Toronto concert. These pre-versions were more like the original version but with the "Hey Now" chorus. However the Gay Games is probably the first time that actual version of "Hey Now" was performed complete with drag queens and all like the music video (pictured below).

"Hey Now" plays over the closing sequence and credits of the movie To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar starring Wesley Snipes and Patrick Swayze as drag queens, which is similar to Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

The song was a big comeback hit for Lauper. As it hit the top 10 and top 40 in many countries and was a big dance hit in the states.

Lauper in the "Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)" music video.
Lauper in the "Hey Now (Girls Just Want To Have Fun)" music video.

[edit] Chart Performance

Chart (1994/95) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 87
Australia ARIA Singles Chart 67
Chilean Singles Chart 9
Colombian Singles Chart 71
French Singles Chart 10
German Singles Chart 56
Israeli Singles Chart 6
Japanese Singles Charts 8
New Zealand Singles Charts 4
Swedish Singles Chart 14
Switzerland Singles Chart 37
UK Singles Chart 4

[edit] Official Versions

  1. Factory Dub Version 6:50
  2. Junior Vasquez Remix "Dancehall Main" 5:46
  3. Junior Vasquez Remix "Harder Dancehall" 5:46
  4. Junior Vasquez Remix "Lounge Dub" 6:00
  5. Junior Vasquez Remix "Lounge Mix" 6:12
  6. Junior Vasquez Remix "Pop Goes The Dancehall" 4:58
  7. Junior Vasquez Soundfactory Mix 7:40
  8. Mikey Bennett's "Carnival" Version 6:04
  9. Mikey Bennett's "Carnival" Version Edited 4:09
  10. Single Edit 3:39
  11. Sly & Robbie's "Home Grown" Version 4:16
  12. Straight Up Pass Version 7:13
  13. Techno Dub 3:55
  14. Techno Main Mix 8:23

[edit] The Cheetah Girls Version

"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
No cover available
Single by The Cheetah Girls
from the album TBA
Released TBA
Format Digital Download
CD Single
Recorded 2006
Genre Pop
Length TBA
Label Hollywood Records
Certification TBA
Chart positions

TBA
The Cheetah Girls singles chronology
"So This is Love"
(2007)		 "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"
(2007)		 TBA
(2007)

In October 2006, it was announced, by group member, Adrienne Bailon that The Cheetah Girls would release a remake of the song as the first single from their forthcoming second studio album, prior to the album's release. Their official website states that the album is scheduled for release in mid-2007. The group has completed a music video, in which the group members are seen putting on makeup and singing. Three screencaptures from the video have been published in the "The Party's Just Begun Tour" book as well as a full page shot in the February 2007 edition of Astro Girl Magazine.

The group has also confirmed that this song and album will be released on Hollywood Records and will be releasing this single into the mainstream music scene. The music video is rumored to debut on Disney Channel and then be released to TRL that same week. The girls have also said that their version of the song will remain a pop song but with some hip-hop influence. [1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ (Spring 2007) Blast! magazine : "Blast Presents: Catching up with the cast of High School Musical & other teen TV stars", p 38. 

[edit] External links


The Cheetah Girls
Members
Adrienne Bailon | Sabrina Bryan | Kiely Williams
Movies
The Cheetah Girls | The Cheetah Girls 2 | The Cheetah Girls 3
Discography
Cheetah-licious Christmas
Compilation albums
The Cheetah Girls | DisneyMania 3 | Chicken Little | DisneyMania 4 | The Cheetah Girls 2 | Disneymania 5
Singles
" Cinderella" | " Girl Power" | "Cheetah Sisters" | "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" | "Shake a Tail Feather" | "Cheetah-licious Christmas" | "Five More Days 'Til Christmas" | "If I Never Knew You" | "The Party's Just Begun" | " Strut" | " Step Up" | "Amigas Cheetahs" | "Route 66" |"So This is Love" | "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
Misc
Tours | Video Game | Book series
Related Articles
3LW | Raven-Symoné
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