When you gonna live your life right...?

Greg Laswell's melancholy cover of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" repositions the narrative of the frothy 80s grrl-empowerment pop confection so that we're witnessing the male perspective. A young man who's had his heart torn out by the whims of a girl.

GRRL VERSION MESSAGE:
Let the girls be girls! Let them do what they want to do!

GUY VERSION MESSAGE:
Girls will do whatever they feel like doing, regardless of how it breaks your heart.



Phone rings in the middle of the night...
My mother says, "When you gonna live your life right..?"

Reminds me of when I had to try to explain to my mother why my wife walked out on me.

The tune has been so linked with Cyndi Lauper that, until recently, I never realized that her iconic version was actually a cover of song originally written by Robert Hazard:



So curious to imagine that this song originated from the male perspective. I think it's more poetic.