Lesley Gore, You Don’t Own Me | Music Lifts 🎶 🏋

In the 20^th edition of Music Lifts (2023), we’re uplifted by Lesley Gore performing the pop classic,  “You Don’t Own Me.”

Welcome to Music Lifts 🎶 🏋, a column that seeks to highlight songs that encourage, inspire, and uplift the spirit; songs that exude fortitude, positivity, and resolve, even in the face of adversity.  Featured songs aren’t genre-specific; songs may or may not be faith-based. The goal is for these songs to make you feel better – be LIFTED to new heights!  So, for the 20^th edition of Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 (2023), we highlight 🎵 “You Don’t Own Me” as performed by 🎙 Lesley Gore.

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“You don’t own me / I’m not just one of your many toys.” #FACTS.  🎵 “You Don’t Own Me” (💿 Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts) is an empowerment anthem to women everywhere.  🎙 Lesley Gore (1946 – 2015)  put him in his rightful place on this 1963 gem.  She continues singing in the first verse, “You don’t own me / Don’t say I can’t go with the other boys.” Basically, Gore, an independent woman, is going to do what she wants to and NO man is going to tell her otherwise.  “You Don’t Own Me” was written by 🎼 ✍ Dave White Tricker and Johnny Medora.  It was produced by an icon: 🎛 Quincy Jones.  The sound of the record hearkens back to the glory days, and features a lush, string-laden arrangement.  Furthermore, compositionally, the shift between minor and major is genius. So is the harmonic scheme in general. A huge hit, “You Don’t Own Me” peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.

Of course, the centerpiece of this uplifting, feminist anthem is the chorus, which is varied each and every time. In the second chorus, Gore asserts, “I don’t tell you what to say / I don’t tell you what to do / So just let me be myself / That’s all I ask of you.” Woo! Furthermore, Gore is “young and I love to be young / I’m free and I love to be free.” Understandable, particularly since she was only 17 when “You Don’t Own Me” was recorded and released.  It should also be noted, later in life, Gore opened up about her sexuality: she was a lesbian. Biography.com sheds some light:

Though Gore did not come out as gay until after the heyday of her fame had passed, she says she never concealed it from the people who were close to her: “I just tried to live as normally as humanly possible. But as truthfully as humanly possible.”

Very interesting! The big takeaway regarding 🎵 “You Don’t Own Me” is how it takes a confident stance for girls everywhere.  It’s a message of, “You do you,” and don’t let anybody, especially the boys, tell you what to do and how to live.

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🎙 Lesley Gore • 💿 Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts • 🏷 Mercury • 📅 1963

Lesley Gore, “You Don’t Own Me”: Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 No. 20 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Mercury; cottonbro studio, Itzel  Sandoval, Neeraj Nagdeve via Pexels]