It's My Party (song)
Encyclopedia
"It's My Party" is a song most famously sung by American singer Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...

 in 1963. This song hit #1 on the pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 charts in the United States. "It's My Party", peaked at #9 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, becoming Gore's only major hit there. It was the first hit single for producer Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...

.

Theme

The song lyrically portrays the discomfiture of a teenage
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...

 girl at her birthday party when her boyfriend Johnny disappears only to surface in the company of Judy, another girl, who is "wearing his ring" to indicate she's replaced the birthday girl as his love interest.

The song's chorus, "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to... You would cry too if it happened to you," became a part of American pop cultural language as a phrase used to describe being utterly humiliated and miserable during an event that is supposed to be a happy occasion.

"It's My Party" is in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...

 of A major
A major
A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps.Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor...

. The song's effectiveness is enhanced by several musical touches producer Quincy Jones incorporated, including Latin-sounding rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...

s, double tracked
Doubletracking
Double tracking is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or "bigger" sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. It is a form of overdubbing; the distinction comes from the...

 vocals and effective horn parts. Allmusic critic Jason Ankeny wrote of the song "'It's My Party' remains one of the most vivid evocations of adolescent heartbreak ever waxed -- Quincy Jones produced the record, although you'd swear it was Aaron Spelling instead."

Background

"It's My Party" was written in 1962 by John Gluck, Wally Gold and Herb Weiner who were staff writers employed at the Aaron Schroeder
Aaron Schroeder
Aaron Schroeder was an American songwriter and music publisher.-Biography:Born Aaron Harold Schroder , he graduated from the school now known as the Fiorello H...

 Music firm. The demo for the song was cut by Barbara Jean English, a girl group veteran (the Clickettes, the Fashions) who was then working as both a receptionist at the firm and with Jimmy Radcliffe
Jimmy Radcliffe
James "Jimmy" Radcliffe was an American soul singer, composer, arranger, conductor and record producer.-Biography:James Radcliffe was born in New York City...

, serving as its in-house demo singer. Radcliffe produced the demo and according to English "tried to persuade Musicor [the label owned by Aaron Schroeder] to release it as a record, or to take me into a master studio and redo it, but they weren't interested."

The first recording of the song was by Helen Shapiro
Helen Shapiro
Helen Kate Shapiro is an English singer and actress. She is best known for her 1960s UK chart toppers, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness".-Early life:...

 for her Helen in Nashville album recorded in February 1963 with Shapiro's regular producer Norrie Paramor
Norrie Paramor
Norrie Paramor was a British record producer, composer, arranger, and orchestral conductor.Although the term "producer" was not in circulation at the time Paramor started producing records , he effectively began this role in 1952 when he became Recording Director for EMI's Columbia...

 and also Al Kasha
Al Kasha
Al Kasha is a Brooklyn–born composer, songwriter and arranger, as well as businessman. He is most noted for his years of collaboration with songwriter Joel Hirschhorn...

. Shapiro would recall: "Right from the first time we heard the song on the rough demo back in London, we thought we were going to sock them between the eyes with that one";
however Shapiro's version was not one of the cuts chosen as an advance single from the album and by the time of the album's release that October the "It's My Party" track was perceived as a cover of Lesley Gore's hit.

Lesley Gore recalls that "It's My Party" was among some two hundred demos producer Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...

 brought to review with her in the den of her family home in February 1963. On hearing "It's My Party" Gore told Jones: "That's not half bad. I like it. Good melody. Let's put it on the maybe pile." The song proved to be the only demo Gore and Jones found agreeable. With Jones producing and Claus Ogerman
Claus Ogerman
Claus Ogerman is a German musical arranger/ orchestrator, conductor, and composer, best known for his works with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra and Diana Krall.-Life and work:...

 handling arranging and conducting duties, Gore recorded "It's My Party" at Bell Sound Studios in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 on 30 March 1963.

In March 1963 Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....

 heard the demo of "It's My Party" while visiting Aaron Schroeder's office. Wally Gold would recall: "He [Spector] said, 'Great, I love it. I’m gonna do it with the Crystals.' We [the song's writers] were really excited, because that would ensure that the record was #1!" Schroeder apparently only learned of the Lesley Gore recording of "It's My Party" when Quincy Jones invited him to hear the completed track, which Schroeder found formulaic; believing that Spector would be able to cut a much stronger version of the song with the Crystals and not wanting to lose Spector's goodwill, Schroeder attempted to convince Jones to suppress the track. Schroeder didn't mention Spector's version to Jones but Jones and Spector both happened to attend a concert with Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...

