All language subtitles for cindy

(Seagulls squawking,
helicopter passing overhead)

(Foghorn blaring)

(Cars honking)

CYNDI LAUPER:
Hey, what time is it?

WOMAN:
It's about 9:45.

CYNDI:
Oh my God, I'm gonna be late.

How long do you think it is
before we get to Pearl?

Twenty-five? You think you can
make that any shorter?

Cher taught me to be more
on time, but...

(Sighing)
Not freaking today, huh?

Where is my phone?
Oh, guys, where the hell...

Please.

Okay, there it is.
There it is.

Hi, change of plan.
There we go.

♪ We just fit together ♪

That stuff, right?
Yeah.

It's too many different jobs
that I'm doing.

Like, when you're a singer and
you have a lot of jobs?

That's one thing.

But when you start to have too
many different professions?

That is a problem.

I didn't want anyone to tell me
what I could and couldn't do.

To pigeonhole people in one
genre of music is silly,

because that's your palate.

That's what
you're learning from.

In the right rhythm...

saying the right thing...

you can open that door
where this world

that you're standing in

and that world that you
feel inside...

collide.

To attain that every time would
be glorious.

Um, it doesn't always happen.

Fuck.

I'm always late.

I used to watch a lot
of old movies.

And there was this song, "Pick
yourself up, dust yourself off

"and start all over again."

And if you're doing
what you love,

then, poof!

Magic.

("Girls Just Want To Have Fun"
playing)

Cyndi's whole stance was
provocateur.

♪ I want to be the one ♪

♪ To walk in the sun ♪

♪ Hey now, hey now ♪

♪ What's the matter
with you? ♪

♪ Girls just wanna have fun ♪

I really loved her voice.

♪ Voulez-vous coucher
avec moi? ♪

♪ Oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ He sat in her boudoir
while she freshened up ♪

♪ And drank all
the magnolia wine... ♪

I was like "Ahhh!"

I didn't know
she could do that!

♪ Lady Marmalade ♪

(Vocalizing)

I became a super fan
after that.

Cause you know, white people
don't sing like that.

♪ At last... ♪

(Holding note)

Cyndi does
what she wants to do.

And she tackles a bunch
of different types of music.

♪ For you are mine ♪

(Holding note)

Because she can.

♪ At... ♪

She sings.

♪ Last... ♪

(Holding note)

I cleaned her plants
in her office,

but she doesn't remember me.

I was working
for a plant company.

(Laughing)

- Oh, Cyndi, I'm sorry--
- No, no, no, no. It's fine.

I was just telling her
I used to clean your plants

- before I became famous.
- You did my plants?

Yeah, you had a corn plant
in your office

- I used to take care of.
- I still have a corn plant,

- but it's dead.
- Yeah, well, it's not my fault.

If you don't know where
you came from,

you don't know where
you're going.

*

First things first,
we were Italian.

We're Sicilian.

ELLEN LAUPER:
We were children of immigrants.

And lived in a cold-water flat
in Brooklyn.

We were pretty poor.

Um... my father was
a shipping clerk.

CYNDI: We lived across from
the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

And those uniforms.
There was black and white.

Which, to me, as a kid,
was a lot of costumes.

ELLEN: We had all kinds of
people in that neighborhood.

We had Hasidic Jews.
Puerto Rican kids.

Italians.
It was just a real mix.

I watched the women
in the neighborhood

and it was an extraordinary time
for fashion.

There were a lot
of makeup styles

and a lot
of fashion styles.

The women were kinda sexy.

It was that late '50s period.
Early '60s.

They had a certain look.
And the hair dye.

And you see bright red.

Like, tomato red hair.

And dyed black hair.

And the thick eyebrows
and the lipstick.

There's a sexiness to it.

ELLEN: A few years later,
we moved to Queens,

which was a very different
neighborhood.

Very German and Italian.

And it was kind of a culture
shock because it's like,

"Where is-- Where are all these
other people?"

FRED LAUPER: They kind of got
the shaft when I came along.

My mother and father divorced
when I was less than a year old.

She was a single mom raising
three kids

and she tried to teach us
all kinds of things.

We were exposed to music...

*

ELLEN:
We listened to everything.

Opera, of course.

Mario Lanza.
Enrico Caruso.

Because, you know,
they're Italian.

(Man singing in Italian)

She would drag us to museums.
All three of us.

And we would complain,
of course, because we were kids.

FRED: We used to go to
Shakespeare in the Park.

CYNDI: I started to look at my
neighborhood in Ozone Park,

Queens like
it was Shakespeare.

The guy who had the gas station
he was a mechanic.

He'd come home from work
in his uniform.

Like, I knew this one
had a tragedy.

That one... And, all of
a sudden, it was...

it was like Shakespeare.

ANNOUNCER: And it's all
happening on Queen for a Day:

The Cinderella Show...

CYNDI: When I was upstairs
with my grandmother,

we'd watch
Queen For A Day.

And I crown you Queen Ella!

(Applauding)

CYNDI: And her big prize
was a washing machine.

And my grandmother cried

because she washed the sheets
in the tub.

And I thought to myself,
"What queen washes clothes?"

It was like, "What the heck?!"

♪ This is la vie en rose... ♪

ELLEN:
We'd grown up learning

your job is to make
your husband babies and cook

and take care
of the house.

(Sighing)

We came across
this picture.

It's my mother's eighth grade
graduation.

And, you know, my mom,
she had a lovely voice.

Really nice voice.

And she got a scholarship to go
to a Catholic high school

in Manhattan for singing.

And, uh,
my grandfather

would not hear of it.

And what I see in her eyes is
great disappointment.

But, for women...

It wasn't much, was it?

♪ It will always be ♪

♪ La vie en rose ♪

*

My grandmother and I watched
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts

show and it happened to be
the one Patsy Cline was on.

♪ I go out walking,
after midnight ♪

♪ Out in the moonlight... ♪

I thought to myself, maybe
instead of being the queen

that's crying about the washing
machine, I was gonna sing.

(Cyndi singing)

♪ After midnight,
searching for me ♪

(Crowd cheering)

ELLEN: We watched, in 1964,
The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

Lost our minds.

CYNDI: We would imitate
The Beatles for my parents.

We'd do little shows.
Oh, we wore jackets.

We had jackets because we went
to Catholic school

so you had those blazers.

So, we'd wear the jackets and
took a broom, a mop...

and Ellen was always Paul
so I had to be John.

Why that was the case,
I don't know.

Because she had the higher
voice. But that's how it went.

(Church bell ringing)

CYNDI:
My mother was divorced.

So, we went
to Catholic school.

And there was
this priest,

had this, like,
rocking outfit.

He had, like, pants with
the black shoes,

this white collar with
the black shirt

and then he
had a black skirt

over the black pants with
a kind of slit.

It moved and you saw the pants
and the skirt.

It was a whole, like,
multi-gender thing.

And he had these big beads.
Come on.

Jewelry and accessories were
always a big thing.

And I thought,
"Wow! What a look!"

So, I'd run to go
talk to him.

And he goes,
"And what are your sins?"

"Well, I didn't go to mass last
Sunday because--"

And he's like,
"You didn't go to mass?

"You're going to go to hell
like your mother."

(Church bell ringing)

I didn't care
what people thought.

But, you know,
when you're a kid,

you're not thinking
straight.

ELLEN:
So, she would mouth off

and she just wasn't going to
take shit from people.

Period.

Even from a young age,
she just wasn't gonna.

And so, we'd both get
the snot beat out of us

because we were little.
(Laughing)

So, at that point, things in
the household were not good.

My mom had married
a second partner.

Her second husband was...
whoa.

Really, really not...

Whoa. (Whistling)
Real bad.

He was very good at abuse,
both psychological and physical.

So then, the poor thing sends us
to a convent school.

(Church bell ringing)

♪ You don't know where ♪

♪ You belong ♪

♪ You just need
to belong somehow ♪

(Vocals echoing)

FRED: As bad as boarding school
may have been,

at least it was safer
than the home environment

for my sisters.

ELLEN: The place
that we went to was a place

that many children were
simply left.

And so, there was the thought,
are we being left?

♪ Fare well
in some company ♪

♪ But don't shove that
bullshit ♪

♪ Down my throat ♪

♪ You don't know where ♪

♪ You belong ♪

♪ You just need to belong
somehow ♪

ELLEN: When we came out
of boarding school,

my father got me my first
transistor radio

which means that now Cyndi
and I could listen to...

rock and roll!

*

At this point, we were
listening to everything

from The Beatles
to Joni Mitchell...

Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix,
Janis Joplin.

You heard
The Chambers Brothers.

You heard Sly
and The Family Stone.

Cynthia on the horn
and the other woman

with the white hair and
the minidress, dancing.

I mean,
I loved those girls.

They were, like,
"Wow, they're in a band!

"I could be in a band,"
you know?

So, I got a guitar,
but we shared the guitar.

We would each sit on our beds,
you know, play guitar,

and write
and sing together.

And make up songs.

We were
her first band.

I grew up in a really
interesting time as an artist.

We had Jack Kennedy
telling us...

Ask not what your country
can do for you.

Ask what you can do
for your country.

CYNDI:
I just thought,

"Oh, we're going to have a whole
different world."

