Cyndi Lauper, True Infinite Icon

Cyndi Lauper was on my mind all weekend. As I confessed on The Squawk a few days ago, after hearing and reading so much about her for the better part of a year, I finally listened to some Chappell Roan. As I’ve obsessively played The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess on a loop (no skips!) and watched as many of her videos as I could, I saw and heard her pop and singer-songwriter mothers, aunties, cousins, and sisters. I kept saying to my husband, “She’s the new Cyndi Lauper!” And Cyndi recognizes this, too. 

She was a guest on Sunday’s Watch What Happens Live, and when Andy Cohen declared that the two singers have “a mutual admiration society going on,” Cyndi hilariously proclaimed herself a fan of Chappell Roan from “the hair alone.” She recognizes her influence on/Roan’s similarity to her—they are both so visual, and in their respective times, “so unusual.” They both share a sense of humor, 80s vibes, and of course, let’s not forget, badass pipes. 

 

 

I can see that humor and fun as Chappell Roan introduces each of the songs she and her band destroy for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert (and don’t forget that she donates! That cracked me up). I also heard and saw it on the song and video for “Casual.” I loved it from the second I heard it—sonically and soon enough, lyrically. It’s also my favorite of her videos so far. This girl’s got wit AND pipes! And not that I have a habit of quoting or paraphrasing YouTube comments, but as someone wrote on there, no one has sung the words “and you’re eating me out” more beautifully. 

This song and delivery gave me echoes of another auntie of Chappell’s—listen to “Northern Lad” or “Hey Jupiter” and try not to feel the heartbreak (and wit) of Tori Amos as she sings the words:

“Girls, you’ve got to know when it’s time to turn the page

When you’re only wet because of the rain.” 

 

”Well if my heart’s soaking wet

Boy your boots can leave a mess”

 

But going back to the legend that is Cyndi Lauper—I wish she had gotten the whole half hour to herself on WWHL. No offense to Paris Hilton, but why not pair her up with a peer (Cher?!) or a true music heir like Miley or Chappell Roan herself? Come on WWHL bookers!

Even though Paris was there to promote an album called Infinite Icon, the true infinite icon on that show to me was Lauper. And if you need an introduction or refresher on this icon, look no further than her greatest hits album—the one that I played obsessively while wanting to laugh and cry through heartbreak circa 1998: 1995’s Twelve Deadly Cyns…And Then Some. Yes, it has the Cyndi Lauper classics—“Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” Time After Time,” and “True Colors”—but it also has Fun Essentials like “Money Changes Everything” and “She Bop,” two songs that share DNA with Chappell Roan:

“Touch me, baby, put your lips on mine

Could go to hell, but we’ll probably fine…” 

and 

“I heard you like magic/I’ve got a wand and a rabbit…”

But if you want to hear my favorite Cyndi Lauper vocals, you gotta listen to “All Through the Night,” “Change of Heart,” and “I Drove All Night”—which was originally written for and recorded by Roy Orbison and later covered by fellow Icon, Celine Dion. But my favorite Cyndi Lauper song, the one I play the most, the one that is easily in my top 20 songs of ALL TIME, the one I wish I had the pipes for is… “I’m Gonna Be Strong.” This was another song not originally written for her. It became a major hit for Gene Pitney in 1964 but in my mind, it was only meant to be Cyndi Lauper’s. For a fun compare-and-contrast exercise, listen to Pitney’s longing version of the song to prepare for the ridiculous pain in the Lauper one. I’m with Ian Tasker from The Guardian—who the hell needs a chorus when the quiet of the song’s beginning inevitably builds to its climactic and beautiful heartbreaking end?

Try not to feel every single word and note of the second half of the song. I sure tried to sing the hell out of this when I needed it most:

I’m gonna be strong

And stand as tall as I can

I’m gonna be strong

And let you go along 

And take it like a man

When you say it’s the end

I’ll hand you a line

I’ll smile and say 

Don’t you worry it’s fine

And you’ll never know darling

After you kiss me goodbye

How I’ll break down and cry.

Cyndi Lauper begins her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun tour on October 18. I hope I can make it to one of those dates. 

 

P.S. For another great cover by Cyndi Lauper, here is “Blue” as performed at the 2023 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song concert honoring Joni Mitchell:

 

Here's Cyndi at the MTV VMAs on the weekend.