“You Don’t Own Me” and “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows”, originally sung by Lesley Gore, are my two new videos for the 2015 Unplugged series… the relearning of 100 songs I sang in the 60’s!
Stunning news rang out when Lesley Gore vanished from our Earth. I sang “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” on Shindig as well as the Milton Berle Show so relearning this Marvin Hamlisch tune was on my to-do list. “You Don’t Own Me” is a whole other animal. I ‘get’ it after singing it as a tribute to her.
My way of expressing emotion in the healthiest way is through singing. It’s wonderful to have been gifted with a tool to communicate. Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” captures that very essence. In her passing I pay tribute to her through song.
Quoting Ms. Gore, “As I got older, feminism became more a part of my life. I don’t care what you are – whether you’re 16 or 116 – there’s nothing like standing on the stage and shaking your finger and singing, ‘don’t tell me what to do'”.
Oh yeah, that’s the spirit! We ALL have issues in this Big, Wide, Wonderful World that are demeaning and extremely challenging. My beliefs don’t necessarily match or harmonize with those who oppose, but the question is: Do we not have the right to express our beliefs without persecution?
When I think of Racial issues that are pervasive today, omg! In my own lifetime, being born a Jewess did not always serve me… especially in grammar school when I was called out in class and asked, ” I thought You were green. Where are your horns?”
Basically, the lies are born from fears taught to us by society and our community; including an intimate home environment. How to separate from this fear-driven way of life is really challenging but in reality, possible… inevitable, if we as a planet are to survive. The only fear that any of us should be focused on, is will we have enough clean air and water to sustain life on Planet Earth? And that initial fear-driven question can transform into a positive action by Unifying over a Cause that we ALL must face. No one is above or below these basic necessities… even though, in the past and unfortunately in some cultures today, a superior attitude prevails.
Like the Beatles song says, “Come Together” and to quote from “You Don’t Own Me”, “Don’t tell me what to say, don’t tell me what to do. Just let me be myself, that’s all I ask of you”.