ELLEN:
But then, watching television

and watching
the Civil Rights movement,

and watching the police dogs.

(Dog snarling)

My mother, my sister and I
were all furious

that this was happening.

NEWS ANCHOR:
From Dallas, Texas, the Flash:

President Kennedy died
at one p.m.

Central Standard Time.

ELLEN: We saw on television,
John Kennedy getting shot.

Martin Luther King
getting shot.

Robert Kennedy
getting shot.

And then all of our
rock and roll heroes OD-ing.

CYNDI:
And it symbolized for me

that a whole culture
could self-destruct.

ELLEN: So, that's when
you find your voice.

So, you're not
just singing.

You're also singing
what you care about.

We created together.

You know,
sang teenage angst songs.

And it was our therapy
for a while.

Our teenage years
were hard.

Both in terms of society
as well as personally.

♪ Stone ♪

♪ The world is stone ♪

♪ It's no trick
of the light ♪

♪ It's hard
on the soul ♪

*

CYNDI: We used to come home
from school and lock our door.

They would have
fist fights.

He'd say he was gonna beat up
her old parents upstairs

and rape her two daughters.

♪ Stone ♪

♪ The world is stone... ♪

Cops would come and they would
just look around

and look at each other and go,
"Domestic" and leave.

That's when I realized
"This is toxic.

"I can't do this anymore."

So, I left home.

CYNDI: When Ellen left,
I was still in high school.

It was devastating.

Only because Ellen
was always my hero.

And because Ellen was there,
it was okay.

But when she left...
it was horrible.

One day, I was in the tub and
I dunked my head, came back up,

and my stepfather
was looking at me.

♪ I would love not to care ♪

♪ Stone,
the world is stone... ♪

When bad things happened
as a kid,

you don't just feel
like shit.

You feel like the ground
shit falls on.

So, you start to do very
self-destructive things.

I took LSD and came home
really stoned.

I was crazy mad.

And, if I had no power,
the only power I did have

was to scare the fucking crap
out of everybody.

'Cause you didn't know what
crazy was gonna do.

ELLEN: I was watching my sister
kinda be way out of control.

And I was worried for
her safety and her health.

♪ I've had
all I can take ♪

♪ With my back
to the wall... ♪

After a few months, I said,
"Cyndi, you can't do this.

"I'm worried about you.
Come and stay with me."

At that particular point,
I started

to want to spend more time with
my "girlfriends".

CYNDI:
When my sister came out,

I was like how I always
was with my poor sister.

I was like,
"You know what?

"I was born
to be your friend.

"So, I don't care who you bring
around or what you do.

"You can't ditch me."

ELLEN: Cyndi's view of community
and family

is much broader than,
you know...

the average person.

CYNDI: Ellen's helping
me move in...

ELLEN: And who comes out
the door but Carl

and his partner
Gregory.

Carl was my neighbor who lived
upstairs from me

on the Upper East Side.

And I was so happy to see them
because I was worried

about leaving
Cyndi behind.

I had some things
to work out.

I said "Could you please look
out for my sister?

"Could you please take care of
her and make sure she's okay?

"You're in
the same building."

Carl said
"Don't worry, Ellen.

I'll watch out
for your sister."

And they did. They were like
family. Especially Gregory.

Cyndi and Gregory
were bonded.

I would go downstairs and...

I met everyone there.

We talked about everything
from fashion to movies.

It was great.

You know, you start to have
friends and family.

FRED: They went through some
hard times together.

They didn't have a whole lot of
financial resources.

And we had to do
all kinds of things

that she had no desire
to do just to survive.

CYNDI:
I was a Gal Friday.

I like to say I was
a Gal Friday the 13th,

'cause, you know...

I mean, would you like me
outside of your office?

(Cyndi and audience laughing)

I'd fall asleep reading
the mail.

And my boss
was the greatest.

She reminded me of, like,
Mary Tyler Moore.

She was stunning
and she had long nails.

And she was really smart.

(Phone ringing)

"Simon and Schuster.
How may I help you?"

I'd put it down and the whole
thing was covered in sweat.

That's how nervous I was.

I would be like,
"It's lunch time."

And I was like, "I think I'm
really gonna splurge

"and I'm gonna get myself
a sandwich and a beer."

I didn't think anything of it,
except...

(Can popping)

...when my coworkers came
to me and said,

"Cyn, the beer thing,

"it's not a good look."

I was like
"Oh! Oh, okay."

Because that's how clueless
I was.

(Keys clacking)

But when that electric
typewriter came in

and I only typed 19 words
a minute?

Well, that was the straw that
broke the camel's back.

And then I was gone
from that job.

You know, so you could see,
you know,

the career otherwise wasn't
doing that good

so I may as well just start
singing, 'cause, you know...

How much worse could I do,
you know?

*

I went on an audition.

I sang a Gladys Knight song,

"I Really Gotta Use
My Imagination."

♪ I really gotta use
my imagination ♪

And then,
when it went up high,

I don't know if I jumped
the octave.

But I was up there.

♪ My imagination ♪

So, I'm singing way the hell
up there.

And, of course, I didn't
want to, you know,

lose the audition
so I just kept singing.

And I just made my voice work.

And all of a sudden, what came
out was something

that I didn't know
was there.

I was so surprised.

What was coming out
of my mouth?

I'd never heard that.

But, if you think
I was surprised,

you should have seen the faces
on these guys.

So, I was like,
"Oh, I've got this gig."

But I was a backup singer.
I sang disco songs.

Some really great ones.
Patti LaBelle.

(Vocalizing)

(Singing "Lady Marmalade")

FRED: She was with a band
called Doc West.

There was a gap between her
and the rest of the band,

in so far as
performance level.

CYNDI:
My first gig as a lead singer

was in a kind of beer hall.

HOLLY: She couldn't even get
booked to play at CBGB's.

She was part of this, kind of,

outsider little group of people.

And then she had this oversized,

amazing talent.

I just got fed up
with what was happening.

When the band kinda started
doing nothing,

I started looking
for a job.

("She Bop"
guitar riff playing)

I used to be a salesgirl
for these people.

It was like working
in a toy store.

LAURA: She bought so much
stuff in the store

that when she asked us for a job
we were like, "We hit gold."

We were like, "We probably
never have to pay her."

And now and then we were kinda
like, "Oh my God,

"she's taking the best stuff,"
you know?

She did have good taste.
That was the only downside.

CYNDI: And the one thing that
everyone always said

whenever you wanted
to be an artist

or whenever you wanted to sing
or act or whatever

was, "What will you do
if you fail?"

And here I was trying
to survive in the world

as a regular person
and failing everything.

I just felt like...

might as well do what
I really wanted to do.

So, I went into a club.

And I met this guy
and he asked me

if I wanted to start a band.

And I said, "Sure,
I'll start a band."

(Electric guitar riff playing)

FRED: That was Flyer. They were
trying to find a niche.

(Cyndi singing
in deep voice)

CYNDI: I'm trying to sound like
Janis Joplin.

When I started to duplicate
her sound,

it taught me
a sense of freedom

in losing
yourself in the music.

Losing yourself
in singing.

But I couldn't really lose
myself totally

and feel totally free because
I felt myself in her shell.

I felt very little and
the sound was very big

and I couldn't understand why.

Usually, I would start out
full range,

and it would shrink and shrink
and shrink and shrink.

Till the end of the show,
there was, eh, not much.

At that time, I didn't have
any technique.

And so, I lost my voice.

When she initially called me,
she couldn't talk.

And I asked her to bring
a cassette

or something
of her singing.

So, she brought
this cassette.

- (Tape deck clicking)
- We put it on.

(Cyndi singing Janis
Joplin-style rock and roll)

"No, Cyndi,
I wanted to hear you.

"Not the music
that you like."

She wrote, cause she couldn't
speak to me, "That is me."

And I went "Oh my God."

At that time, I had never had
a voice that was that bad.

She had met this doctor who told
her she was finished.

CYNDI:
I was really depressed.

I was even suicidal.
I was.

But I couldn't really
do that either.

That wasn't what I was
going to do.

KATIE: I thought to myself,
"If you could make your voice

"sound so much
like that other person,

"when we take off all
the damage,

"what's underneath there
has got to be genius."

It took about a year
but she completely recovered.

(Singing)

She met John Turi and they
formed the band Blue Angel.

(Singing rock and roll)

CYNDI: And I went from years
of doing cover songs

and I just got tired of it.

I couldn't live in somebody
else's soul.

I had to have my own.

JOHN: A lot of the songs
just came

without a lot of lyrics first.

And then the lyrics would come

as we developed the song.

Or she would have a set
of lyrics

and then we would build a song
around those lyrics.

(Cyndi vocalizing)

When I would play
my saxophone with her,

it would be like playing with
another saxophone player.

We would go into different
rhythms, like five-four,

and she would be
so comfortable.

"Anna Blue"
was in five-four.

♪ Anna Blue ♪

♪ Oh, Anna ♪

♪ Oh, Anna... ♪

We loved Roy Orbison.

And Cyndi loved a lot of
the '50s singers.

Every day,
she would come in,

possibly with a different
influence.

I could hear
Ronnie Spector.

