From male anguish to feminist anthem: how Cyndi Lauper’s biggest hit was written in just 20 minutes
Writing a hit in record time isn’t exactly a necessity, but it’s one of the most impressive things a musician can do. Not only does the act require an immense amount of know-how about audiences and formulas, but it usually involves tapping into the kind of artistry and intuition that only seasoned professionals are capable of. Cyndi Lauper may have popularised a particular track, but the original version came as a result of fast writing at the hands of male anguish.
When Robert Hazard wrote ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’, he never thought it would become a hit. As the story goes, Hazard thought of the song’s lyrics in the shower while he was musing about women who only want to have fun in the bedroom rather than let it blossom into anything serious. Many of the lyrics were the same then as what we hear today but from the man’s perspective.
Probably thinking about all the ways the dating world had changed, Hazard wrote a “silly” song about his frustrations and the pressure he received from his parents to find a nice girl to settle down with. However, it seemed that having fun “when the working day is done” is all they really want. Channelling his anguish into the song, Hazard recorded a demo and forgot about it, with no one really paying attention to it until one day, it was discovered by Rick Chertoff.
Chertoff was trying to discover new material while producing Lauper’s debut album when he stumbled across the demo and was immediately taken aback by its catchy lyrics and chorus. At the time, Lauper was edgy and expressive, and her mismatched thrift fashion and personality earned her a reputation as one of the most authentic figures in music. After introducing her to the track, Chertoff took Lauper to meet Hazard to change the lyrics to better suit her style.
After giving them permission to apply some tweaks, Lauper set out to alter the song’s message to address the female perspective and criticise the ways women are treated by men. This often includes them being ridiculed or humiliated for wanting to go out and do all of the things that men do without all of the questions that often follow. Although many of the lyrics remained the same, Lauper’s vocals and the altered perspective transformed it into a quintessential feminist anthem.
Moreover, the track’s “silliness” turns up the heat on the message, showing that having a good time and being feminine is part of womanhood, no matter how strange or taboo it may seem. As a result, the song and its music video became a staple of 1980s culture, where women could show up adorned with garish clothes and accessories and look cool while doing it.
Similarly, despite some trepidation when recording the song and working out how to deliver the vocals, the hit maintained Lauper’s overall message at the time. Like ‘True Colors’, Lauper championed acceptance, and ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ fit into that without any difficulty whatsoever. To make sure the message wasn’t lost on viewers, Lauper included women of all appearances in her video, both to make viewers feel less alone and to criticise MTV’s stale broadcasting at the time.
“I wanted ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ to be an anthem for women around the world – and I mean all women – and a sustaining message that we are powerful human beings,” Lauper explained in the book I Want My MTV. “I made sure that when a woman saw the video, she would see herself represented, whether she was thin or heavy, glamorous or not, and whatever race she was,” she concluded.
