October 11th is National It’s My Party Day #ItsMyPartyDay as soon as I found this out my mind went to the Song It’s My Party by Leslie Gore that I’ve listened to all of my life. Have you heard of this song or the singer Leslie Gore?
if Charlie and I were still #Homeschooling full time we would have studied singers and music from the 50’s/60’s including Leslie Gore and this amazing song. If Suzzane had been there to celebrate #ItsMypartyDay I would have purchased a #SluberParty Cake from back in the day and let her host a #SlumberParty while we listened to this music for her #Homeschool Music Class.
But we all know she is gone and Charlie thinks he is to old to listen to this music with and a Slumber Party is out of the question. Although, I could invite my sister and my best friend over for a party and we could watch Grease and make Brownies but there both busy tonight. Would you like to come hang out with he this evening? Before you ask what about David he has to work tomorrow and is to tired for a Slumber Pary he said
On It’s My Party Day, on October 11th, go ahead, cry if you want to! It’s My Party Day is the day for enjoying everything that goes into a Sweet 16 party, savoring the memory of a high school crush, wanting to be a teen pop star, and finding out what you never knew about the life and career of Lesley Gore. She followed her dream, developed her talent, and died with almost nothing in her bank account.
The party in the song was actually a Sweet 16 party, and it wasn’t Lesley Gore’s. When songwriter Seymour Gottlieb told his daughter, Judy, that she had to invite her grandparents to her party, she had a fit. More accurately, she cried. When Gottlieb told her, “Don’t cry,” she came back with, “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to!”
Her retort inspired Gottlieb to sit down and write the lyrics to a song, which he sent to his writing partner, who sent them to a composer. It’s My party became a treacly threnody about a girl who sees her boyfriend leave her party with another girl, instead of about having her grandparents hanging out with her friends.
Did you know it was the Chiffons who first recorded “It’s My Party.” Helen Shapiro also recorded “It’s My party”, but her version wasn’t released before Gore’s. I don’t care what version of the song you listen to today just listen to it.
As kids, Lesley and her younger brother, Michael, entertained guests at their parents’ parties by belting out Rodgers and Hart and Gershwin tunes at the piano. By 15, Lesley knew she wanted to be a professional singer and talked her parents into getting a vocal coach.
When Lesley’s mother protested that she didn’t want to have to drive from Tenafly, New Jersey, into Manhattan once a week, the coach arranged to pick up his protégé at the George Washington Bridge wasn’t that kind of the Couch?
Lesley cut some demos, and through her Cousin, they reached Quincy Jones, a young producer at Mercury Records. Lesley Gore recorded ‘It’s My Party’ on March 30, 1963. That night, Jones ran into legendary producer Phil Spector at Carnegie Hall, and when he learned that Spector planned to record the song with the Crystals, Jones left the concert, pressed 100 copies, and sent them out to radio stations the next day. Lesley Gore’s record reached #1 in about a month.
How to Celebrate National It’s My Party Day
- If you have the opportunity today have a party because all you need is friends, food and age-appropriate beverages. But don’t forget the music! A good start would be Lesley Gore’s ‘It’s My Party,’ followed by her other hits, ‘Judy’s Turn to Cry,’ and the defiant ‘You Don’t Own Me.’
- Crank up the Karaoke because Karaoke is online now! Which I didn’t know but Charlie said we can use our phone to download an app, and turn it into a karaoke machine. Just purchase a a party pass for two days of unlimited access to a catalog of thousands of songs.
- Take the opportunity today to make a list of all the famous parties you can think of. For example, the Communist Party, the Know-Nothing Party, and the Donner party.
Facts About Crying
- Did you know there is scientific evidence that emotional tears have more protein than tears shed when chopping an Onion.
- For Centuries, people believed that when emotions ran high, tears originated in the heart, which generated Water vapor to cool itself off, then rose into the head, where condensation occurred in the eyes and produced tears.
- In 1662, Niels Stensen, a Danish Scientist, discovered that tears come from the lacrimal gland in each eye.
- The world’s foremost expert on crying, Dutch professor Ad Vingerhoets, recounts numerous theories about why we weep, including an idea in the 1960s that because humans evolved from aquatic Apes, we developed tears to help us survive in Saltwater. Isn’t that crazy?
- An unsubstantiated theory from a Biochemist in 1985 said that crying was the body’s way of removing toxic substances that build up in the blood when we’re stressed.
Why People Love National It’s My Party Day
- Somewhere about four years of age, we all catch on to the tradition of celebrating birthdays with parties that stretches our greedy imaginations into our futures and it’s a tradition that originated with the Egyptians, who marked the anniversary of the day the Pharaoh was transmogrified into a God upon taking the throne.
- Lesley Gore’s hit song came to be in the waning days of what we remember as Elvis Presley’s rock ‘n’ roll age. Its My Party rocketed up the charts just ahead of the British invasion, which ushered in the music of The Beatles, whose innovations would change the sound of popular music forever and transcend teendom.
- We should live in the present, but a walk down memory lane turns out to be good for you, emotionally and physically. For example, nostalgia literally makes you feel warmer in cold temperatures; makes you more optimistic; counteracts memory loss; makes you feel you belong and makes you feel younger.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