Shirley from Shirley and Lee.

Brenda Lee.
I could hear Wanda Jackson.

Frankie Lymon.

We just started playing,

and everything just felt
really good.

(Singing "I Had A Love")

♪ Baby don't go ♪

♪ I thought,
maybe I should have told you ♪

♪ Long before... ♪

KATIE VALK:
I was so mesmerized by Cyndi

the first time I saw her.

She was everything

that I would have wanted

in an artist to work with.

She was my next
Dolly Parton,

because I was working
with Dolly.

Yeah, that kind of talent.

(Vocalizing)

JOHN: And that's when we got our
record deal with Polydor.

And we recorded our album
called Blue Angel.

CYNDI SINGING:
♪ More than I could bear... ♪

I remember when she did
"I'm Gonna Be Strong".

♪ So I'm gonna be strong... ♪

That recording studio had
a big chapel

because it had been
a church.

CYNDI: When you sing in there,
it's like...

Oh my God.

♪ I'm gonna be strong ♪

♪ And stand
as tall as I can... ♪

ELLEN: She goes otherworldly
in a way when she sings.

When she's in the zone,
she's like,

that's her church.

♪ I'm gonna be strong... ♪

KATIE: All the people that were
recording the album

turned around
and looked at me.

And they were all, like,
"How is she doing this?"

♪ I'll smile and say,
don't you worry ♪

♪ It's fine ♪

♪ And you'll never know,
darling... ♪

JOHN: When we got our picture
in Billboard, it was like,

"We're gonna make it."

We got incredible reviews.

CYNDI: There was something kind
of pure about that album.

You know, it's always your
first album

that's kinda
got something pure.

We were going, going, going.

And one day, I jumped from
the drum riser onto the stage

and my foot slipped.

I had been on stage and
I twisted my ankle.

So, I couldn't really go
any place, right?

"As I lay lazily
and watch,

"I can't help thinking
about my mother.

"Yesterday, I woke up.
I saw her face.

"Her eyes twinkled with
the innocence of youth

"and it seemed as though there
was so much life

"to look forward to."

"Somehow, she was me.

"Or she was locked up as part
of me, inside.

"I felt as if, in a crazy way,
I was straightening out

"a great wrong
in my mother's life."

ELLEN:
Cyndi challenged the legacy

that was "supposed to be,"
the family drama.

And said, "No,
we're going to rewrite this.

"We're going to make
something else."

(Crowd applauding)

*

♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh... ♪

Cyndi came on my radar in
an interesting way.

I had been invited to
a birthday party.

I spent most of the evening
trying to pick up

this young lady.

Failing miserably,
I might add.

And when she got up and went
to go to the bathroom,

I saw Cyndi sitting on a little
couch near the bathroom.

So, I walked up to Cyndi
and sat down with her.

And she kind of looked at me
like "What is wrong with you?"

You know, "You tell that lady
all this nonsense,

and now you're saying
all this stuff to me."

And then
we just kept talking.

And I had no idea
who she was.

How she sang.

Nothing. I didn't know
anything about her.

I'd never heard
of her before.

(Singing "Maybe He'll Know")

♪ And call me back,
don't take too long... ♪

When I saw her
for the first time,

I just remember being
so blown away.

♪ I got
this anxious feeling ♪

♪ I got this ache engraved
in me like stone... ♪

ELLEN: Cyndi said that she'd met
this guy, David Wolff.

And she asked me my opinion.
(Laughing)

Should she go out on a date
with him?

And I said...
"Oh, what the hell!"

DAVE:
We were going home.

She lived in the fifth floor of
a five floor walk-up.

I was carrying her stuff.

CYNDI: He was helping me
carry up my pots and pans

because I'd always boil water
and steam my throat

before and after the gig.

DAVE: We're on our way
up the stairs.

CYNDI: If a guy likes you, he
may go up to the fourth floor.

But the fifth floor it's always
like "Hey, I'll call you.

And when Dave Wolff passed
that third floor...

Passed the fourth floor...

and by the time we got
to the top floor,

Dave Wolff turned around
and he said,

"How do I love thee?
Let me count the steps."

♪ Like stone ♪

♪ Don't take too long ♪

♪ Say you'll never ♪

♪ Say, say you'll never go ♪

(Audience cheering)

At one point, there was a guy
at a radio station,

there's always a guy at a radio
station, who decides,

"Oh, this is oldies.

"Blue Angel?
Definitely old. Out."

And things just,
you know, went...

the wrong way.

We were just
on our knees.

We couldn't get them to go with
any of the demos we sent.

We couldn't get anything.

DAN: Cyndi had a lot of pressure
to go solo.

Everybody was saying,
"You're phenomenal,

"you need to do this
on your own."

And I think she fought that
for a long time

and did protect the band.

JOHN: So, I was very
disappointed that we broke up

because things were really going
so well for the group.

Just the reaction from
the people that heard us

was so inspiring and gave me
chills at times.

FRED: They were a good band,
you know?

I'm pretty sure she had some
regrets that they were

never able to go where they
wanted as a group.

But even I could tell that
there was a point

when she needed to break
and be on her own.

But she didn't.
She was loyal.

And she wanted to bring
everybody with her.

Unfortunately, she couldn't.

TV HOST: What was the band
you were in before?

- Um, Blue Angel.
- What happened to them?

Oh, it went lead.

You know how some bands go gold?
Mine went lead.

You mean.
It went down.

Yeah, yeah.

DAN: At the same time,
there were also people

trying to convince her
she should be a Streisand.

CYNDI: I was like "Well,
that's already taken, isn't it?"

DAVE:
Everybody had a thought

on what she should
do with her life,

and sort of ignoring what
she wanted to do with her life.

She would go to these meetings
with managers and every night

she would come home crying.

"I can't believe these guys.
Nobody wants me for who I am.

They want to
make me into something."

CYNDI: They thought
"Oh, we're not going to push it.

She'll come around.
You'll see."

Just because I can sing
whatever I freaking want,

doesn't mean I'm gonna sing
what you would want to sing

if you could sing.

And Dave Wolff said,
"Well, I'll manage you then."

I said
"Sure, we'll start together.

I'll sing, you collect
the money. How's that?"

DAVE:
I had introduced her

to a great friend of mine
named Lennie Petze,

and Lennie said
"I will sign her."

And this was like
"Wow! This is major!"

Her former manager,
when he got wind of this,

initiated a lawsuit
against Cyndi,

prohibiting her from signing
a new recording contract.

CYNDI:
But he had a bit of a vendetta.

He had it in his mind

that I wasn't going to sing.

And I went into the bathroom
and closed the door and cried,

because I was like
"Are you fucking kidding?"

What finally happened
was we went to court.

KATIE: Cyndi knew what
she wanted to be and do.

There was no Plan B.

Just said "Don't be a victim.
Take control."

CYNDI: My lawyer said that
if I went bankrupt

and I had nothing
for him to come after,

that I would be
free of him.

And I was like
"Well, I'm gonna go bankrupt,

but what am I losing?
I don't have anything to lose"

She had something to say
and was gonna fight the fight.

Going to Catholic school,
you're taught endurance.

You have to kneel
on that marble floor

and say the Rosary.

It really built up
how stubborn I could be

if I knew I was right.

So, finally,
the judge just--

(Gavel thumping)

he took the gavel and said,
"Let the canary sing."

"Let the canary sing."

And it was like "You won!"

(Belting)

(Audience cheering)

(Belting)

All of a sudden,
things moved fast.

DAVE: When we signed to
Epic through my buddy,

Lennie Petze, he was
the one person that I believed

would understand Cyndi,
and when he signed her,

we were obviously
looking for a producer

and he said,
"Rick Chertoff is the guy."

RICK: Lennie Petze and
I took a flight back

from Los Angeles together
and he asked me

what I was working on,
and I said I had

a locked drawer full of songs

looking for the right singer.

♪ Something inside
is erasing ♪

♪ The time back
to the memory... ♪

He said "I might have
that right singer."

And I thought
"Wow, here's just

a great singer
with real power."

I had learned about
the currency of songs.

When I was at Columbia,
Robert Hazard and the Heroes

sent me an audition tape,
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun".

So, I had this great idea
to take Cyndi to Philly

and see Robert Hazard
and the Heroes.

They were selling out
these little clubs.

They had a giant
local following.

*

♪ Phone rings in
the middle of the night ♪

♪ My father says, "My son, what
do you want from your life... ♪

The place was packed,
people are singing,

and I'm thinking to myself.
"Wow, fantastic."

♪ Girls just wanna
have fun... ♪

In the middle of
this adulation for him,

Cyndi pulls my ear down
and says,

"I will never do
that fucking song!"

No, not the way it was.
It was wrong for me.

It was a masculine story.

I figured "Uh-oh, I'm now
in really big trouble."

We started a debate.

"Oh, mama dear,
we're not the fortunate ones.

Because girls
wanna have fun."

And, every time we
wanna have fun, what are we?

We're whores.
We're this. We're that.

We're problematic.

This is an early
version of "Girls..."

*

For "Girls..." we tried it
this way, that way,

and I was like,
"This is not...

It's not going to work.
It's nothing special."

*

♪ Come home in
the morning light... ♪

ROB: We worked for months
and months. Many demos.

