it's my party & I'll poll if I want to: THE LESLEY GORE SINGLES POLL!

"That's the Way Boys Are" gets my vote.

Sunshine Lollipops Rainbows

SUNSHINE LOLLIPOPS AND RAINBOWS!!!

"California Nights" all the way. Yay for Marvin Hamlisch!

I just listened to "She's a Fool," "That's the Way Boys Are," "Maybe I Know" and "Look of Love" repeatedly before succumbing to the inevitable: "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows." I can't deny its idiot glee.

So yay for more Marvin Hamlisch!

I adore this woman.

She was great, but any vote other than "You Don't Own Me" is WRONG.

everybody otm but john justen most of all.

"hey now" deserves love also.

her album from a few years ago was pretty nice. and i sort of love this duet from the 80s sometime.

"You Don't Own Me" voters OTM

i love her so much. really a tough call.

"Maybe I Know" for me.

She's A Fool!

You Don't Own Me

I don't know every one of these, but You Don't Own Me is totally classic.

the key changes in YDOM are great

One of my favorite lesbians!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

kinda surprised "It's My Party" placed so low!

only three votes for "maybe i know"? ah ilx! ah humanity!

the key changes in YDOM are great

yeah i interviewed her once and she talked about how the key to that song is the way minor-key verses rise into the major-key chorus. and then obv. the modulation to the "i'm young and i love to be young" verse.

I've really been digging some of her late '60s, post- Quincy Jones material lately. as brilliant as Quincy's production could be, he never really took her music past 1963 stylistically, so when he left Mercury in '65 or so, they called in a gaggle of producers and tried to decide whether to style her after The Supremes or Jackie DeShannon or the Mamas & the Papas. she risked coming across as an "oldies" artist making an awkward stab at hipness (& maybe that's the way the public viewed her, judging by her chart success at the time), but to my ears there's nothing the least bit stale or phoned in about the performances. "Brink of Disaster" is as great a Beach Boys rip-off as I've heard; the tinny, theatrical "I'm your conscience..." intro almost sounds like something Van Dyke Parks would record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSDLrtcA--g

another one from her (California Nights LP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcftkJgHiVA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ovunZ3by4

^self-penned album track from a couple years earlier. a few of my favorite songs of hers are self-penned, although she became less interesting when she went into full-on singer-songwriter mode in the early '70s.

What in hell are the backup singers chanting in "She's A Fool"?? "Shak-A-Dool-A" or something?

RIP :(

she didn't record much music in her later years, but her 2005 re-recording of 'You Don't Own Me' is very moving:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7UbufBJ8CA

:(

She was wonderful.

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7LdgPKO1AY

Some are calling hoax on his btw. Anyone know for sure?

the AP picked up on it, so I doubt it's a hoax.

here's a proper obituary: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/leslie-gore-dead-its-my-party-singer-dies-aged-68-10050270.html

the best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa2VqvbyBa8

You've got to be kidding me. She was always so youthful. I have all of her sixties albums. One of my favorite singers. RIP.

Icon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkXExTweFV4

wow, i didn't know this (tho it got third in the poll). a friend noted this one starts with the chorus, and yeah, why bury that one, the song is a bit slight and it only sets up the atmosphere of the first verse even better.

ha now i see that's the screen shot of the tami show clip. play it again anyway.

I wrote this short profile of her when that 2005 album came out. She was cool, had a great, grounded attitude about her whole life and career.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/23/arts/music/23mays.html

"I have to say that when I first started singing, I didn't think it was a very noble profession," she said. "I worked for people like Robert Kennedy and I thought: 'Wow, that's what it's about. That's how you change the world.' And then I watched that disintegrate in front of my eyes, and it was very discouraging.

"But I have found over 43 years that I really rather love what I do. And it really does keep me in touch with people, in a way that a lot of people don't get a chance to be in touch with people. So I have a newfound love and respect for my career."

That includes respect for old fans who want to hear the old songs alongside the new ones. "If I've learned anything in this business," she said, "how stupid would it be not to do 'It's My Party' when people come to hear it?"

Wrote on "Maybe I Know":

http://thisiheard.blogspot.com

So great. RIP

https://books.google.com/books?id=RVMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA64&dq=Lesley+gore&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JLviVIq1PIGgyATbyoG4Aw&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Lesley%20gore&f=false

Quincy Jones on FB:

I am heartbroken at the news today of the passing of Lesley Gore. I discovered Lesley, almost on a dare, in 1963 when she was 16 years old and I was Vice President of Mercury Records and we would go on to make 16 hit songs together including 'It's My Party,' 'Judy's Turn to Cry,' 'You Don't Own Me,' and 'Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows.' Lesley was an incredibly soulful singer/songwriter even at that young and that was why the world embraced her songs the way it did. It is important to remember that at one point, the only group that surpassed her in the pop charts was The Beatles. It was a privelege to have been a part of Lesley's life personally and professionally from those early days until now, and although I will miss her deeply, her essence will remain with us always through her music.

Somehow I've never heard "You Don't Own Me" before. Goosebumps at delivery and chords and the lot.

all these years didn't realize "Maybe I Know" was Ms Gore. fuckin' catchy as shit

Hell yes it is.

Most of these are classics. Many of the ones that received no votes are among my favorites. Had 'Brink of Disaster' lodged in my head for an entire day earlier this week.