Chatting with Cyndi Lauper – HuffPost 3.24.14

Mike Ragogna: Cyndi, it’s an honor to talk to you.

Cyndi Lauper: Thank you!

MR: Can you believe it’s thirty years since She’s So Unusual was released?

CL: Yeah, can you believe it? That’s a long time. A lot of different journeys since then.

MR: Why do you think the album resonated with listeners at the time, and what do you think makes it so vibrant all these years later?

CL: Well we all tried to make an album that was kind of timeless, although I wanted to make an album that was timely, too. But the ideas and the songs that we chose and what I had wanted to do was put my best foot forward and not compromise. I compromised by not writing my own songs, but I did arrange them, and I tried to create us like a band. Since everyone was from the band it was easier to work that way. I felt that it was fortuitous that we all came together at the same time. Rick had been collecting songs and he worked with these guys called The Hooters. I had the experience that I’d had, but I was very enamoured with the new music that was coming from Europe and that electronic sound and the new sound on the drums, the new gigantic gated snare sound which is very indicative of that time. I felt that if we could approach the music as modern–and he did choose modern songwriters–some of the work was… I didn’t like seeing the things that I don’t really do, and the things that I thought were strong and songs that I would’ve liked to have written myself were the songs that I was drawn to. The first song that I was completely drawn to was a song called “All Through The Night,” written by Jules Shear. He had arranged it very much like a Beatles song. What was the very first song that we started to arrange? Probably that one.

Rick [Chertoff, producer] was very obsessed with “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” and it was actually written by a guy, Rob Hazard. Of course it was written in a different take, he’s a guy, he’s not going to write what a woman’s going to sing about. I was concerned about how it would be taken, and he said, “Well, think about what it could mean.” So the parts that were very masculine and didn’t pertain to what I wanted to say, I cut out, and as in all the songs I wanted us to have a sound, not just, “do these songs and we’ll do this and try that,” I wanted a specific sound, and my idea was to use those Hooters guys and their reggae feel and this wonderful new sound of this electronic drum and use the wonderful new styles that came over from England like The Clash and how they approached their guitars. It was kind of raw. And also Andy Summers, who I felt played in a completely different way than what we were listening to, which was more blues oriented. I just felt there was a way to cross everything and use a big voice, which I had. But we worked on that. That’s how I worked. I listened to songs with him and said, “Eh, nope.” The Prince song was interesting because of what he was writing about. He mentioned he didn’t change the sheets, and I was thinking, “That is a piece of real life put into a song,” which is something you would have hoped to have done yourself.

MR: You mentioned your big voice. Would you look at your music at that time as being empowering for women? It was powerful, tough, edgy, you had your fashion unique statements, coming off as a very strong woman.

CL: Well, when we did the visuals I had worked in a vintage store and love vintage things, I do. It was like working in a giant toy store for me. It was unbelievable. I decided that I would do that, use what I knew. I just talked about the style of the cover and why it was like that, it was a study in mid-day light. Annie Leibovitz, who makes wonderful compositions just saw a really incredible– she makes a human figure into a graphic design. It’s very strong and bold all the time, what she does to me. I felt at that time that it would be an honor to work with her and it just so happened that at that point she wasn’t as huge huge as she had become and I could afford her. Sony paid so we could afford her. I wanted to use color to grab people’s eye, because color leaves an imprint on you and makes you have an emotion. Primary colors, you need to feel a certain way, so I basically painted myself with the help of Patrick Lucas who was also part of this. I went on the road with Patrick Lucas with a trunk full of all these clothes that we put together in the wildest way with makeup equally wild that I was told at first, “Oh, you can’t do your makeup like that, that’s so corny.” I was like, “Really?” and then in my mind I was thinking, “You’re damn right, I can, it’s war paint, because thing’s have got to change.” So it was warpaint to me. This is what it is, it’s in your face, and yes, in the video “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” I wanted every color, every nationality of girl I could get in that nine because I needed every girl to look at that video and see herself and know that she, too, was entitled to a joyful experience, that she, too, could embrace a freedom of spirit that was in her. And yes, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” is a song about entitlement. To me. To me. I want to be the one to walk in the sun. I wanted to sing that loud and proud. The visuals were very important. They still are.

MR: Also regarding visuals, I wanted to tell you that in the “Time After Time” video when you have the RCA dog kiss the guy you’re leaving goodbye, that’s one of the most touching moments in the video age. Cyndi, I have to ask everybody, what advice do you have for new artists?

CL: You’ve gotta follow your own path. Whatever you can learn from anyone else, it’s not just older artists, it’s younger artists, you’re in this moment in this life, write and record what is going on right now so that someone will exactly know, “This is the time that we live.” There’s something about the impressionists that I tried to take with me. To me, you can paint with sound. You lay out a story with sound and you use color to emphasize it, but in a song, every musician is a character that pulls against the other and in the center is you and that rhythm and the drum and the interior rhythm featuring the instruments and you, and you own the center, and you own your path. However you get there, you own your own path and sing what you know in your life to be true. If it’s true to you, it’s going to ring true to somebody else and they’re going to feel it. But you have to only sing the truth, and you have to know–the one thing I would say that I learned from The Beatles is the simplicity with which they would present an idea and a song. John Lennon wrote that he wasn’t a great singer. That was fucking wrong. Some of the greatest singers have the greatest phrasing. They don’t have many notes to use, but they’re more creative in their one octave range. He would simply sing a song like, “In My Life.” Simply. There was no acrobatics. He just sang very simply. When Paul McCartney sang “Yesterday,” he just sang very simply, “Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.” Very simply. If you trust the song and the song’s lyrics say it, you don’t trust the f**king melody–you always have to pare it down to, “What’s the melody, what are the words saying?” If the words are super sentimental, then make it really sparing, because the more shit you pile on top of that, the more icky and sticky that gets and it becomes changed, it’s not real anymore. You want to hit somebody right between the eyes, or in the solar plexus. You want it in their heart, so that means you have to come from the purest f**king place. I was told at a young age from a great teacher when I studied in school, but I got kicked out of there because I didn’t quit rock ‘n’ roll and they felt I was a natural jazz singer and I felt I needed a lot of Prozac if I was going to stand still for a long time. In the end, Betty Scott told me–and I have a great teacher now who I still study with–but Betty Scott told me, “When no one’s there to connect to, sing to the angels, because they always hear you.” I’ve always done that and it’s always carried me through any moment.

MR: Cyndi, that’s the most beautiful answer I’ve ever heard to that question. Thank you so much. I need to tell you, after all these years do you know who’s still your biggest fan and who loves you very much? Andy McKaie, my ol’ awesome boss at Universal but you would know him from his NYC days. Anyway, you’re very loved and I really appreciate your time. All the best with everything.

CL: Thanks.

Transcribed By Galen Hawthorne