It's about fun,
but it wasn't always fun.

(Laughing)
It was a work song.

♪ Girls just wanna
have fun ♪

♪ Phone rings in the mi-- ♪

I fucked up.

Heh, "I fucked up."
(Laughing) Love that.

I realized that these songs
are arranged a certain way.

We could create a sound
to make them unique.

I could use my voice
in different keys.

It would take on
a different--

a totally different sound,
different personality.

♪ I come home
in the morning light... ♪

All I want to do is
make a modern record.

I felt like we could
arrange this thing

and make it sound
like such fun.

♪ And girls they
wanna have fun ♪

♪ Oh, girls just
wanna have fun ♪

It's about fun.
It sounds like fun.

It should have this sound.

It should be in a trumpet key,

because we are
trumpeting an idea.

There is always both--
both an upfront message

and an underlying message
in her music.

CYNDI:
So, I did it with sound.

(Opening of "Girls Just
Want To Have Fun" playing)

Making it sound like
every Summer, commercial,

vacation sound I ever heard.

There's certain sounds
on there that were

like when I was little.
Raceway Park.

Summertime comes.
And you heard that organ.

Which is that glitz.
You know, "Raceway Park!"

You know?
(Laughing)

HIGH-PITCHED VOICE: (Laughing)
Raceway Park!

And there was this new sound,
a gated snare sound,

that was coming
from the street.

Eventually,
it was slowed down.

Added a little reggaeness.

Eric added-- (Humming)
- that guitar line.

CYNDI: Rob knew every reggae
thing in the whole wide world.

ROB:
And Eric can play any guitar.

Cyndi added that
hiccupping vocal to it.

(Vocalizing)

And those great background,
kind of old girl group parts

were so fun to do.

And all of a sudden,
we all heard it.

("Girls Just Want To Have Fun"
playing)

♪ I come home
in the mornin' light ♪

♪ My mother says, "When you
gonna live your life right? ♪

♪ Oh, Momma dear,
we're not the fortunate ones ♪

♪ And girls,
they wanna have fun ♪

ROB: We were pretty beat up.
Pretty exhausted.

We're just about done,
and Rick did come in and say,

"You know, guys,
we could use one more song."

At which point...
(Imitating gun firing, laughing)

CYNDI: He was gonna have me
cover a Hooters song,

and I told Dave Wolff
"That ain't right."

'Cause I can arrange
anything with them,

but we should
write something.

Because then it's ours
and that's for this album.

And so,
it became a fight.

ROB: She was signed
primarily as a singer.

I know there was pressure
and Rick was just

"Let's find hit songs
for this hit voice."

But she always wanted
to write

and she always wanted to be
part of the process.

She pushed to be
the creative force.

I felt
I was always penalized

because I had
a bigger voice.

Remember those days?

People with
big voices sing,

and people who don't
have big voices write.

There's nothing like
working with an artist

who has a point of view.

And you could see
hers coming together.

She was galvanizing herself.

DAVE: She was never afraid
to say what she thought.

I was oftentimes the buffer.

CYNDI: I really did love

my boyfriend-manager
Dave Wolff,

but we fought all the time

because he thought
I was just going too fast.

You have to just slow down.

And I said
"I can't slow down,

"because what if I die
before I even accomplish

"being the songwriter
I want to be?"

And then I started
writing with Rob and boom!

(Playing piano)

That was
my favorite part.

*

What happened?
We didn't...

What did we actually have?

We just said--
Did we even have them yet?

We had...
(Singing "Time After Time")

I think the chorus was
the last thing we wrote.

♪ Time after time ♪

That's all we had.

Everybody went out to dinner,
we sat at the piano.

Next night little more.
A little more.

We literally wrote it
in the studio as the door

was closing on the project.

And the budget, I'm sure.

♪ Lying in my bed ♪

♪ I hear
the clock tick ♪

♪ And think of you... ♪

CYNDI: I actually was
listening to a conversation

and Rick was just
standing there and his watch,

he kept looking
at his watch going

"Hm, my watch is
going backwards.

"I'm not kidding.
Look at this.

The second
hand's unwinding."

"The second hand unwinds."

And I'm thinking
"The second-hand unwinds,

what a great lyric."

♪ The second hand unwinds ♪

♪ If you're lost you can look
and you will find me ♪

♪ Time after time... ♪

ROB: Because it was
the first song we wrote,

even though we spent many months
together working on other songs,

we kind of opened up
to each other

like you might
to a stranger.

Cyndi and Dave were going
through their own relationship

as we were making the record

and we just put it all
out there in this song.

It's a bittersweet song.

It's up and it's positive,

and on the other hand,
is it a breakup song?

I was struggling
with my own anger.

And I was alone
in my apartment,

but I felt a hand on my shoulder
and I calmed down,

and I started thinking

"If you fall,
I will catch you.

I will be waiting."

♪ Time after time ♪

♪ If you fall,
I will catch you ♪

♪ I will be waiting ♪

♪ Time after time... ♪

DAVE: Cyndi comes up to
me in the studio and she says,

"Hey, I want you to
hear this song."

And I vividly
remember my reaction.

It was like, "Whoa!"

♪ Time after... ♪

JANET PERR: When I met Cyndi,
she came up to the office.

I didn't know who she was.

We were talking about
what she wanted her cover

to look or feel like.

And usually when people come in,

they kind of
don't have any idea.

Cyndi had very
specific visions.

She was talking
about layers of paint

and peeling paint,
and colors,

And I was like "Oh my God,
layers of paint, Okay."

So, Coney Island
came into my head.

In those days,
it was very dilapidated

and full of peeling paint
and old signs.

Bring both arms
in closer to your head.

I thought of Annie,
because I thought

it would be a good
collaboration.

CYNDI:
I didn't know Annie Leibovitz.

I just knew of her work.

And I knew that her photographs,
to me, looked like paintings.

And I wanted
to make art.

I had an idea of doing
this picture

that I saw on the book
"A Study of Latin America."

And the outfits,
just a skirt,

just kept hitting me,

and the sun
and the shoes,

and what it would be like,

and who this woman in
this painting was gonna be.

My hair wasn't big enough
so tied crinoline under it.

And Cyndi comes with conviction

and she brings
something to the table.

Like, she has
her references.

You know, she knows
how she wants to look.

CYNDI: And what Laura did
was she brought this

Gingham bathing suit
to wear under the skirt

with the crinoline and I wore
the fishnet with the heels.

JANET: Well, she had all
the bangles and all the hair

and the makeup.

That's the thing with Cyndi.

Like, sometimes I'd be like,

"Okay, you know, maybe we need
to pull back a little."

And she'd be like "No!"

CYNDI: I was like "Where should
I put the umbrella?

Here, right?" And then
I threw the flowers down

and the shoes in front,
and then I was the girl.

JANET:
Her energy was really beyond.

She was dancing.

She was actually
moving around and dancing.

CYNDI: If you wear color
and underneath you have a color

and the garment moves,
then, if you twirl,

it's a painting.

*

DAVE: The album cover was done,
but we had to make a video

for "Girls Just Want
to Have Fun".

Making music videos
in those days

was really new to most American
record companies.

HOLLY: Cyndi used that
new video medium

to really spread some of those
crazy ideas

and her just really fresh,
powerful persona.

It was made for her.

RICK: She sees beyond just
the notes and the words.

Cyndi sees
the visualization

of where that emotion
wants to go.

*

RICK: The Girls video was
a real family affair.

She asked me to walk
her dog in her bathrobe.

CYNDI: I told my mother
"If you do this,

it's going to bring mothers
and daughters closer,"

and she said, "Let's do it."

Hello!
I'm Cyndi Lauper's mother.

CYNDI:
She was so great.

I mean,
she's not a professional.

She never did
anything like that.

She just wanted to
spend time with me.

DAVE: We needed
a father to be in the video.

In my mind, Captain Lou Albano
came into my brain

and I couldn't stop
thinking about that.

Cause I was such
a wrestling fan.

I met Cyndi Lauper.
In fact, I went to her concert.

I was so amazed!
I was so happy!

I was so elated,
that I said,

"Captain, you've got
to be a part of that!"

♪ Oh, Daddy dear, you know
you're still number one ♪

♪ But girls,
they wanna have fun ♪

And Lou Albano
is not our father. (Chuckling)

♪ That's all they really want ♪

BILLY PORTER: There was this
unbridled joyful abandon.

The colors. The people.

The storytelling.

♪ Some boys take
a beautiful girl ♪

♪ And hide her away from
the rest of the world ♪

♪ I wanna be the one
to walk in the sun ♪

♪ Oh, girls,
they wanna have fun... ♪

CYNDI: I was so tired
of watching videos

that were designated,
Oh, this is R&B.

So, all Black people.

This is rock and roll.
Oh, all white people.

It was just separate,
separate, separate, separate.

KATIE:
A lot of the videos then

were rock bands
with sexy models,

but she was pushing
to show women as women.

♪ Oh, girls,
just wanna have fun ♪

♪ Girls, they wanna ♪

♪ Wanna have fun... ♪

And I also wanted every little
girl to be able to see herself

no matter who she was
or where she was from.

