Nobody knows a broken heart like Cyndi Lauper

Don't paint Cyndi Lauper into a corner for her bright, poppy hits. For every Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, she has 10 hits like this one, The First Night Without You.

The tune, from 1989's A Night To Remember album, tells the story of coming home for the first night after a painful breakup. Sounds simple but the lyrics drip with agony, hopelessness and despair:

"I sit here like a fool
Remembering everything
The way we used to talk
The songs that we used to sing
I've got to try and leave
The past behind
But my memory's so good
I think that I'm losing my mind."

Read the rest of the lyrics if you dare. You'd have to be less than human not the feel the dagger sliding into your heart. 

Cyndi turns 56 years old today. She has a short tour of concert dates in the works for the summer. (I hope she makes to Florida this time around.) I wish I could give her a big, bear-hug for her birthday. I think we can both use it.

TOP 5 SADDEST CYNDI LAUPER SONGS:

5. I'LL BE YOUR RIVER: "Finding the right one is becoming a science. I'd like to scream but I ain't gonna be heard." [Video]

4. CHANGE OF HEART: "If it's truth that you're looking to find, it is nowhere outside of your mind."[Video]

3. I DROVE ALL NIGHT: "Nothing erases the feeling between me and you." [Video]

2. THE FIRST NIGHT WITHOUT YOU: "Will I be able to sleep? Will I lie in my bed and weep? What if I forget and reach for you? Will I dream about you?" [Video]

1. TIME AFTER TIME: "After my picture fades and darkness has turned to gray. Watching through windows, you're wondering if I'm okay. "[Video]

Comments

[Neil B ♪]

Yeah, Cyndi has more talent and artistic range than Madonna - but M is still very capable and especially at "her thing."

Well, it was sad to see Michael Jackson go. I posted the below at alt.fan.cyndi-lauper, alt.culture.us.1980s, and alt.music.michael-jackson.

May Michael Jackson find the peace that was so often elusive in this domain.
At his best, he was dy-know-might!
He and Cyndi became really big about the same time, in the fabled years 1982-84 (although Michael was already a big star before that.) They performed together in "We Are The World" in 1985.
Here is a tribute set to "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKn0ogygjqI

BTW, hardly anyone posts to NG alt.fan.cyndi-lauper anymore. Please support it by posting sometimes through OE, Google Groups, etc. tx

tyrannogenius

[TopofthePops]

Also- The World Is Stone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSarF77AgRA

[Agreed]

Don't forget Water's Edge-

I went to the water's edge, forgot I couldn't swim
I went to the water's edge, all ready to jump in
I saw the water shimmer
I heard the wind howl
I saw my own reflection
I just can't see it now

You say it's the way of the world
To somehow co-exists
That eventually life unfurls
A path to happiness

So I whisper your little secret
And repeat it under my breath
I'll save it for you in my heart
In case we both forget

Oh, I wish you could wrap yourself around me
I am gripped by a loneliness
Oh, I wish you could wrap yourself around me
I'd be released in your tenderness
I'd be released in your tenderness

I went to the water's edge and saw my life eclipse
I went to the water's edge and then felt myself slip
I dreamed that I was floating, just coast until I grew fins
I want to catch this tide back home and feel you again

Oh, I wish you could wrap yourself around me
I am gripped by a loneliness
Oh, I wish you could wrap yourself around me
I'd be released in your tenderness
Oh, I wish you could wrap yourself around me
I am gripped by a loneliness
Oh, I wish you could wrap yourself around me
I'd be released in your tenderness
I'd be released in your tenderness
I'd be released in your tenderness

--- even with the sad songs she still seems to reach toward what's best in us.

[allikat]

I remember back in the day - CL and Madonna hit it big about the same time. It remains one of life's great mysteries why Madge has become the superstar and CL did not reach those heights. CL has more talent and true originality in her left foot than Madge has in in her entire well- exposed body. There is no accounting for the taste of the public, I guess.

[GAGirl]

Love this podcast. Graduated in 87 so all this stuff is golden to me. I have been pimpin' this podcast to all the other 80s people in my life - which is about everyone. Keep it up. I have been working my way through the archives and have been laughing my you know what off. (Now that I have turned 40 I can use all the help in this area I can get! - NO JOKES PLEASE) Reminds me when my life was my own - no kids asking me for a ride or cash, no house to keep clean - damn I want to be a kid again!

[Suzy]

CHAD,

you're a >Feel-Good Cheerleader! It's the first full day of Summer for Cry Eye Bones !!! What's not to be happy about?

[Suzy]

CHAD,

you're a >Feel-Good Cheerleader! It's the first full day of Summer for Cry Eye Bones !!! What's not to be happy about?

[CHAD]

what's with all the sadness blogs lately? turn that frown upside down people. seriously, i've never been a down kinda person. i do get into funks sometimes, but i just pop in some happy tunes or a good comedy to get me out of them. who needs depressing music(that's why the 90s exist) or movies. i know life isn't rosey, hence why we need some uptempo stuff. just pop in the new chickenfoot cd and turn that frown upside down. oh by the way, steve, you and sean should try to get sammy for an interview. with his new band and 80s-ness, it'd be a good show, just saying.

[Spears]

I have nothing but love for CL. Just wish she'd sit down for a podcast interview with us.

[GlennS.]

Nice to see Cyndi get a little love in SIT'80s Land. I would add "Boy Blue" and "Sally's Pidgeons" which are both about friends of hers who died.