Now, I love old Lesley and her classic song. And it's fine with me if the Democratic Party is her party — and she'll cry if Obama loses, cry if Obama loses, you would cry too if it happened to you. "You Don't Own Me" dates back to 1963 — pre-Women's Liberation, pre-Beatles. But let's consider the lyrics and the extent to which they express the values of the present-day Democratic Party.
By the way, Ms. Gore did not write "You Don't Own Me." It was written by 2 men, John Madara (who also wrote "At the Hop") and David White (who co-wrote "At the Hop" and was a member of the doo-wop group Danny & the Juniors who recorded "At the Hop"). Madera and White also co-wrote "The Fly," which was a dance that you could do at the hop, and here's Chubby Checker showing you how:
That was 1961, 2 years before Lesley sang Madera and White's declaration to female autonomy, which is no kind of dance song at all, though Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, and Goldie Hawn manage to turn it into a dance for the purpose of bringing a close to the execrable 1996 movie "First Wives Club":
That movie is best described by David Rakoff in "Half Empty": "A gynocentric comedy predicated on the scenario where men are cheating bastards and middle-aged women the goddesses who best them while cementing their sisterhood with Motown-scored makeover montages, vengeful shopping sprees, warmed-over Lucy-and-Ethel hijinks, and random humiliations visited upon women who are younger and therefore by definition stupid whores."
Anyway, look at the lyrics to "You Don't Own Me," words which a couple youngish guys put in the female singer's mouth, as repurposed for the 2012 election "war on women" theme:
I'm young and I love to be youngSounds libertarian to me. But it's the Obama side using this, so presumably we're supposed to hear something like:
I'm free and I love to be free
To live my life the way I want
To say and do whatever I please
I'm free and I want my birth control to be free
To live my life the way I want
To say and do whatever I please and have the government pay for it
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56 comments:
So when are we going to get the "How the Democrats Lost Me" post?
Best version ever of You Don't Own Me is by Klaus Nomi.
POTUS Obama:
I owe you nothing. I gave you my time and energy since April 2008, starting in Madison, WI.
Your people lied when I was told that I will get a job in the WH if I help to deliver WI.
The was the first lie. Then many lies later.
You personally lied about Libya.
You are a fraud. You have the get-out-of-the-jail card from NYT, NPR, PBS, etc.
But, not with me.
I voted against you yesterday at 4 PM.
One word: Benghazi.
Your own October surprise.
Enjoy your own unemployment.
AKB
It sounds libertarian except for the implicit denial of personal responsibility.
Who, exactly, is acting as though they "own" the women's vote?
The first wives of "First Wives Club" were portrayed as being such horrible people that I was left wondering why we were supposed to dislike their husbands for dumping them.
The fabrication of martyrdom has become Obama's (and the left's) principle political tactic.
In this case, half of all women appear ready to vote for Obama.
Which, you would think, would make this tactic problematic.
"To say and do whatever I please"
This lyric should feature an image of the towel-wrapped, fedora-topped, deputy-surrounded Nakoula being perp-walked in front of the media.
Just to show that this song really isn't about what Obama represents.
I knew Leslie Gore. She was a rich, entitled girl who went to Sarah Lawrence, a place full of rich entitled girls. Personally she was nice enough. She needed security because she was being stalked. But she was typical of what has become the worst of the women's movement: the privileged seeking more privilege.
Obama the Boyfriend.
LOL this is fun.
Since the dance was called "the fly", is this an opportunity to use your beloved insect politics tag?
Agreeing with EDH, it is the democrats who think they have the right to define me as a woman. Fuck them, I'll do what I want. I am who I am.
Obama has not been good for the image of either women or Blacks, because he has treated them like suckers, and people are noticing how much they fall for it. I guess that's not really his fault though is it? What does it say when you prefer the guy who promises you things you know you should be providing yourself, and you attack the guy who treats you like an adult?