♪ They just wanna,
they just wanna ♪

I wore red,
because red is a power color.

♪ They just wanna,
they just wanna... ♪

BOY GEORGE: It was also
quite ahead of itself.

You know, you think about
when girl power came along.

And there was this chick
in the early '80s going,

"Yeah, girls wanna go out
and party.

Girls wanna have fun."

It was a good message, you know,
for, I think kids

and teenage girls
particularly.

♪ Girls just wanna have fun ♪

♪ Everybody... ♪

DAVE:
And this is the first reaction

that I got
to Cyndi's music.

And it goes "I thought Cyndi
Lauper was pretty decent,

but not great.

I can foresee some problems
getting the song on AOR Radio,

which is adult-oriented radio,

and I'm not sure if
it is strong enough

to make much of
a top 40 impression."

So, this was
the first opinion I got

on the record that we made.

That it's not good enough.

I was a little dismayed when
they told me the first week

"Girls..." just got added
by five radio stations

and that was it, and they were
only looking at two

next week so why don't
we move to "Time After Time?"

And I said no.

If you move
to "Time After Time,"

you come out with that first,

that's what they did to
the Motels.

I'll never forget.

They were such
a great rock band

and they came out
with a ballad first.

Then when they tried to
come in with a rock song...

(Whistling, exploding)
No more Motels.

When you do this,
you gotta believe,

and Cyndi believed,
and I believed,

and you can't let
an opinion take you out of that.

I pleaded with them
"Please, don't quit.

Give it a little more time,"
and he goes to me,

"Okay, I'm gonna give
you two more weeks. Okay?

"If we don't make some noise in
the next two weeks, it's done.

We're going on to
the next single."

And I'm saying "Okay, great.
I'll take the two weeks."

And, I remember,
I go to Lou and I say,

"Could you imagine if you
pretended to be Cyndi's manager

"and that I really wasn't
involved with anything,

"and we just do what
you guys do in wrestling

and we make our
own soap opera?"

Cyndi, tell all these people
out here how I took you, Cyndi,

and found you in
New York City in Queens

and how made you
a super star!

ROB:
The wrestling was a surprise.

It was like, "Okay,
that's an interesting detour."

But I looked
at it differently.

I looked at it, we need
something to draw attention

to her in a unique way.

The album is called
She's So Unusual.

Tell 'em how you came
off my reputation Cyndi!

What?!

(People shouting)

There were certain things
I wouldn't stand for

and I just had to
set Lou straight.

So I wound up managing

the Female World
Wrestling Champ.

WENDI RICHTER: I was contacted
by her manager out of the blue.

Would I represent her
in a wrestling match?

I said, "Sure, I would."

That's what
changed everything.

Her being on there
mainstreamed it,

that's what made
everyone think, "Oh, wow!"

(Bell dinging)

ANNOUNCER: Very intense at
ring side. Wendi coming in!

- Now, The Fabulous Moolah--
- (Crowd cheering)

ELLEN:
It was theatre.

Not quite Shakespeare,
but kinda Shakespeare.

Without the big words.

'Shmoolah'! Lani Kai!

You better watch out, because
these are powerful words

because this is
a powerful woman

and I'm a powerful
manager now!

BOY GEORGE: That's about
creativity, isn't it?

It's about kind of,
again, girls being strong.

Cyndi just doing
what Cyndi does.

Kind of going out there
and saying, "Women can do that."

CYNDI: And it was so weird
and so funny, it kind of worked.

Two weeks later,
the song is a hit.

♪ Girls just wanna have fun ♪

INTERVIEWER: Did you ever
have any inkling

that "Girls..." would become
such an anthem?

It had to.
That's what we were doing.

You hoped.

You want me to
start a revolution?

My favorite thing.

A year ago, her career
was going nowhere.

Now, Cyndi Lauper in
on top of the pop world.

And then, all of a sudden,
this record is going crazy,

and she was everywhere.

CASEY KASEM: Not only is
she talented, she's hot,

gosh, everybody in the world's
talking about her,

but I think she
is a sentimentalist

because on the back
of this album,

now you may or may
not know what this is.

That is the parachute
jump at Coney Island.

LAURA: She was always
very influenced by art.

That image of Starry Night
just like really spoke to her.

In college, I...

I painted shoes.

I painted cans.

And my painting teacher
was like,

"Why can't you just paint on
a canvas like everybody else?

What is the matter with you?"

So, I took one of
my old books that I had,

but it had a print
of Starry night,

and I decided
to outline the shoe,

and then cut it out
and glue it on the shoe.

LAURA: She had explained it to
me, so I know, like,

she did the thing with
the soles and your soul

and the sole of the shoes
and the shoes

are leading you someplace.

So, that was very Cyndi.

You are a kick
in the head, you are.

(Laughing)

Carson was,
at that time, the pinnacle.

Everyone watched it.

Don't you think you're
somewhat different than,

say, the average gal
your age?

No.

(Audience laughing)

When you're
that different,

you view other people

as having a problem.

I think you dress unusual.

- Really?
- (Audience laughing)

I know that people
thought I was being dumb,

but I wasn't.

I was actually figuring
out timing.

See, if I wasn't
doing this, Johnny,

I might've been a brain surgeon
or a rocket scientist.

JOHNNY: Could've been something
like that.

CYNDI:
I was having a good time.

I figured there's enough
people talking about

how serious their work is.

Obviously,
my work is serious.

Otherwise, it wouldn't
sound like that.

♪ We have no past,
we won't reach back ♪

♪ Keep with me forward ♪

♪ All through the night... ♪

HOST: As more and more talent
seems to come out of America

every year, and with all
that talent comes a selection

of what can only be termed
as fairly outrageous people.

Most of them seem
to be women.

And now there's a singer,
Cyndi Lauper.

She found that
she could thrive

by being unusual.

DAVID LETTERMAN:
Cyndi Lauper.

(Audience cheering)

She was doing her
version of Gracie Allen.

Now, Cyndi,
we saw your video.

Now, who plays
your mother in your video?

My mother.

I got to share
my success with my mom.

What has your mom done normally
before she got into this one?

Well, she's very creative.

Uh-huh.

She had a fish tank
for a long time.

Took care of fish.

The fish story that my sister
told is actually true.

One time a fish had an abscess
and I saw she took it right out

of the bowl
and put it down on the table.

I swear she cut the abscess away
and the fish lived.

My mother is a real,
like, she's a fish doctor.

DAN:
She was very self-deprecating.

She'd make jokes about it,
but she was dead serious

about where
she was going.

I want my MTV.

(Honking)

Our feet were off the ground,
but we didn't know for sure

are we going back down
or are we going up?

But when "Time After Time"
took off, we knew.

*

♪ Lying in my bed ♪

♪ I hear
the clock tick ♪

♪ And think of you... ♪

DAVE:
It's always difficult

when you bring
everything home.

You get no escape
from the business,

and, eventually, it takes
its toll on the personal side

and on the business side

because there's
no separation ever.

♪ Sometimes you picture me ♪

♪ I'm walking
too far ahead ♪

♪ You're calling to me ♪

♪ I can't hear
what you've said... ♪

She's very emotional
and so am I.

So, it was... it was--
it was difficult.

♪ After my picture fades ♪

♪ And darkness has
turned to grey... ♪

CYNDI: I didn't know
we were in a tough time.

I was just working
as hard as I could

and doing
everything I could.

So, I just continued.

♪ You said,
"Go slow" ♪

He said, "Go slow..."

♪ I fall behind ♪

...and I felt like
I was falling behind.

But I refused to see it.

♪ The second hand unwinds ♪

♪ If you're lost you can look
and you will find me ♪

♪ Time after time... ♪

DAN: Cyndi on her own came up
with the signing.

She signs
"Time after time."

It was Cyndi thinking,
"I'm gonna reach people

who nobody's thought
about reaching."

She was the first
artist ever

to have her music videos
closed captioned.

BILLY:
You know, when gospel artists

start covering...

the white rock artists,

it's a good thing.

♪ Oh, sometimes
you picture me ♪

♪ I'm walking
too far ahead ♪

♪ You're calling to me ♪

♪ I can't hear
what you've said... ♪

PATTI LABELLE: That's one of
my favorite songs ever,

"Time After Time."

We turned it out.

It was just
beautiful singing with her

because our voices
complement each other.

♪ The second, the second,
the second, second ♪

♪ The second hand unwinds ♪

CYNDI: I remember hearing
her voice singing my song.

♪ Time after time ♪

And then we just got lost
and sang together.

♪ If you fall
I will catch you ♪

♪ I will be waiting ♪

♪ Time after time... ♪

BILLY: Patti LaBelle has
a tendency

to scream all over you.

♪ You say,
"Go slow" ♪

♪ "Go slow" ♪

♪ I fall, I fall, I fall ♪

♪ The second, the second,
the second hand unwinds... ♪

And many recording
artists just stop singing

when they're dueting
with Patti LaBelle.

Then they did this duet...

♪ I will be waiting ♪

...and they were
across the stage.

Then Patti
started screaming,

and then Cyndi
started screaming,

and then Patti started screaming
and moving in closer,

and Cyndi started screaming
and moving in closer.

