You Don't Own Me

Album

Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts

Label

Mercury Records

Genre

Blue-eyed soul

Composer(s)

John Madara;David White

Entered Chart

Dec 28, 1963

Peak Date

Feb 1, 1964

Released

December 11, 1963

Recorded

September 21, 1963

Catalog #

Mercury 72206

B-Side

You Don't Own Me

Along with Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique (which was published shortly before this song's release), this song can be considered one of the many artistic works that helped begin the Women's Liberation Movement, despite the fact that the movement did not really take off until a decade later (Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" was released in 1971). "You Don't Own Me" is one of the very first in which a woman demands her independence from her man. This was Gore's last US Top 10 hit. It was written by the Philadelphia songwriters John Madara and David White, whose hits include "1-2-3" and "At The Hop." Madara said of the song in the Forgotten Hits newsletter: "Our original intent was to write a song with a woman telling a man off: 'Don't tell me what to do, don't tell me what to say.' Though we didn't realize it at the time that it would become a woman's anthem, it definitely was our intention to have a woman make a statement." This was written for a singer named Maureen Gray, but when Quincy Jones (who was Lesley Gore's producer) heard the song, he had the songwriters Madara and White play it for Gore. In the boxed set of her Mercury Records recordings, Gore explained: "I met John Madara and Dave White up at the Catskills (New York) hotel Grossinger's. I was up there doing a record hop, gratis, for a disc jockey by the name of Gene Kay at WAAB in Allentown. I was sitting at the pool on, I think it was Saturday - the day I was going to perform - and John and Dave came up to me with a guitar, took me into a cabana by the pool, and played me 'You Don't Own Me.' I told them they had to meet me in New York on Monday, to see Quincy and play him the song, and we were in the studio probably a week and a half later. It is much to Quincy's credit that he could see what was really involved in that song, because his edict, as far as I know, was to keep me in 'It's My Party' territory - keep it light, keep it frothy, keep it young. You can't hold back a 17-year-old woman... she has got to find a way to spread her wings - and this was a song that allowed me a little bit more freedom vocally. The beauty of that song is that the verses start in a minor key, and then, when you go into the chorus, it goes into the major, and there's such a sense of lift and exhilaration. After seeing how powerful that is, it became a method I've used on a number of occasions." Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, and Bette Midler sang this together in the 1996 film The First Wives Club. The song also appeared in the movies Dirty Dancing and Hairspray. >> Joan Jett released a popular version on her 1981 album Bad Reputation. Jett certainly had the credentials to record this rebellious anthem: She was part of the all-female punk rock group The Runaways before moving on to solo success. Other artists to record the song include The Blow Monkeys (who recorded the version used in Dirty Dancing), Percy Faith, Bette Midler, Dusty Springfield and Ann Wilson of Heart. "The idea of self possession has grown to be more universal," Wilson, who released her version in 2018, explained. "This song is about refusing to be objectified and owned. By anyone." The 17-year-old Australian singer Grace released a modern version of this song in 2015, shortly after the death of Lesley Gore. This version features rapper G-Eazy, who spits verses about how he likes this independent woman who "could never ever be a broke ho." Quincy Jones spearheaded this production, putting Grace together with the producer Parker Ighile; Jones and Ighile are both listed as producers on the track. This version was a huge hit in Australia, where it went to #1. It also made #4 in the UK and #95 in the US. This was used in a commercial for the 2017 Toyota Corolla, and also in a spot for the NFL promoting their line of women's teamwear. That one starred Alyssa Milano.

You don't own me
I'm not just one of your many toys
You don't own me
Don't say I can't go with other boys

And don't tell me what to do
Don't tell me what to say
And please, when I go out with you
Don't put me on display 'cause

You don't own me
Don't try to change me in any way
You don't own me
Don't tie me down 'cause I'd never stay

I don't tell you what to say
I don't tell you what to do
So just let me be myself
That's all I ask of you

I'm young and I love to be young
I'm free and I love to be free
To live my life the way I want
To say and do whatever I please

And don't tell me what to do
Oh, don't tell me what to say
And please, when I go out with you
Don't put me on display

I don't tell you what to say
Oh, don't tell you what to do
So just let me be myself
That's all I ask of you

I'm young and I love to be young
I'm free and I love to be free