"Since the dance was called "the fly", is this an opportunity to use your beloved insect politics tag?"
I thought about it. I really did. But I just didn't see anything political about it "The Fly."
I keep hoping Nancy Sinatra will come out in favor of Romney.
"You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin'
You keep losing when you oughta not bet
You keep samin' when you oughta be a'changin'[.]"
Yeah Klaus Nomi made that song his the same way that Jimi Hendrix took "All Along the Watchtower" away from Bob Dylan.
Doing a better cover then the original means your version is now THE version.
The gummint is not "paying for it," but instead using Other People's Money to pay for it.
The gummint creates nothing, produces nothing, and pays for nothing. Instead it impedes creation and production and uses Other People's Money to pay for it all.
I wish they'd just stick to their Constitutional duty to try to deliver the mail.
Maybe some politicos could do a political ad appropriating "The Fly."
Come on come on and do the fly with me
Hey come on everybody and do the fly with me
Well if you don't know how to do it
Just watch and see
You've gotta shake your hands all around and around the sky
And then you buzz around the floor
You can do it if you really try...
And then there's this little ditty, sung by Obama-Jugend.
Charming!
They lyrics are... well, judge for yourself.
Mom and Dad
We’re blaming you!
You can say that again. If Obama wins, you'll have a hell of a lot to blame them for.
But it's the Obama side using this, so presumably we're supposed to hear something like:
I'm free and I want my birth control to be free
To live my life the way I want
To say and do whatever I please and have the government pay for it
The Obama campaign and the diminishing advantage among women voters.
"It's the comedy that proves $1,000 can buy popularity, but it... Can't Buy Me Love."
For at least the first part of the video I was convinced it had to be a Repuplican ad.
Who thinks they own women? Democrats
Who says women can't go with other boys? Democrats
Who thinks women's freedom is secured by making other people pay for women's sexual choices? Democrats
The irony burns.
Ann Althouse said...
Maybe some politicos could do a political ad appropriating "The Fly."
Insect politics?
Does President Obama own the Catholic Church?
Because essentially, that is what he is doing with his mandate.
I guess they're going with the over 60 female vote. My mother's age, when she couldn't even open up a store credit card without her husband's permission, despite having her own job. Or a woman was referred to as 'a girl' in a professional setting.
But my mother isn't voting for Obama. She's voting for Romney, back in the day she PAID for her own contraception. Just back in the day, I did the same.
To her health care is suppose to cover the big things, like heart surgery and cancer. The day to day routine stuff, is your responsibility. And to her, even though she has no problem with contraception, she understands contraception doesn't 'treat an illness'. Contraception is a choice a woman makes in terms of family planning, it isn't like medicine for a chronic condition.
Are feminists say that because our ovaries ovulate, what makes us women is really a chronic disease?
It's sounds so misogynistic.
You mean this Nancy song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRkovnss7sg
This is in color:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww
AKB, yes, but I had this version in my head.
Ultimately we have responsibilities, and even if your fine with contraception/abortion and if I don't own you, then don't make me responsible for paying for it.
It is one way or the other.
Baby Boomers come off as so narcissistic, the younger generations are no better. They're our role models.
First Wives Club:
Such a p.o.s. movie. But a train wreck I can never look away from.
Women initiate 2/3rds of divorces, then get upset when no one wants their old, wrinkly asses and yet babes want their old husbands.
A "center for women" somehow saving the day.
Fugly, hateful Bette Midler pretending she's a warm, caring mother.
Women shown being equal to men in business, finance, law, etc.
One of my first experiences with the Red Pill. It was so bad, it opened my eyes slightly to the bullshit.
It's tough to be a free spirit when your lips are glued to the government's teat.
It's amazing how many girls and women need to be told this.
Ladies... you don't own me, don't tell me what to do, don't tell me what to say, don't try to change me in anyway...
Stick that in your mouth ladies.
If only we lived in a world where people such as Fluke were flukes.
