Songful Style | “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper & #SpreadTheKindness Link Up On the Edge #647

April 14, 2023 / 24 Comments

It’s time to get musically inspired once again!

About Songful Style

Songful Style is an ageless style challenge series hosted by Suzy of The Grey Brunette, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, Marsha of Marsha in the Middle, and Michelle of Funky Fashion Style. 

Each month we will share a song with the lyrics and video and we invite you to use whatever aspect of the song that inspires you to create an outfit. 

It is similar to Style Imitating Art where we use artwork to inspire our outfit creations. Except Songful Style gives you lyrics, music, video, and album artwork to inspire your fashion creativity. You may even find inspiration in a memory triggered by the selected song. It is all open to your own personal interpretation and just a fun way to discover new music and get a little bit more creative with your wardrobe.

Anyone is welcome to join us on a permanent basis or you can just play along without any obligation to do anything other than feel inspired. We are flexible and fun and just want to find more ways to play dress up because it’s what we enjoy doing! 

We will be posting on the last Monday of each month and will announce our song choice for the following month at the end of each post.

April’s song was chosen by Marsha and it was a very serendipitous choice for me. Just a few days before she let us know her song choice, I got Cyndi Lauper stuck in my head and turned my Pandora to her channel. I had been jamming out for days to the sounds of Cyndi so when Marsha announced “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, I was like, “Heck yeah, they do!” Then Kate Cosentino and Tiana Goss just performed this song last week in The Voice battles and it was so entertaining to watch those two girls having so much fun! I am really excited for this challenge.

Here is some inspiration in case the music moves you to join us in creating an outfit inspired by Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”.

Video Inspiration
Official Video
Kate Cosentino vs. Tiana Goss on Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” | The Voice Battles
Kelly Clarkson
Miley Cyrus
Twenty One Two
The Animal In Me
Andreea Munteanu
The Reggister’s (Reggae Cover)
Arkansas Jukebox (Bluegrass Cover)
The Lyrics
“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper
I come home, in the mornin' light
My mother says, "When you gonna live your life right?"
Oh momma dear, we're not the fortunate ones
And girls, they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have fun

The phone rings, in the middle of the night
My father yells, "What you gonna do with your life?"
Oh daddy dear, you know you're still number one
But girls, they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have

That's all they really want
Some fun
When the workin' day is done
Oh girls, they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have fun (girls, they want)
(Wanna have fun, girls)
(Wanna have)

Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest o' the world
I wanna be the one to walk in the sun
Oh girls, they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have

That's all they really want
Is some fun
When the workin' day is done
Oh girls, they wanna have fun
Oh girls just wanna have fun (girls, they want)
(Wanna have fun, girls)
(Wanna have)

They just want, they just wanna (girls)
They just want, they just wanna (girls just wanna have fun)
Oh girls, girls just wanna have fun
(Just want, they just wanna)
They just wanna, they just wanna (girls)
They just want, they just wanna (girls just wanna have fun)
Oh girls, girls just wanna have fun

When the workin'
When the workin' day is done
Oh, when the workin' day is done
Oh, girls, girls just wanna have fun
Everybody
Huh, huh

They just want, they just wanna (girls)
They just want, they just wanna (girls just wanna have fun)
Oh, girls, girls just wanna have fun
(They just wanna, they just wanna) when the workin'
When the working day is done (they just want, they just wanna)
Oh, when the working day is done (girls, girls just wanna have fun)
Oh girls, girls just wanna have fun
About the Artist and the Song

Born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 22, 1953, Cyndi Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist whose career spans four decades. Winning three of the four major American entertainment awards (EGOT), she earned her ranking at number 58 on VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. She is known not only for her distinctive four-octave singing range but also for her unique personal style making her a music and fashion icon.

As a child growing up in Queens, New York, she began writing songs and playing acoustic guitar at the age of 12. At this time, she also began developing her eclectic sense of style which resulted in her being severely bullied by her classmates. Eventually, Lauper was expelled from high school and earned her GED instead, leaving home at 17 to study art in Vermont. In the early 1970s, she started performing as a vocalist for various cover bands and continued until she damaged her vocal chords in 1977. With the help of a vocal coach, she was able to regain her voice and was back to work by 1978. However, she didn’t release her first solo album, She’s So Unusual, until October 14, 1983. It became an instant worldwide hit, peaking at number 4 in the United States.

Lauper co-wrote four of the songs on this album including her gigantic hits “Time After Time” and “She-Bop”. Although she did not write “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, she did change the lyrics from their original misogynistic tone and turned them into an anthem of female empowerment for young women. She has been a voice for women as well as the LGBTQ community through her music and her advocacy work since the beginning of her career. I have admired her, her music, and her incredibly creative sense of style since I was a little girl. I was 9 years old when her first album was released and I was smitten with everything about Cyndi Lauper from my first introduction.

“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was written and recorded by Robert Hazard in 1979. The original lyrics were from a male point of view but Lauper changed some of the lyrics at the suggestion of her producer. The end result was the message that all women are looking for is the opportunity to have the same experiences that men are allowed to have. It quickly became an “anthem of female solidarity” when it was released as the lead single from her debut studio album, She’s So Unusual. This single was her breakthrough hit, reaching number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and continues to be one of her signature songs 40 years after its release.

“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” appears on various “Greatest” lists in the music industry. It received two Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and has been covered by over 30 artists, a testament to its enduring popularity.

The quirky music video has a fun background story as well, but you can read that here if you are interested.

Album Covers and Other Fashion Inspiration
Image Source
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Source of Images: True Colors: 30 Fascinating Photographs That Show Colorful Styles of Cyndi Lauper During the 1980s
Source of Images: Cyndi Lauper’s Style Over the Years

Those are the things I find inspiring. You are welcome to do your own research if you need more inspiration. If you want to join us with your own look inspired by Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, we will be hosting a link party on our blogs on Monday, April 24, 2023, where you can share your post. We would love to see your Songful Styles!

Featured Favorites
Reader Favorite (Most Clicked): Amy of Amy’s Creative Pursuits
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Fashion Favorite: Maureen of Little Miss Casual
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Other Favorite: Claire Justine
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You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.

I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

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