Cyndi & I
When I was young I liked Cyndi Lauper. Well, I liked some of the songs when they appeared on the radio. I liked She-Bop; I can remembe
r it going round and round on a C-90 cassette tape that I was given along with my first tape-player (after my parents' first overseas trip).
The C-90 was bunged in the player and the record button went down without thought. I used to just fill up tapes with whatever the radio was playing.
But I definitely remember She-Bop. And Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Of course you couldn't escape those songs if you tried...not back then.
I never thought much more about Cyndi. The odd song would come and go. Obviously her True Colors and Time After Time became standards of a sort (even Dai Henwood couldn't ruin Time After Time). But while she moved on to not a lot after writing I Drove All Night for Roy Orbison to have a late-career highlight with, I moved on to Guns'n'Roses and Santana and Bob Dylan and everything after.
And then, some time around 2005 I had my car door smashed. I left the car in Hawke's Bay to be fixed and borrowed a bomb to drive around in; tape-deck only. I searched for tapes to fill the stereo - I had given away most of my cassettes many years back in the switch to CDs.
I found Dire Straits' Alchemy and Eric Clapton's Backless. I even found a double Status Quo tape (obviously it was all the ones I couldn't give away).
And then I spied True Colors on tape.
This wasn't even mine. I had been given it - much later in life - when my aunty was ridding herself of tapes. I used to have a car with a tape-player when I was a student. So tapes got a thrashing, covers smashed, loops of tape strewn about the front seat, often they were thrown out of moving vehicles - in frustration - on road trips.
I decided I would have another hoon on True Colors.
Well it's hard to really explain what happened next - except to say that I became obsessed with Cyndi.
I purchased True Colors on CD; and then quickly grabbed She's So Unusual also. That album (of course) became the favourite. But I didn't stop there. I went on a rampage, grabbing A Night To Remember and Hat Full Of Stars; revisiting her 2003 collection of show-tunes and jazz-standards, At Last (I had actually reviewed this when it was released - and that was the first time I stopped to wonder what Cyndi Lauper might be up to).
And I checked out The Body Acoustic - reworkings of her famous songs with guests like Ani DiFranco, Sarah McLachlan, Jeff Beck and, erm, Shaggy.
Yes, if you didn't believe me before you'll believe me now: I became obsessed.
Favourite songs are still - mostly - from She's So Unusual. Particularly All Through The Night, the cover of Prince's gem, When You Were Mine and Money Changes Everything.
There are also some great tracks on the follow-up, particularly Change Of Heart.
I realised, re-visiting Cyndi, that she's an amazing song-interpreter and a great writer. She had the unique sense of style at the time, sure, but she was - and is - more than just a pop act. For all the talk of Madonna reinventing herself I would take a well-compiled Cyndi Lauper Best-Of over Madge's sporadic high-points any day.
Much as The Mission concert is a total disaster these days - little more than a joke - I still think if they really wanted to bring it back, to save it, Cyndi might be the one to do it. 
She's more than just a voice - she's a very talented musician; she was a guitarist in the pre-fame days; a keyboard player too. Nowadays she often uses a dulcimer to reinvent her old pop hits from the 1980s.
Since 2005, since that time some jerk drove in to my car and never left a note - and I was forced to borrow an old clunker while my car was fixed - I always include a Cyndi song on every playlist.
And most nightcaps are taken with a dose of Lauper among the late-night tunes. All Through The Night is often the last song played before bed in our house.
So were you a Cyndi Lauper fan? Are you still? Or do you think she's a screeching charlatan? (You'll be banned from this blog for a week if that's the case). What are your favourite Cyndi songs? And given the choice between Lauper and Madonna who would you pick and why?
And if commenting on Cyndi Lauper means nothing to you then perhaps you have your own story of rediscovering a real blast from the past; seeing something/someone (musically) in a new light? Do share...
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Totally agree Simon, 'She's So Unusual' one of THE albums of the 80's. Cyndi had an air of not taking herself too seriously, even though she had every right to, something Madonna lacked, and she treated her hair and clothing like a painting- just whack that colour on! She seems to know what keeping young is all about, and that doesn't mean becoming a body-builder- no disrespect meant, Madge.
I've got the '12 Deadly Cyns' best of compilation right next to Led Zeppelin and Leftfield in my CD collecion. Her 1994 reworking of 'Girls just wanna have fun' is probably my favourite track of hers, if only for the particular time and place associations it has.
My first memory of Cyndi was seeing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" on TV, and my father saying that she sounds better singing than she does talking! It was a long time before I heard her speak, but he was right. I liked that song, and the other hits off true colours and the follow up, but never really paid her much attention until the last few years, whenever I hear her I realise how good she really was, both as a singer and a songwriter. True Colours, Time After Time, Money Changes Everything.....they are all magic. Reading your blog today has made me want to go and get some of her albums, so i will find them on the net tonight, or maybe in second hand shops, so i can have them on my iPod from now on. Thanks Simon!
Oh, I forgot to add...I would definitely prefer her over Madonna.
Definitely Cyndi. Madonna is just a wagon-hopper, she might be an alright dancer but I've never thought mucg of her singing, while Cyndi is loaded with talent.
Thank you for this post!! - Have been following your hints at the Cyndi obsession with interest for some time now. I have True Colours on vinyl - My prized posession! (a gift for perhaps my 5th birthday). A very well loved/played album. Got my hands on the cd as soon as was humanly possible. Calm Before The Storm has to be the most recent favourite I think. It changes every few years - Maybe He'll Know another great track. I could go on for hours....
I remember when Cyndi and Madonna first started out, Time Magazine ran an article comparing the two and saying that Cyndi would be the one who would do the best based on musical talent. Ha! Since when has musical talent had anything to do with success?? I thought of that sometimes in the 1990s when Cyndi kind of dropped off the radar (for me anyway) and you couldn't get away from Madonna. Nice to know that Cyndi is appreciated still.
Have an old vinyl Cyndi Lauper album but can't say then I liked all her stuff. My perception changed though after seeing a video of her in concert and a great acapella version of Iko Iko.
My teenage daughters though are big fans and they would easily prefer her over Madonna.
'Money Changes Everything' is the one for me. I think that was written by one of her Blue Angel bandmates, though. As to the chorus of 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun', I can't help but hear Morrissey singing it. Can you imagine?
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I've always liked Cyndi, but at the time she first hit the scene she emanated mostly from my sister's tape deck, along with a healthy dose of Madge and Kylie and whatever whip-slave Stock/Aitken/Waterman were currently exploiting. With me it was alot of Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, Def Leppard and Guns n' Roses, but I honestly liked Cyndi more than the rest of the pop-schlock my sister was listening to.
Not enough to follow her after her 80's shockwave had died down though, but I never get tired of revisting her. A brave, unique and talented performer, some great feminist leanings and a determination to stay true to herself, it seems.
Between Cyndi and Madge, overall? That's a tough one because one is being honest one must acknowledge that Madonna has also been a brave, unique and talented performer, with strong feminist leanings and a determination to stay true to herself. She's had more success doing it than Cyndi, with probably a more innate sense of how to tap into people's psyches, whether to shock, outrage or to soothe. Perhaps that's where Cyndi falls short a little, at least for me.