There are just some albums that withstand the test of time and remain as awesome as the first time you heard it.
Let's see if I can paint a decent enough mental picture (since I refuse to post actual pictures if I can avoid it):
It's September 1983. The place is the absolute hot spot of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. Oh yeah...strap yourselves in, folks.
Fancy is a happy little four year old, dividing her days between daycare and Kindergarten. She's an active, imaginative little girl, though the girl part isn't immediately obvious--she's got very short blonde hair, she's rough and tumble and likes to wrestle with Daddy, and if she's lucky, she tips the scales at a hulking 30 lbs...soaking, freaking wet. Her best friend in the 3 year old boy across the street named Clinton. They are like little peas in a pod, to the point where everyone calls them Mr. and Mrs. (Surname Redacted), but she's in school now, so she's making friends with other kids. Her favourite toy is her tricycle. It's orange. She likes to stand on the seat while holding the handlebars. It's pretty badass. Fancy's got a poster of E.T. on the wall, and to tell the truth, it scares her.
She's shared a room in the past with her big sister, who can be such a meanie-weenie sometimes, but mostly her big sister looks out for her. Big sister has pictures of kittens on her bedroom wall. They're cute. She's got two big brothers too, but she only sees one sometimes in the summer. The other one isn't around much, not like he was when Fancy was younger. He's got these friends that Mummy and Daddy don't like much. He always seems to either be arguing with Mummy or avoiding her. He makes Fancy her favourite food, Chef Boyardee, and that makes him a pretty good big brother
Fancy is only vaguely aware of the world outside of Fort Smith. To her pre-school mind, all the places she hears about on the news are just places in her town she hasn't been to yet. Yeah, she wasn't the freshest cookie in the jar.
Little Fancy's big sister likes music. She has tapes. (Quit laughing, it was 1983). Big sister also likes looking cool, so edgy, new wave punk accessories sort of play at the edges of Big Sister's wardrobe. She's not all the way into it though, as she's also into sports, so it's this sporty-preppy-new wave thing...whatever you want to call it, her sister does it with flair.
This is the world I inhabited when this monster breakout hit song first pierced my little toddler ears:
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...
Over the next couple of years, as singles from Cyndi Lauper's monster breakout album She's So Unusual roll out over the airwaves, I was influenced. I'm not sure how it happened, but I decided I wanted to grow a little rat tail in the back. I was pissed off that I had to have the stupid old black rainboots with the icky brown soles and stripe instead of the way more fun red ones. I rocked a Kway windbreaker. I still stood on the seat of my trike, hanging on to the handlebars...it was still pretty badass. The little girl grew up with that little streak of new wave in her. She was so(rta a little) unusual.
If it's been a long time since you listened to Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual in a while, do yourselves a favour, and find it. Pop it on. It's truly a pleasure to listen to now. Just as it was in 1983.
Cyndi Lauper...
...Wish you were here.
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