Yes, let us borrow money from China--to be repaid by our grandkids--so that people such as Fluke can pursue their subsidized happiness without the burden of certain unfortunate consequences.
We really aren't a very serious country anymore.
""You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin'"
Truthers!
This is another ad which supposes that what women mean by liberation is free birth control. But the song is more about not being treated as a trophy, as a thing. Maybe Michelle hears it in her head as she moves about the White House. But THE DREARY, SMEARY, BLEARY CAMPAIGN, of course, is only able to imagine that this is all about birth control.
After the election it will turn out that Obama didn't own the electorate and that the song they were hearing was: "You're So Vain" www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g
"You gave away the things you loved/ And one of them was me"
Prof. Here is a better line:
You keep think you will not be burned, HA!
While the dance routine is lame, The First Wives Club is an hilarious, well-made movie.
I was thinking more about this The Fly
It's no secret that the stars are falling from the sky
The universe exploded 'cause of one man's lie
Look, I gotta go, yeah, I'm running outta change
There's a lot of things if I could I'd rearrange
Not a whiff of desperation there.
Sorry, ladies, but if Obamacare succeeds, the government will own you. They will know your BMI and they will tax your fat. They will tell your doctor what he can and can't say to you. What tests he can and can't order. And they will tell you when it is your turn to die.
What is that "Get your rosaries off my ovaries?" Those rosaries are praying for the unborn babies whose mothers want to deprive them of life. They aren't for your ovaries.
Again this is the most juvenile campaign of all time.
Children easily confuse "freedom" with "free stuff."
They want women to be free...
as long as all they want is to be Barry's bitch.
Who loves ya, baby?
"You don't own me, you just owe me."
--The Sandra Fluke Songbook
"You Don't Own Me", Honest Lyrics Edit:
You don't own me
I'm not just one of your many toys
You don't own me
Don't say I can't go with other boys
Don't tell me what to do
And don't tell me what to say
And when I go out with you
Don't put me on display
You don't own me
Don't try to change me in any way
You don't own me
Don't drag me down, 'cause I'll never stay
I don't tell you what to say
I don't tell you what to do
Except in every lyric of this song
So let's be clear, I own you!
I'm young
And I love to be young
I'm free
And I love to free
To live my life the way I want
And make you act however I please . . .
AKB, dude you're harshing my mellow. Bring back AP, I need the laughs.
As for the song, too bad I can't get away from singing it to the IRS. They do own me.
So, no one likes The Blow Monkeys cover?
From the Dirty Dancing soundtrack no less!
Kate and Anna Mcgarrigle Leave me be
You don't own me?
Haven't they been listening? Obama has a collectivist point of view. "Government is the only thing we all belong to". And "you didn't build that", afterwhich quickly follows, "so we have the right to confiscate what you've made and use it for our puposes".
You don't own me indeed.
Good lord - don't want to own them. Nor I think does anyone else. Women that feel moved to make videos like that usually wind up alone, middle aged and having speculum parties.
With lots of cats, but that goes without saying...
Possession of one being by another has come into more and more disrepute, so that the common understanding of one person possessing another is slavery.
- Vicki Hearne What's Wrong with Animal Rights see p.5
wow ! two klaus nomi mentions in the same comment thread ?! i'm impressed.
Goldie Hawn kept her fastball longer than any other woman alive. I'm sure Diane Keaton and Bette Midler have many admirable qualities, but I'd just as soon not want to own them. I probably wouldn't want to own Goldie either, but she's definitely worth leasing......All three women have led wives rich with perks and privilege. Ditto for Leslie Gore.
What makes the original so great is that she was so young and it was completely the wrong era for the song.
Jimbino, OPM is yours and mine. We are the "other".
Would anyone have the guts to make a political commercial in which each of the assorted Democratic constituencies- the ones that are supposed to be fully bought-and-paid-for- are seen singing, "You don't own me!" to the Democratic Party?
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