Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Did you know that Barbie loves Cyndi Lauper songs? For the last three days, we have all been in various stages of humming, singing, or dancing to
I come home in the morning light
My mother says when you gonna live your life right
Oh mother dear we’re not the fortunate ones
And girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun
We gave Riley a Barbie electric guitar for Christmas. It is actually a special favorite of all three of our children, who push the Girls Just Want to Have Fun button over and over and over. Adam does this while dancing, the guitar’s speaker pressed to his ear. Kevin looked at me at lunch time today and said, “Remember the Weird Al Yankovic version? I think it was Girls Just Want to Have Lunch.” It was. Weird Al’s version (searchable also under “white and nerdy” on the site where I found the lyrics) went
Some girls like to buy new shoes
And others like drivin’ trucks and wearing tattoos
There’s only one thing that they all like a bunch
Oh, girls, they want to have lunch
Oh, girls just want to have lunch
If you can sing either version with any accuracy, you have just dated yourself.:)
What’s remarkable to me, is that though Barbie’s molded plastic body has received some anatomical corrections over the years, she appears to be stuck in the 80’s. Since my girls, especially Riley, are constantly asking me about what I was like when I was younger, I took the opportunity (during one of Riley’s shy attempts at a superstar version of Girls) to tell Riley that the song was popular when her mom and dad were growing up. My mom and dad, who were in the kitchen, misheard and thought I was attributing Cyndi Lauper’s nasal tones to their generation. “No it wasn’t,” my mom said immediately. My dad readily agreed, hardly wanting to accept Lauper in league with the Platters and the Drifters. Once we settled the misunderstanding, Mom said something to Dad about being old and not very hip. I think our chaos had just worn her out, as this could not have possibly been her true meaning. Hip? Because we can sing some Cyndi Lauper lyrics? I honestly don’t think anyone who has kids can legitimately be called hip on any grounds, and certainly not because Cyndi Lauper colored our youth with her vocals. I have to say though, I’m happy that at least my sweet, wonderful mom still thinks I am hip.:) Thanks, Mom.
Isn’t it funny how the songs of your youth stay with you? Kevin and I have laughed out loud mulling that over the last few days, all because of that crazy song that keeps playing in the background of our holiday memories. When that song was popular, it was even a ridiculous mantra. Tears streaming down our faces because we had to do chores and homework and live an ordinary life (despite our passionate adolescent hearts), we intoned with audible frustration, “But girls just want to have fu-un.”
Just FYI—girls just want to have fun and lunch. Still.
