Lesley Gore, Feminist Hero

Lesley Gore, who died of lung cancer on Monday at the age of 68, is often cited as a proto-feminist pop music heroine, mostly on the strength of her hit "You Don't Own Me," which reached #2 on the charts in 1964 when she was just 17.

Rightly so. "You Don't Own Me," which was written by Philadelphia songwriters John Madera and David White (who also wrote "At The Hop" for Danny & the Juniors) is a song of explicit defiance that says what it means in blunt, direct langauge. "Don't tell me what to do, don't tell me what to say!," sang the born in Brooklyn, raised in Tenafly, N.J. teen, who later graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. "And please, when I go out with you, don't put me on display!"

Its status has grown in the five decades since it was originally recorded and was only prevented from reaching the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 by The Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand." Perhaps the two most memorable versions of the song are by the unlikely trio of Diane Keaton, Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn in the 1996 movie The First Wives Club, and its use as a get-out-the-vote PSA with reproductive rights resonance during the 2012 Presidential campagn in a video that featured appearances by Carrie Brownstein, Miranda July, Natasha Lyonne, Tracee Ellis Ross and Gore herself. Joan Jett also recorded it.

"You Don't Own Me" is s self empowerment anthem recorded at a time when the roles women were expected to play in pop were more commonly submissive and adoring, as typified by hits like "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons. Released the same year as Betty Friedan's The Femine Mystique, Gore's song pointed forward to future respect-demanding females, from Aretha Franklin to Loretta Lynn to Beyonce. And while "You Don't Own Me," is Gore's most assertive song, her first and even bigger hit, the Quincy Jones-produced "It's My Party," is also a proto-feminist salvo in its own way. It's a memorable evocation of teen heartbreak, and while it's weepy, they were Lesley Gore's tears, and she owned them. It was her party, and she'd cry if she wanted to.

It's worth noting that the follow-up hit to "It's My Party," "Judy's Turn To Cry," which was written by Beverly Ross and Edna Lewis, departs from this feminist narrative. It finds the snger gloating that Judy, who stole Johnny away in "It's My Party"  has now been dumped herself, and that Johnny has come back to his rightful place where he was before the party started. Sisterhood was not quite so powerful in that case.

Gore had a quite successful second act of her career, performing on Broadway in Smokey Joe's Cafe and co-writing "My Secret Love" for Alison Anders' 1996 film Grace Of My Heart. She's survived by Lois Sasson, her jewelry designer partner of over 30 years. Her obituary is here.

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