♪ If you fall I will catch you
I will be waiting ♪

♪ Time after time,
I will be your friend... ♪

It was just one of those
moments still to this day

where I was like,
"Oh no, not Miss Cyndi Lauper.

"You are not going to scream
her off the stage, honey.

She's gonna go toe to toe."
She went toe to toe.

♪ (Both vocalizing) ♪

PATTI:
Those moments are precious.

When you can go
big, big, big, and then--

(Whispering)
- time after time.

(Speaking)
Almost just like a whisper.

From a scream
to a whisper.

And that, ooh!

♪ Time after time ♪

(Audience cheering, applauding)

*

ROB:
It's all about the emotion.

You can have a great singer
and have great taste

and have great songs,
but I think what everybody

keys on is the emotion
of the singer.

You know, something connects
with you and that voice.

♪ I said
I'm sorry, baby ♪

♪ I'm leaving you tonight ♪

♪ I've found
someone new ♪

♪ He's waiting
in the car outside... ♪

FRED:
With her on stage,

there's a connection
between her and the audience.

She wants the audience
to be a part of the show,

and she wants to be
part of that audience.

Their soul, so to speak.
I mean, she connects with them.

She just wants to.

♪ We think we know
what we're doin' ♪

♪ We don't hold
the strings... ♪

You keep your eyes
on Cyndi when she's on stage.

CYNDI: I wanted
the freaking aerial thing.

I saw Tina Turner
and the Rolling Stones,

they use a cherry picker,

but they couldn't
get that.

It's too much money.

So, they got a garbage pail.
What? Like Oscar the Grouch?

I thought they
had a pulley system.

It wasn't. It was ten guys
and they were holding me.

And the minute I start going
like this, it started to slip.

So, that's why I went out
and I came right in.

♪ Money, money,
money, money, money... ♪

And it was like
"Wow! That was quick!"

They did have me sign
a will before I went up.

♪ Money, money, money,
money, money, money... ♪

And the Best New Artist
is Cyndi Lauper!

- (Audience cheering)
- ("Money Changes Everything")

It was like "Wow!"
She had arrived.

There was no doubt about it,

and it was all unfolding
right in front of our eyes

at The Grammys.

What do you think, Ma?
(Laughing)

And the winner is...

Cyndi Lauper!

(Audience cheering)

KATIE: By the time
she because famous,

she had been
working for 15 years

to become
an overnight success.

I want to thank EPA,
who supported me

and allowed me to be myself,
as opposed to a clone.

I think fame caught Cyndi
at a good time in her life,

because she was
in her thirties

and you're a different
person in your thirties

than you are
when you're younger.

Who discovered you?

Well, I discovered myself.

ELLEN:
She allowed herself to thrive.

There's something in there
that she will not be deterred.

She will climb
that mountain.

*

WENDI: That was my first
video with Cyndi,

where I blew the bubble.

I never knew what
the song "She Bop" was about

till afterwards.

♪ Well, I see 'em every night
in tight blue jeans... ♪

I led a sheltered life.

(Chuckling)
And that was never discussed.

♪ She bop, he bop,
we bop ♪

♪ I bop, you bop,
they bop ♪

♪ Be bop, be bop,
a-loo she bop... ♪

TV PRESENTER:
It rocked!

ROB: "She Bop" is a primal
rock and roll song.

TV PRESENTER:
It was strange.

It was controversial
and fun all at the same time.

TV PRESENTER:
And it made you laugh.

So, what's the true
spin behind "She Bop?"

♪ We bop, a-loo... ♪

What's all that
bopping about?

I heard that song.

What is that "She Bops,
he bops, we bop, you bop?"

- What's that?
- But doesn't everybody bop?

I don't know what bopping is.
What's bopping?

It's about down there
of which we do not speak.

- Masturbating?
- Yeah.

What?

I heard the song a lot,

but I never knew
it was about that.

Just like I didn't
know "Lady Marmalade"

was about hookers.

Rock music has been
rolling against controversy

since its inception.

Lately that controversy has
become more heated than ever.

TV PRESENTER: Close inspection
of the video finds

several allusions
to the taboo topic.

♪ Do I wanna go out
with a lion's roar? ♪

She was the first
pop star to ever mention

a porn magazine
in a song lyric.

♪ In the pages of
a Blueboy magazine ♪

All my friends from
the "She Bop" video.

Carl and Gregory...

♪ He-he, I've been thinking...*

...they were magical.

Miss Diana.

One of the first transgender
people that I became close with.

Aunt Gracie's in there.
My mother.

I'm not sure that my mom
actually knew what

the song "She Bop" was about
when she starred in it.

Nor my other aunts.

No... no, they didn't.

♪ I hope
he will understand ♪

♪ She bop, we bop... ♪

They did find out later.

HOLLY:
"She Bop" was actually listed

on Tipper Gore's Filthy 15.
Yes!

But, ironically,
just a few months later,

Cyndi was named one of
12 women of the year.

Here it is, right on
the cover of Ms. Magazine,

their Twelve Women of the Year.

You'll find one of them is
wearing sequins on her eyes.

That's Cyndi Lauper,
the rock star.

GLORIA STEINEM: Cyndi has become
a great symbol to all of us,

but I think especially
to younger feminists,

because there was this
kind of dreadful notion

that you had to imitate
and dress for success

and conform in order
to be a feminist when,

in fact, the whole idea
of feminism is to be free,

to have the power to make
decisions for yourself,

and Cyndi said that.

"Girls Just Want To Have Fun"
has become a kind of anthem

for young feminists.

What was very important to
Cyndi was to infiltrate culture.

Here's to the rejects.

Kinda like us, Mike,
The Goonies.

The Goonies, the movie,

became very much
a part of the culture.

It meant a lot to people.

She had done the Goonies
song for Spielberg.

Her lyrics always had to
have meaning and be useful.

And really what it says
is just

"What's good enough for you
is good enough for me."

♪ It's good enough for me... ♪

Oh, The Goonies
was incredible fun.

With all the wrestlers.
Andre the Giant. Roddy.

Lou.
They were all there.

My mom got to be in it.

Oh my God,

she was having trouble with
the dialogue,

so the director told her
to eat a cookie and say,

I'm gonna miss
the smell of what

I've been baking
all these years.

I'm always surprised at
Goonies who come up to me.

"You know, I'm a big fan.
I'm a Goonie."

♪ Goonies, Goonies,
Goonies ♪

*

We did that project.

It was an interim project to
kind of bridge the time gap

that we had
anticipated between

She's So Unusual
and her second album.

CYNDI:
"True Colors" is a lovely song.

I knew that
the melody was stunning

and the words were stunning.

And I asked
my friend Peter Wood

"What if we do
this song

with our kind
of chords?"

So he said, "Okay,"
and he started playing.

And he started--

(singing opening notes
to "True Colors")

And I was like...

I just started singing.

♪ You with
the sad eyes ♪

♪ Don't be discouraged ♪

♪ Oh, I realize ♪

♪ It's hard
to take courage ♪

The intimacy became...

♪ In a world
full of people... ♪

...of paramount,

that the intimacy between
the listener and the singer

were never lost.

♪ But I see your
true colors ♪

♪ Shining through ♪

♪ I see your
true colors ♪

♪ And that's why
I love you... ♪

So that I could call

to the archaic part
of a human being.

So, he comes up with
...(Imitating drum beat)

And then we started...
(singing the opening melody)

*

I wanted my voice
to be warm,

but have that sibilance
so that it could sound like,

if you're singing
really soft,

it would sound like you're
whispering in someone's ear.

♪ In a world
full of people ♪

♪ You can lose sight
of it all ♪

♪ And the darkness inside you
can make you feel so small... ♪

I wanted to speak
to a human being

in the most tender spot.

♪ True colors ♪

♪ Your true colors ♪

♪ Are beautiful
like a rainbow... ♪

I had to learn
the power of a whisper.

♪ Can't remember
when I last saw you laughing..*

When "True Colors"
came to me,

it was when Gregory
was dying of AIDS...

...which totally freaked me out,
because in those days

that was a death sentence.

I went to the hospital
to visit him.

My friends,
they didn't want me near them,

because nobody
knew about AIDS.

ELLEN: When he passed of AIDS,
that almost killed her.

It struck deep in
her soul when he passed.

Because she-- you know,
she tried everything to help.

I dedicate it
to my friend Gregory

and to Carl
who survived him.

♪ You with the sad eyes ♪

♪ Don't be discouraged ♪

♪ Oh, I realize ♪

♪ It's hard
to take courage... ♪

When I listen
to that song...

(Exhaling)

♪ You can lose
sight of it all ♪

♪ And the darkness inside you
can make you feel so small ♪

♪ But I see
your true colors ♪

♪ Shining through ♪

♪ I see
your true colors ♪

♪ And that's
why I love you ♪

♪ So, don't be afraid ♪

♪ To let them show ♪

♪ Your true colors... ♪

BILLY:
"True Colors" had a resonance

with queer people because...

...so much of how
we communicated was in code.

Because queer people
weren't really allowed

to be queer and out.

So, it was our
straight allies

who were having
the conversations

that the actual queer
people in the same industry

could not have, for fear
of exposure and then rejection.

What I saw was so bad
and so unjust.

