‘You Don’t Own Me’ by Lesley Gore

Lesley Gore:
·       Lesley Sue Goldstein was born on 2nd May 1946 in Brooklyn, New York.
·       She was only 16 when she met her producer, Quincy Jones.
·       She recorded demos which got to Quincy Jones through an agent.
·       Despite all the attention she got, Lesley stayed at school and continued studying.
·       One of her songs that stood out was ‘You Don’t Own Me’ an unapologetic declaration that women are not objects that men can possess and control. The song was written by the male songwriting duo John Madera and Dave White, but Gore inspired teenage girls to not let boys push them around. The song stayed at number 2 in the charts for weeks, coming second to The Beatles’ ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’.
·       Gore said: "When I first heard that song at the age of 16 or 17, feminism wasn't quite a going proposition yet. Some people talked about it, but it wasn't in any kind of state at the time. My take on that song was: I'm 17, what a wonderful thing, to be able to stand up on a stage and shake your finger at people and sing you don't own me."
·       Whilst Gore was at Sarah Lawrence College, she discovered she was a lesbian. Before college, she later explained, she didn’t had time to explore her feelings. She didn’t come out until after the heyday of her fame had passed. Gore said "I just tried to live as normally as humanly possible. But as truthfully as humanly possible."
·       Lesley Gore died of lung cancer on 16th February 2015, at the age of 68.
·       A new version of ‘You Don’t Own Me’ was released in 2016 covered by Grace and G-Eazy.
I chose the song ‘You Don’t Own Me’ by Lesley Gore which is a feminist anthem. I chose this song because I found the lyrics very powerful. This song was released in December 1963 when Lesley Gore was only 17.

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