 at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 on the evening of 30 March 1963 and when they met outside it came up in conversation that Spector had recorded a version of "It's My Party" with the Crystals.1 Jones skipped the concert instead spending that night—a Saturday—at Bell Sound Studios making a test pressing of the track comprising one hundred copies which over the next two days Jones mailed out to radio programmers in key markets across the US. Gore heard her record played on the radio for the first time that Friday; the official release of "It's My Party" came later in the month with the disc ascending to #1 nationally in four weeks. Jones was abroad at the time of "It's My Party"'s release; on his return he expressed dismay when Aaron Schroeder advised him that the rush release of "It's My Party" had precluded coining a more pleasant name for the singer than "Lesley Gore" to which Schroeder replied: "Didn't anybody tell you?...Quince, the record's number one. Do you really give a damn what her last name is?"
  • 1As with "He's a Rebel
    He's a Rebel
    "He's a Rebel" is a pop song credited to the girl group The Crystals, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in November 1962. Written by Gene Pitney and produced by Phil Spector, it is considered one of the definitive examples of the Spector-produced girl group sound.In 2004, the song was...

    ", the Crystals' hit for which it was intended as the follow-up, "It's My Party" was actually recorded not by the Crystals but the Blossoms
    The Blossoms
    The Blossoms were a backing group from California. They had a recording career in their own right and were to the American West Coast what The Sweet Inspirations were to the East Coast and The Andantes were for Motown.-Early years:...

     who cut the track at Gold Star Studios
    Gold Star Studios
    Gold Star Studios was a major independent recording studio located in Los Angeles, California, United States. For more than thirty years, from 1950 to 1984, Gold Star was one of the most influential and successful commercial recording studios in the world....

    . Darlene Love
    Darlene Love
    Darlene Love is an American popular music singer and actress. She gained prominence in the 1960s for the song "He's a Rebel," a #1 American single in 1962, and was part of the Phil Spector stable that produced a celebrated Christmas album in 1963....

     says the Spector version was kinda slow with me and my sister Edna [Wright
    Honey Cone
    Honey Cone was an American R&B and soul all girl vocal group, who are best remembered for their Billboard #1 hit single, "Want Ads". They were the premier female group for Hot Wax Records, operated by Holland–Dozier–Holland after they had departed from Motown Records.-Career:Honey Cone comprised...

    ] singing together on lead. Much more R&B
    Rhythm and blues
    Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

     than Lesley Gore's version."

Covers

  • In 1977 Carroll Baker
    Carroll Baker (singer)
    Carroll Baker, CM , , is a Juno Award winning Canadian country music singer and songwriter.-Biography:Carroll Baker was born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia...

     had a number-one C&W
    Country music
    Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

     hit in Canada with her version of "It's My Party".
  • The song was covered
    Cover version
    In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

     by Bryan Ferry
    Bryan Ferry
    Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...

     on his 1973 album These Foolish Things.
  • A 1981 remake by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin
    Barbara Gaskin
    Barbara Gaskin is a British singer who, with her musical partner, the keyboardist Dave Stewart, formed a duo in 1981. In September of that year they had a number one single in the UK with a cover version of the song "It's My Party"...

     was a UK number one hit single for four weeks and was also a major hit in Austria
    Austria
    Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

     (#3), Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

     (#3), the Netherlands (#20), New Zealand
    New Zealand
    New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

     (#1), South Africa
    South Africa
    The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

     (#3) and Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

     (#6). The track reached #72 in the US. This was the first version of the song to reach #1 in the UK.
  • The song was covered by The Chipettes
    The Chipettes
    The Chipettes are a fictional group of anthropomorphic chipmunk singers first appearing on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes...

     in 1983 for the Alvin and the Chipmunks
    Alvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)
    Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment from 1988-90....

    episode "May the Best Chipmunk Win". A complete recording appeared on the 1984 album Songs from Our TV Shows.
  • British synthpop band Sigue Sigue Sputnik
    Sigue Sigue Sputnik
    Sigue Sigue Sputnik were a British new wave band created in 1982 by the former Generation X bassist Tony James. The band had three UK Top 40 hit singles, including the song "Love Missile F1-11".-Early years:...

     "covered" the song in the early 1990s, renaming it to "It's My Planet".
  • A Swedish language
    Swedish language
    Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

     version, known as "Leva livet", with lyrics by Stig Anderson
    Stig Anderson
    Stig 'Stikkan' Erik Leopold Anderson was born in Hova, Sweden, and is best known as the manager of the pop group ABBA.- Polar Music:Anderson was the founder of the Polar Music record label in 1963...

    , has been recorded by artists such as Lill-Babs
    Lill-Babs
    Lill-Babs is a Swedish singer and actress.-Biography:Lill-Babs was born in Järvsö, Gävleborg County, as the first daughter of Britta and Ragnar Svensson...

     (1963), Magnus Uggla
    Magnus Uggla
    Per Allan Magnus Claësson Uggla is a Swedish artist, composer, actor, and occasional radio host known for his satirical lyrics. He is a member of the Swedish nobility and a descendant of several European rulers, among which John III of Sweden and Gustav Vasa...