♪ And I see your-- ♪

CROWD:
♪ True colors shining through ♪

DAN: Cyndi was
there very, very early,

and really before people
knew what AIDS was all about,

and Cyndi was a big part of
bringing that message forward,

not just to the public,
but I think also to people

in the music business

and getting people
really involved.

♪ Are beautiful
like a rainbow ♪

Thank you very much.

I love you. Take care.

(Audience cheering)

Have you ever thought
of acting yourself?

Um... Well, yeah,
we're looking for something.

- It's hard to find, you know?
- Sure.

And action!

REPORTER: This is the first time
on the big screen for Lauper,

and, like the star herself,
her character is a bit offbeat.

Worse! She's playing
bouncy-bouncy with another guy.

Trying to be
as delicate as I can.

CYNDI:
And I did Vibes

and it was... (Exhales)
bad.

Then I went on Letterman.

What was the movie?

(Chuckling)
Vibes.

Vibes?
And what was the film about?

That was the problem.

(Audience laughing)

That was the problem.
Everybody was asking that.

DAVID LETTERMAN:
Uh-huh. And, but--

CYNDI: I think fame got
in my way. I hated it.

I hated that I was
labeled an icon.

I hated that people thought
that it was manufactured.

I don't want
to be an icon.

I'm a real person
on this planet

and I always, always
wanted to be an artist.

When you cease to
become an artist,

and you're
just a personality,

well, that's
heartbreaking.

BOY GEORGE: I didn't ever feel
like I had to change

who I was around her.

She was always just Cyndi.

Fame is a figment of
other people's imaginations.

You never choose what
fame you're going to get,

and it always kinda
comes out of nowhere,

and if you don't have a sense of
who you are and what you want

it can make you
quite unhappy.

DAVE:
With success comes a price,

because it steps on
your privacy in so many ways.

When that fame hits
to that extent,

everything is scrutinized.

I hear you are
engaged to be married.

Are you looking forward
to being married?

Um... yeah.

(All laughing)

I mean, he keeps saying,
you know,

we gotta wait till
I'm a bigger success.

- You're a huge success.
- You see, Dave?

♪ I'm driving home
from work ♪

♪ Knowing you're not there ♪

♪ I used to hurry home... ♪

DAVE: Our relationship
started to deteriorate.

CYNDI: We made a promise
that the business

would never come between
us and, of course,

the business
always comes between you.

But I kept on
as her manager.

The least you could
do is give is a shot!

CYNDI:
I am giving it a shot!

Oh, you're doing a fine job!

Then it just got to the point
where we had to say goodbye.

That was very, very difficult,
but we had no--

we had no option.

♪ I drop my hat ♪

♪ To a restless wind ♪

♪ Ooh, this time I'm not
gonna chase it again ♪

♪ In a jigsaw dream ♪

♪ With soft-spoken words ♪

♪ I woke up crying
and no one heard... ♪

CYNDI: And I was so lonely

and I didn't mind sacrificing
everything for the work,

because that's what we're
supposed to do as artists.

You are lonely.

Too fucking bad.

The work comes first.

(Announcer speaking,
audience cheering)

FRED: She had several
years of problems

with the record companies after
the She's So Unusual album

because they wanted to
put her into this mold,

and she didn't want
to go into that mold.

She wanted
to make her music.

Cyndi needed control.
She lost it as a child.

She was angry.

HOLLY: In 1989, her third album,
A Night to Remember,

just didn't achieve
the commercial success

of the first two.

She was
not given the respect

and the creative
freedom to evolve.

So, she stepped away from
the limelight for a few years.

I had a struggle
around 1990.

And I was walking away
from music for a second.

That fire gives you
momentum to change stuff.

MAN: 129, take one.
(Clacking)

Here we go. Ready?
And action!

*

CYNDI: Everything in
my life fell apart.

So, I decided
to do a movie.

I felt like,
"Let me just live on the page."

And that didn't work.

But I lucked out.

I met somebody
really extraordinary.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, what about
when you actually met David?

You were working together,
weren't you?

- CYNDI: We did a movie.
- INTERVIEWER: But how did you

sort of become
romantically entwined?

Well, he was
the murderer in the movie

and I've always had
a penchant for the bad guys.

INTERVIEWER: Mm.

Yeah, it was left over
from wrestling I guess.

Hey, I met my husband.

That was good.

I was very lucky.

I met another artist

who I would like to share
the rest of my life with.

♪ On the snow-lit trees ♪

I've been searching
all my life to find myself.

When I left
my house at 17,

it was the first time I thought
about what it would be like

to consider
the world differently.

ELLEN:
Her life wasn't working

and she needed to get away.

To kind of reassess,
she needed to start over.

CYNDI:
I wound up in Vermont.

I had my dog.

I had never ever
camped in my life.

The stars were
so incredibly beautiful.

I felt like, "Wow, I wish I had
someone to share this with.

There was this hat
that I got.

I mean, I was poor
as a church mouse,

but it was so beautiful.

One night, when the stars
were really extraordinary...

...I lifted my hat up

and I imagined
the sky in this hat

and filled
the hat with the sky.

So that the next time
I put it on, I could remember.

I had to go and follow
my dreams.

You have to remember
why you came to the form

in the first place.

For me, it was about
that hat full of stars.

♪ From a long,
long time ago ♪

♪ When all I had was ♪

♪ A hat full of stars... ♪

HOLLY: I thought it was
such an ambitious album,

her voice
never sounded better

and she was doing
so many different things.

♪ The rent is due
and the pockets are empty ♪

♪ People ask machines
for the truth ♪

♪ No crystal ball
to help see it all ♪

♪ But where
we gonna find ♪

♪ The dreams to
feed the babies? ♪

REPORTER:
Cyndi Lauper, her new album,

Hat Full of Stars,
addresses some heavy topics.

Themes include abortion,
incest, and racism.

♪ On the dresser
sits a frame ♪

♪ With a photograph ♪

♪ Two little girls
in ponytails ♪

♪ Some 21 years back... ♪

The record company was like,
"What are you doing?!

Why can't you just do
a video like Madonna?!"

♪ Was lost from
some back alley job ♪

♪ I close my eyes ♪

♪ And Sally's
pigeons fly... ♪

I didn't just want
to have a hit song.

I wanted to have a hit song
that meant something.

♪ They brought her in
in a new white dress ♪

♪ But the stain left an ache
on her mother's breast ♪

♪ Now all that's left
are the ghostly steps ♪

♪ From a distant corridor ♪

♪ Hey... ♪

My journey was painful,

because my career just
didn't go like my peers.

My career was up and down and up
and down and up and down.

♪ Shake your money maker,
I will never be a faker now ♪

♪ Hey, hey, hey... ♪

Now, you know,
you're a pop star

and your last CD
was a dance album.

- Yeah.
- Now you have a blues album.

You keep changing it up, huh?

♪ Early in the morning ♪

♪ And I ain't
got nothing, nothing ♪

♪ Nothing,
nothing but the blues... ♪

PATTI: We pray that
we have a record label

that's going to push us
and push everything

that we record,
because we believe in it,

but when you have some people
who are stuck on wanting

to hear what you did
back in the day,

they put you in a box.

Keep on doing
a Lady Marmalade,

keep on doing a
Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

When we have other
things to talk about.

(Singing "Funnel of Love")

♪ Here I go going
down, down, down ♪

♪ My head is blank,
my head is spinning around ♪

♪ And around as I go deep
into the funnel of love... ♪

Come 2000,
I had my head in the dirt.

2002, they were asking me

"What the hell
happened to you?"

*

And when I was
pregnant with my son,

I was on the computer,

and it was the
beginning of email.

♪ You with the sad eyes... ♪

Letter after
letter was about

someone who was gay,
lesbian,

a bisexual person,
a transgender person,

anywhere where
you don't fall into line.

ELLEN: Her fans would write her
and talk about

being thrown out
of the house

because their families
rejected them.

♪ In a world
full of people ♪

♪ You can lose sight
of it all ♪

♪ And the darkness
inside you... ♪

REPORTER: Now, Grammy Award
winning singer Cyndi Lauper

is really fired up.

She's just launched
the Forty to None Project.

It's a campaign to battle
the growing number

of homeless gay youth.

ELLEN: She read the letters

so she had the personal
experience,

but there's the part of her
that's also the technician.

(Chuckling) And so,
she wanted to get it right.

Only up to seven percent of
American youth identify

as gay or transgender, right?

But yet, the homeless
population has up to 40%.

She goes and talks
in front of Congress!

So, you can see the disparity,

and you can see there's
something bigger at play here.

We actually did
help change the laws.

Places that had
government funding

would not let LGBT kids in

because of their
religious beliefs,

but if you're taking
government money,

that has nothing to do
with your religion.

It has to do
with your service.

So, you can't mix
religion and politics.

So, we went to work

on making an amendment
to fix that.

I want to implore you

not to pray to God to change
your kid.

I'm a mom.

Pray to God to change
your heart

so you can love
and help your kid.

Bam.

You know? You gotta--
You gotta respect that.

That's some...
That's Italian moxie there.

BOY GEORGE: People are so still
shocked by the same things.

And I think that it's really
important that somebody

like Cyndi is out there talking
about homelessness

and LGBTQ+ rights.

