Song #91 - "It's My Party" - Lesley Gore

#1 for weeks of June 1 and 8th, 1963. 

     When someone brings up examples of American pop music in 1963, besides the usual "Beach Boys" and "Ronettes", Lesley Gore will inevitably get mentioned. Just one look at Lesley's discography in the first half of the 1960's, and it's easy to make an assumption that her music was almost exclusively written for the teenage girl market. While, she turned out to be a much more complex person in real life, you would not have initially guessed that about her in 1963. 

     "It's My Party" introduced her to the mainstream market, and the song happened to come out in just the right time period for it to be massively successful. Once again, the song was written by outside songwriters. The tune was shopped around to many different producers before Lesley Gore decided to take a crack at, with producer Quincy Jones. Yep, the same Quincy Jones who would produce the pop masterpiece Thriller for Michael Jackson some 19 years later. That's a good sign for sure. 

     This song on the surface may seem like it's cut from the same cloth as "I Will Follow Him". However, "It's My Party" is far superior in every way. Lesley Gore has a great singing voice, probably one of the best of the 1960's teen girl singers in my opinion. Second, the musical arrangement is first class with plenty of horn parts to keep people who listen to these songs mostly for the music, like myself, satisfied. 

     Lyrically, the song even could be considered relevant in today's society. "It's My Party" is about a girl who's boyfriend cheats on her at her own birthday party. Yeah, if that was you, you probably would cry as well, just like Lesley sings. So despite being a mid 20's male, I find those lyrics to be very striking, and since Lesley gives the song a convincing vocal performance, it makes listening to the song be an enjoyable experience. 

     Lesley Gore would soon put out a sequel song "Judy's Turn To Cry" and more importantly, "You Don't Own Me", which lyrically was a few years ahead of its time. It is a shame that she would spend the next few years putting out records that stereotyped her instead as the "Boy-crazy" girl next door, especially since in real life, or at least in later years, that's not who she would have wanted to sing about. Regardless, I'm recognizing her here as someone who's stellar singing voice propelled songs, which would have been not as interesting if sung by someone else, to a much higher plateau. 

Final Verdict - This is an example of how to take a song that would ordinary be mere bubblegum pop in anyone else's hands, and give it a great music arrangement with a talented singer and a legendary producer. It is because of this that "It's My Party" still is an enjoyable song to listen to to this very day. 

                Coming Up Next - "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto. 

             Until Next Time - Don't cry, get happy, it's Dr. Rock.