CYNDI LAUPER - YOU DON'T KNOW

YOU DON’T KNOW

CYNDI LAUPER

SONGWRITERS: Cyndi Lauper & Jan Pulsford

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: SISTERS OF AVALON

LABEL: EPIC RECORDS

GENRE: SOUL

YEAR: 1996

 

       Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton(born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album She's So Unusual(1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achieve four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100—"Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", and "All Through the Night"—and earned Lauper the Best New Artist award at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards in 1985. Her success continued with the soundtrack for the motion picture The Goonies(1985) and her second record True Colors(1986). This album included the number-one single "True Colors" and "Change of Heart", which peaked at number three. In 1989, she had a hit with "I Drove All Night".

      Since 1983, Lauper has released eleven studio albums and participated in many other projects. In 2010, Memphis Blues became Billboard's most successful blues album of the year, remaining at number one on the Billboard Blues Albums chart for 13 consecutive weeks. In 2013, she won the Tony Award for best original score for composing the Broadway musical Kinky Boots, making her the first woman to win the category by herself. The musical was awarded five other Tonys including Tony Award for Best New Musical. In 2014, Lauper was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for the cast recording. In 2016, the West End production won Best New Musical at the Olivier Awards.

    Lauper has sold over 50 million records worldwide. She has won awards at the Grammys, Emmys, Tonys, the New York's Outer Critics Circle, MTV Video Music Awards(VMAs), Billboard Awards, and American Music Awards(AMAs). An inductee into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lauper is one of the few singers to win three of the four major American entertainment awards (EGOT). She won the inaugural Best Female Video prize at the 1984 VMAs for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". This music video is recognized by MTV, VH1 and Rolling Stone as one of the greatest music videos of the era. She is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Women Who Rock exhibit. Her debut album is included in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, while "Time After Time" is included in VH1's list of the 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 years. VH1 has ranked Lauper Nº 58 of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll.

      Sisters of Avalon is the fifth studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper. It was released in Japan on October 15, 1996 and worldwide on April 1, 1997, by Sony Music Entertainment. Thematically the album expounded on the issue of complacency and ignorance in popular culture and the discrimination of minorities, gays, and women. Songs like "Love to Hate" and "You Don't Know" address the entertainment industry and media and their corruption. "Ballad of Cleo and Joe" is a song about the double life of a cross dresser. "Say a Prayer" is about the AIDS epidemic.

         The album was heavily praised by multiple music critics due to Lauper's creative growth and eclectic themes. However, the album's release was delayed and sold only 56,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Since its release, the album has been met with continued praise including the Songwriters' Hall of Fame noting the title track as one of Lauper's key songs in her catalog.

You don't know where you belong

You should be more careful

As you follow blindly along

You just need to belong somehow

 

Relying on rhetoric

Not well versed on topics

Any idea what you're talking about?

Revisions of history

Fair well in some company

But don't shove that bullshit down my throat

 

You don't know where you belong

You should be more careful

As you follow blindly along

To find something to swear to

Till you don't know what's right from wrong

You just need to belong somehow

 

Left suppresses right

Right suppresses left

So what's the left, and what's right?

You're told what to wear

You're told what to like

I'd be nice if you'd think for yourself sometime

But you don't

 

Now you don't know where you belong

You should be more careful

As you follow blindly along

To find something to swear to

Till you don't know what's right from wrong

You just need to belong somehow

You just need to belong somehow

 

Mix sheer hypocrisy with mediocrity

You'll play it safe every time

So life turns up empty

And you're so dissatisfied

Who are you blaming blaming this time this time?

Don't you know?

 

Now you don't know where you belong

You should be more careful

As you follow blindly along

To find something to swear to

Till you don't know what's right from wrong

You just need to belong somehow

You just need to belong somehow

 

You don't, you don't know where

You don't know where you belong

You don't know where you belong

You don't know where you belong.