"I Drove All Night" by Cyndi Lauper

I was so determined to find a video to include with this post, I spent more time searching YouTube for one than I did in actually writing the post; between the greedies who refuse to allow embedding (BOO!) and the super-greedies at the record label whose antiquated business models refuse to allow some provision for fair use (double BOO! with raspberries on top!!) some days it's all a poor blogger like me can do to bring enlightertainment to the masses.

And yet, somehow, I persevere... Now you might ask 'Why bother?', which is a comment I've received a few times; come to think of it, it's not usually been an expression of support... A n y w a y, the long and short answer is that Cyndi Lauper - born on this day in 1953 - is one of our favourite people here at the Pop Culture Institute and has been ever since bursting onto the music scene in 1983; this truly great lady of American pop has long been and remains a force for great good, valiantly defying misogyny and homophobia wherever she goes, and I will always back her up to the hilt because of it.

I Drove All Night first appeared on Lauper's 1989 album A Night To Remember; because there's some nudity in the video, it created some controversy You Know Where, where people obviously shower in the dark with their clothes on due to all the shaming and where body dysmorphia could be an Olympic event*. I actually like the song so much a subsequent cover version of it by Quebecois caterwauler Celine Dion remains among the only songs of hers I can listen to without mysteriously acquiring a mouthful of vomit at some point during the process.

*Sorry, but it only hurts because it's true.
*

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