InsideOut: Interview with Cyndi Lauper, True Colors

Cyndi Lauper helped define the 1980s, but unlike many people from that era, she remains an icon, making music, performing live, and making a statement. This, the second annual True Colors Tour, brings together performers from the B-52s’ Joan Jett to Rosie O’Donnell, and can be seen at Bethel Woods in Sullivan County in June. We were lucky enough to exchange e-mails with Lauper recently. We just wanted to have fun — and she didn’t disappoint.

InsideOut: Your first record company wrote songs for you, even though they knew you were a songwriter in your own right. And then “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” came along and you found the lyrics misogynistic, so you changed them. How did you get so bold, and why do you think you were able to get away with that?

Cyndi Lauper: They may have submitted songs to me, but that didn’t mean that I recorded them… LOL! I wouldn’t really consider it a bold move. I was up for collaboration, and on a rare occasion I did sing a few other people’s songs. I have always identified as a singer, songwriter and producer… not just an artist. I’ve been lucky enough over the years to be able to have creative freedom.

IO: After spending years singing in nightclubs, three doctors told you that you’d never sing again. If that had been true, what do you think you’d be doing now instead?

CL: I probably would have jumped into filmmaking. It’s something I’ve always been interested in. I have been producing short films, commercials and my own videos for years.

IO: You are about to kick off this year’s True Colors tour to get out the vote for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. Not everyone who has such high visibility uses her power for advocacy. What drives you?

CL: I would say personal experience. I have been involved with the LGBT community before I was even performing. As my career grew, so did my interaction with the community. The tour is a way to speak to the issues of the day regarding what is happening in this country with civil liberties and specifically, civil liberties for the gay community. Music and entertainment drive me. Entertainment can not only drive emotions, it can drive changes in our world, and that’s what the tour is.

IO: Tell us how the dulcimer changed your life.

CL: Of course I had to be different. I fell for an instrument that you don’t hear as much today in contemporary music. It’s a beautiful instrument. I feel connected when I play it, and I also like to sit for certain songs, so it gives me that ability.

IO: How about “Harold and Maude”?

CL: I love films. Yes, “Harold and Maude” is a fave. But there are so many. I love spaghetti westerns and Cocteau. I love to sit in bed and watch great classic “dame” films — Garbo and all of ‘em. “Harold and Maude” is one of the classics in 1970s American cinema, where studios lost touch and independent film makers grabbed the ring in response to what was happening in the country. I guess there is a parallel to that and my tour. But it’s a creative response through music, not film.

IO: How do you feel about the fact that you inspired so much ‘80s fashion — for instance, half-shaved heads and neon-pink bangles? How would you describe the difference between yourself and Madonna in that (or any!) regard?

CL: I think we both did justice to the ‘80s fashion. We both had the sense to know that we were outsiders in many ways. So speaking for myself, I always incorporated downtown edge with my own sense of iconic visuals. Some thought it was zany, some thought it was punk. It was a bit of everything.

IO: You grew up in Brooklyn and Queens. Did you ever make it up to the Hudson Valley as a kid?

CL: I was a neighborhood kid. I didn’t run too far from the block or the stoop until I got a bit older. I’ve certainly been through the Hudson Valley area as an adult.

IO: People who have achieved prominence early on have often gotten stuck with a particular image in the popular mind. What is that image for you, and how do you feel about it?

CL: I hope people have an image of me as a musician and artist first. I mean I know I conjure up images as a character. I was almost animated at one point. I was so colorful and I’m still colorful. I can be a bit left of center but that, I believe, that’s why I’ve had success. I’ve always run on my own track, and that resonates with the other left of center people out there.

IO: How do you explain the phenomenon of becoming a gay icon just like Judy Garland, Cher, or Bette Midler?

CL: Well, it’s always nice to hear that I am held in such amazing company. LOL! I think we all have one thing in common: We give our emotions through our talent as honestly and for real as we can. I don’t just get up and sing out of the side of my face. I really do try to connect with an audience to my music. In my opinion that’s what allows people to connect, and gay people have always connected to me, to my music, image and message. I connect and give as much back as possible. That’s why the tour is so important to me.