     (1979) and Lotta Engberg
    Lotta Engberg
    -External links:* *...

     (1997). The Lill-Babs version was at Svensktoppen
    Svensktoppen
    Svensktoppen is a record chart at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. Svensktoppen airs once a week...

     for four weeks from October 6, 1963. -June 26, 1964, peaking at #5.
  • Rapper Fabolous
    Fabolous
    John David Jackson , better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American rapper of African American and Dominican descent. He grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Part of his early popularity arose from his hit single "Can't Deny It" in 2001, from his debut...

     makes a reference to the song in his 2003 hit "This Is My Party" (from his 2003 album Street Dreams) by re-working the lyrics: "This is my party/So get fly if you want to/Get high if you want to cause I know you like to/Put your hands up as high as you want to/And if it feels good scream 'hey-hey-hey yo'".
  • Richard Anthony
    Richard Anthony
    Richard Sidney Anthony was an Irish politician. A Linotype operator by profession, Anthony stood unsuccessfully for election at the 1923 general election. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as an Labour Party Teachta Dála for the Cork Borough constituency at the June 1927 general election. He...

     recorded a French version titled "C'est ma fête".
  • American pop-rock band Hot Chelle Rae
    Hot Chelle Rae
    Hot Chelle Rae is a pop rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2005. The band consists of Ryan Follese , Nash Overstreet , Ian Keaggy , and Jamie Follese . Their debut album, Lovesick Electric, was released on October 27, 2009...

     used a similar line to the chorus of the song ("It's my party and I'll dance if I want to") in their 2011 single "Tonight Tonight
    Tonight Tonight (Hot Chelle Rae song)
    "Tonight Tonight" is a song by American pop rock band Hot Chelle Rae. It was released as the lead single from their upcoming second album Whatever on March 15, 2011...

    "
  • Singer Brandy
    Brandy Norwood
    Brandy Rayana Norwood , known professionally as Brandy, is an American singer-songwriter, producer, actress, and dancer. In 2009, she introduced her rap alter-ego Bran'Nu....

     recently posted a YouTube video of her rapping her remix of "It's My Party"
  • An interpolation of the chorus of "It's My Party" was used by Robin Thicke and Polow Da Don for Robin Thicke's song "Sex Therapy".
  • In 1993, the German project Future Beat made the first Eurodance
    Eurodance
    Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...

     cover of this song.
  • In 2011, singer Colbie Caillat
    Colbie Caillat
    Colbie Marie Caillat is an American pop singer-songwriter and guitarist from Malibu, California. She debuted in 2007 with Coco, which included hit singles "Bubbly", "Realize", and "The Little Things". In 2008, she recorded a duet with Jason Mraz, "Lucky", which won a Grammy. Caillat released her...

     recorded a version of the song for an episode of the TV series The Playboy Club
    The Playboy Club
    The Playboy Club is an American television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 2011 to October 3, 2011. Set in 1961, the series centers around the employees of the original Playboy Club operating in Chicago....

    (where she portrayed Lesley herself) which was released on the iTunes Store
    ITunes Store
    The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

     at the same day.
  • Robert "Bob" Daniels of Hammomton, NJ played trumpet on the song "It's My Party" as a studio trumpet player.


"It's My Party" has also been recorded by the Chiffons
The Chiffons
The Chiffons was an all girl group originating from the Bronx area of New York in 1960.-Biography:The Chiffons were one of the top girl groups of the early 1960s...

, the Paris Sisters
The Paris Sisters
The Paris Sisters were a 1960s girl group from San Francisco, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Priscilla Paris; her older sister, Albeth Paris; and their middle sister Sherrell Paris...

, Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...

, Sue Thompson
Sue Thompson
Sue Thompson is an American pop and country music singer. She is best known for the million selling hits "Sad Movies " and "Norman", both pop hits for her in the 1960s.-Early life:...

, Carol Welsman, and Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...

.

Amy Winehouse cover

The song was covered by Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...

 and released as a single on November 2, 2010. It was Winehouse's last commercial release.

The sequel: "Judy's Turn to Cry"

Because of the pop cultural obsession with the song and its tragic nature, Gore recorded a sequel titled "Judy's Turn to Cry
Judy's Turn to Cry
"Judy's Turn to Cry" is a song written by Beverly "Ruby" Ross and Edna Lewis that was originally released by Lesley Gore in 1963. The song was produced by Quincy Jones, who also produced Gore's prior hit "It's My Party"...

". In this song, the teenage girl narrator gets her revenge on Judy. In the lyrics the narrator explicitly finds "foolish" how much she cried when she saw Johnny and Judy together, and seems determined to start anew. But after she kisses another boy at another party, Johnny returns to her.

Though "Judy's Turn to Cry" was not quite as popular as "It's My Party", it did reach No. 5 on the Billboard charts in the summer of 1963.
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