Happy Pride!

ELLEN: Going to these events by
myself or with my friends

is one thing,
but going with my family

adds a whole other level
of meaning.

It was the first time
that I got to have

that experience
with my mom.

She'd never been
to the parade.

♪ Don't be afraid ♪

(Audience cheering)

KATIE: There was a time
where you'd think,

"Has my train passed?"

The train always stops
for people with talent.

It's the talent.

It's the talent.
It's the talent.

It's the talent.

I never planned it like this,

but all of a sudden, everything
started happening at once.

Tell us what has happening.
What kind of things?

Well, you know,
Harvey Fierstein called me up

and said "What are you doing?"

And at that point,
I had just finished the dishes.

And he said "Kinky Boots".

And I thought
"Well, the shoes alone..."

I came for one thing
and one thing only.

Adulation!

Kinky Boots was
considered the underdog

because there was a pop writer
coming to write a musical.

♪ Put your faith in me and I
was challenged to be strong...*

It's about a shoe factory
in England that's going under.

A drag queen named
Lola decides

to save the factory,

making high heeled
shoes for men.

♪ Light you up... ♪

SAMMY JAMES JR: I was surprised
at the story-telling instinct

that she did have,
but we know plenty

of jukebox musicals

by some of the greatest

songwriters of all time

that did not connect

with an audience.

Why? Cause the songs
weren't good.

No, the songs were songs
that defined generations,

but that doesn't necessarily
tell a theatrical story

in a satisfying,
you know, musical theatre.

♪ When I was
just a kid ♪

♪ Everything I did ♪

♪ Was to be like him... ♪

BILLY: Cyndi Lauper is the
perfect writer for Kinky Boots.

She understood,
instinctively,

the whole play, the whole piece,
was about forgiveness.

♪ Look at me ♪

♪ Powerless
and holding my breath... ♪

Inside of the character

I got to practice
what forgiveness looked like

and then apply it
to my own life,

and I think that's
a revolutionary act unto itself.

And the Tony Award goes to...

"Girl, You're Gonna
Have Fun Tonight!" Cyndi Lauper!

(Audience cheering)

That's why she was the first
woman to win the Tony Award

for Music and Lyrics
in a Musical.

All right,
I gotta thank my mom

for sharing all
that wonderful music.

I wrecked all her Broadway
musicals when I was a kid,

the cast albums.

That's how
I learned how to sing.

I wanna thank Harvey Fierstein
for calling me up.

I'm so glad I was
done with the dishes.

I'm so happy
I answered the phone.

We're conditioned
in our society.

"What is the success?
What is the success?

The graph. The graph."

But it's not the graph.

It's a journey.

The desire to hit
that freaking moment.

You know, I feel like
I've forgotten it now

in this time in my life,

and I started to see it again
when I saw the signs

at the women's demonstration,

"Girls Just Wanna Have
Fundamental Rights".

I thought
"Wow. You heard me."

ELLEN:
We are in a time right now

where women are being told

that the '50s was
a good place to be.

And that we need
to go back there.

She is not afraid
to speak her mind.

And so,
Cyndi's at it again.

PRODUCER: You ready?
Here we go.

♪ When I was eight
I had a friend ♪

♪ With a pirate smile... ♪

When I wrote
"Sally's Pigeons",

I wrote with
Mary Chapin Carpenter.

♪ We were innocent
and wild... ♪

At that time, in 1998,
we were being challenged again.

Our rights.
Our civil rights.

And we can't
go back to this.

Know what I mean?

No more hangers!

Women died.
Lots of women died.

Young girls died.

♪ I had a fool's confidence ♪

♪ That the world
had no boundaries... ♪

That's why I've redone it.

INTERVIEWER: And what
did you change about it?

There's one
line though, right?

CYNDI: Yeah, I-- Unfortunately.
"51 years back."

♪ Two little girls
in ponytails ♪

♪ Some 51 years back ♪

♪ She left one night
with just a nod ♪

♪ Was lost from
some back alley job... ♪

A lot of us never felt
we'd have to fight this again,

but sometimes
you gotta stand up

and let your voice
be heard.

♪ I close my eyes ♪

♪ And Sally's pigeons ♪

♪ Fly ♪

♪ Ooh... ♪

You know,
as you get older,

you just keep
learning and learning,

and I started to do different
things in different areas

of creativity so that
the gatekeepers

start to get
a little confused,

'cause they don't know
where you're coming from.

You know,
"Oh, she's over there!

Now she's over there!
Oh, my God."

♪ You steal the-- ♪

No, no, that's it.

♪ Dirty dealing ♪

Right.

♪ Hiding behind the facade ♪

♪ But you can't conceal--
Reveal-- ♪

♪ The truth will reveal
you can't trust nobody ♪

Okay, again. Okay.
Who wants to get it right?

Two, three, go!

SAMMY:
Working Girl, as a musical,

is supposed to
transport you to the '80s,

and then you turn
and six feet away

is Cyndi Lauper's
larynx, right?

And I was like "Oh, yeah,
I think we'll be all right

in getting
an '80s sound here.

♪ The truth will reveal ♪

♪ You can't trust nobody... ♪

CYNDI: I've been working on
Working Girl for a long time,

and I'm going to get this done
because I lived it, I know it.

♪ Singing the blues,
I'm spreading the news... ♪

INTERVIEWER: Working Girl's
been in development for a while.

It's still not
greenlit for Broadway.

Are you worried at all about it
living up to the success

of Kinky Boots?

It's different.

It's a different story,

but it's one
that I believe in.

♪ Here have some speed ♪

♪ Welcome to
Wall Street dreams ♪

♪ No one's ever
who they seem ♪

The bridge, wrong chords.

Fucking wrong chords!
I don't care who wrote it!

Jesus could've wrote that!
It's wrong!

BOY GEORGE: You know,
initially you go through

the door and, if you're
lucky to be let in,

and then you have your
spell in the lime light

and then you kind of-- then you
have to keep proving yourself.

♪ Break in ♪

It's a big end!
A big end!

(Vocalizing)

♪ New ♪

Yeah!

(Strumming)

- Wham! Yeah!
- Whoo!

The reason you pick yourself up,
dust yourself off,

and start all
over again

is because I want
in again, you know?

It doesn't last
long enough

and you always want to
go back in to that spot,

that place where it
just opens up and it happens.

*

♪ Here I am ♪

♪ Just like
I said I would be ♪

♪ I'm your friend ♪

♪ Just like you
think it should be ♪

♪ Did you think I would
stand here and lie? ♪

♪ While our moment
was passing us by? ♪

♪ Oh, while I am here ♪

♪ Waiting for
your change of heart ♪

♪ It just takes a beat
to turn it around... ♪

It was difficult,
but I got to here,

and I'm still creating,

and I've had extraordinary
moments in my life

where I got to be places
and do things

and see things
and sing with people

that were extraordinary,

and that is
the penultimate for me.

Hit it!

*

So, that's all I want to say.
Long and short.

Mostly long.
Always long.

*

♪ Just when everything's
in order and good ♪

♪ Things fall apart ♪

♪ Just when life
should be resolving ♪

♪ I'm back at the beginning ♪

♪ And it comes
back to the heart ♪

♪ I'm not really sad ♪

♪ I'm not running ♪

♪ I'm looking ♪

♪ Did I tell you ♪

♪ I kept all your letters ♪

♪ And cards? ♪

Hi. I just, um...

I just wanna tell you
I came here

because we can rest easy
tonight.

(Cheering)

PRESIDENT BIDEN:
Today I sign

the Respect For Marriage Act
into law!

(Cheering)

CYNDI:
Our families are validated.

Now, we're allowed
to love who we love.

♪ Do you remember ♪

♪ When I told you ♪

♪ All that I could ♪

♪ And it seemed
like too much? ♪

♪ I was living your life ♪

♪ Hoping you'd never fall ♪

♪ If I held on tight enough ♪

♪ And letting go now ♪

♪ Is like
a passport to anywhere ♪

♪ With time on my hands ♪

♪ I can make a new start ♪

♪ I just didn't
wanna stay here ♪

♪ And unhook the stars ♪

♪ I just didn't
wanna stay here ♪

♪ And unhook the stars ♪

♪ Don't worry for me ♪

♪ It's just I'm inspired ♪

♪ Waiting in the wings ♪

♪ Made me drunk
with possibilities ♪

♪ Rivals my memories ♪

♪ I didn't wanna stay here ♪

♪ And unhook the stars ♪

♪ I just didn't
wanna stay here ♪

♪ And unhook the stars ♪

♪ Everything's in order
and good ♪

♪ Things fall apart ♪

♪ Just when life
should be resolving ♪

♪ And I'm back
at the beginning ♪

♪ And it comes
back to the heart ♪

♪ I'm not really sad ♪

♪ I'm not running,
I'm looking ♪

♪ Did I tell you I kept ♪

♪ All your letters and cards? ♪

♪ There's just nothing
left for me to do here ♪

♪ But unhook the stars ♪

♪ There's just nothing
left for me to do here ♪

♪ But unhook the stars ♪

♪ Mm ♪

♪ Didn't wanna stay here ♪

♪ And unhook the stars ♪