18 February 1984
I bet you’re as surprised as I am to discover that ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ was written and originally performed by a man. But yes, ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ was a slightly punkish 1979 track by a Robert Hazard, and the spelling isn’t the only difference. Hazard’s version is of a young man explaining his wild carousing ways to mom and dad: it’s those girls and their fun-having, pops! He has no time for those other guys who keep their girlfriends cooped up: “All my girls have got to walk in the sun!” This doesn’t sound all that better for the girls, truth be told; Hazard’s ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ is pretty much ‘Guys Just Wanna Have Fun’.
Lauper’s version tweaks that line for more agency: “I wanna be the one who walks in the sun!” Crucially, by co-opting Hazard’s lines Lauper takes over the position of control; girls will work hard and play hard for their own sake. This, plus Lauper’s confident performance and the track’s day-glo vibrancy, is probably what saw ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ catch on and become such a huge hit. (In the UK it got to number two, behind Frankie and ‘Relax’.)
Its relentless in-your-face hi-NRG perkiness isn’t something that appeals to me, and I can’t say I’d ever seek out ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ to listen. But perhaps that suits all parties concerned.
