It's My Party (song)
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| “It's My Party” | ||
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| Single by Lesley Gore | ||
| Released | March 5, 1963 | |
| Genre | Pop, Rock | |
| Length | 2:22 | |
| Writer(s) | Wally Gold, John Gluck Jr., Herb Wiener | |
| Producer | Quincy Jones | |
"It's My Party" is a song originally done by British pop singer Helen Shapiro[citation needed] and later popularized by singer Lesley Gore in 1963. This song hit #1 on both the pop and rhythm and blues charts in the United States and #9 in the United Kingdom, becoming Gore's only major hit in the latter country.
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[edit] Background
The song lyrically portrays the emotional downfall and public humiliation of a teenage girl who, at a party she is throwing, is humiliated when her boyfriend, Johnny, abruptly leaves her and takes up with her high school rival Judy, to whom he gives a ring to show his love for her.
The song's chorus, "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to... You would cry too if it happened to you," quickly became a part of American pop cultural language as a phrase used to describe being utterly humiliated and miserable during an event that is supposed to be a happy occasion.
[edit] Covers
- The song was covered by Bryan Ferry on his 1973 album These Foolish Things.
- A 1981 cover by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin was a UK number one hit single and charted at #72 in the US.
- A Swedish language version, known as "Leva livet" was written by Stikkan Andersson, has been recorded by artists as Lill-Babs (1963), Magnus Uggla (1979) and Lotta Engberg (1997). The Lill-Babs version was at Svensktoppen for 4 weeks from October 6, 1963-June 26-1964, peaking at #5.
- The rock band Luxx features the original drummer's (Gary Chester), daughter Katrina Chester, one of rock and roll's greatest modern female vocalists [1]. This band's debut album features a moving tribute to her father, naturally a cover version of the Lesley Gore 1963 hit "It's My Party".
- Rapper Fabolous makes a reference to the song in his 2003 hit "This is My Party" (from his 2003 album Street Dreams) by re-working the lyrics: "This is my party/So get fly if you want to/Get high if you want to cause I know you like to/Put your hands up as high as you want to/And if it feels good scream 'hey-hey-hey yo'".
[edit] Cultural references
- 1983-84 - A season 1 episode of Alvin & the Chipmunks had the song sung by Brittany after her sister Jeanette cast the deciding vote for class president... for Alvin.
- 1990 - Part of the song was used in the movie Problem Child; Part of the song was lip synced by Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) while she was putting on a show for customers at the Peach Pit in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.
- 1992 - In The Wonder Years season 6 episode 8, it was sang by Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), while delivering Chinese food.
- 1995 - A parody of the song is sung by The Ghostly Trio in the live-action film Casper, with the word "cry" replaced with "die".
- 2005 - Right-wing columnist Ann Coulter parodied the phrase for one of her columns on her website sometime after U.S. President George W. Bush's inauguration in 2005. She called the story "It's Our Party. You Can Cry if You Want To", making fun of Democrats who believe that the election was tainted again, just like in 2000.
- 2006 - The song's title is referenced in a season one episode of Hannah Montana.
[edit] The sequel: "Judy's Turn to Cry"
Because of the pop cultural obsession with the song and the tragic nature of the song, Lesley Gore recorded a sequel titled "Judy's Turn to Cry". In the song, the teenage girl narrator gets her revenge on Judy (who is obviously enjoying the pain and humiliation she caused the narrator). In the lyrics the narrator kisses another guy in front of Johnny and Judy during another party, which causes a jealous Johnny to jump at and punch the other boy.
"Judy's Turn To Cry" was not quite as popular as "It's My Party", but still was a sizeable hit, reaching #5 on the Billboard charts in the summer of 1963.
| Preceded by "If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Lesley Gore Version) June 1, 1963 |
Succeeded by "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto |
| Preceded by "Prince Charming" by Adam & The Ants |
UK number one single (Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin version) October 11, 1981 |
Succeeded by "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" by The Police |
