Tokyo Rose

Rip It Up, Issue 147, 1 October 1989, Page 20

Tokyo Rose

Lyndi Lauper Abroad

Cyndi Lauper talks like Elmer Fudd’s sister and sings like a boid. ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ was, lyrically and musically, the blueprint for everything Stock Aitken Waterman have ever

done. Cyndi has made areally bad movie, Vibesand her new album, A Night to Rememberhas more polish than shine buthey, Cyndi likes wrestling and girdles and Paris and Tokyo, and let’s face it, those are the things that really count in life.

Ifyou ever ring Rip It Up and have the misfortune to be put on hold then you'll be treated to the worst “on hold” music in the world, a version of ‘Home On The Range’ that sounds like it's being played on a music box dying of emphysema. So it's curiously appropriate that when | ring up Tokyo to speak to Cyndi Lauper over

three thousand miles away the Tokyo hotellady puts me on hold and | listen totheir “on hold” tune — a version of ‘Home On The Range’ played on a music box dying of emphysema. Yup. The same version: Ding ding ding - da -ding. Room 1005 please. Ms Lauperis sounding allittle uptightwhen she answers the phone, her coolis alittle forced. This, she confesses, is because she is self conscious of her speaking voice, but after a few laughs the uptight Cyndi gives way to the lady who laughs kinda funny. Cyndiis in Japan on atour which will bring herto New Zealand very soon. The tour promotes her A Night To Remember album which lacks the spark of her previous two efforts but seems fo be earning her accolades and bucksinthe West atthe moment, probably because its MOR-rock

leanings fit easily into the current

trend of rocky power-pop alaßon Jovi, etc. The ups and downs of the music industry are all pretty obvious, sowe don'ttalk about it much. If you wantto find what the album scores outof 10then goread Qor something.

~How are thingsin Japan, Cyndi? “Good. | always feel quite at home Lo

Dothe Japanese thinkyou're a typical American woman? “No. Maybe but | don'tthink so.” I heard thatyou once appearedin some Japanese TV commercials.

“I|did some in 1988.llike the commercials over here and a lot of times they have nothing to do with the product— very abstract and surrealistic, | love that stuff. One | did, | was one of the statues on this pink,

primitive stage; | came alive and danced and sang. Thenin the other | was ateacher, teaching myself Japanese.” Youlast actedin Vibes— were you surprised when it flopped? “I knew what was coming! We got to the end of the script and never finished it. | did the best | could with what | did. There was a director’s strike, and things happening like that. Butlenjoyedit,itwasagreat experience. It opened up another doorfor me creative-wise — except I've always been conscious about my speaking voice. As | get excited my - voice goes up higher and | sound like alittle kid.”

Iliked your voice inthe film, | thought it sounded great. “Thankyou. But it was great to have aspeech coach saying, 'No nono—lower." Isyours a Brooklyn accente “No, Ithinkit's Queens. Yep. Evewybody in Qweens sorta sounds loike me ... well, not evewybody. Some are worse than me.” Did you grow up in Queens? “Yeah, inalittle town called Ozone Park. Appropriate, right2” Sounds like a nice place. “Yeah, alotta spaced out people there.” Where do you live now? “Sortof out of asuitcase. Really, it's awild experience but after a while you become accustomed to it and it feels odd to stayin just one place.” « Creatively, does travelling make it harder or easier? ' ~“"Um, it depends. If you make time foryourself, youcando creative things. But sometimes you can't.” Didyou perform as part of the French Revolution Bicentennial : party? “No, | couldnt come inthe end, so they cancelled it. (pause) | don't mean they cancelled Bastille Day ..." They'dsay: Cyndi Laupercan't come, the Bicentennial's off! : “Yeah!We can’tgo on! Nah, they justcancelledthe concert.”

Youwould have fitted in well with the parade. : ; “They had a parade?” Jean Paul Goude designed a parade that went down the Champs Elysees— a steam train, women with fifty-foot ball-gowns, African dancers

“Oh my God. Well, see, I missed that.lshoulda gone. They have some greatthingsin Paris. Tokyois also a wonder city. There's a new litfle area I kinda like, i's sorta what Soho in New York used to be. And there's - other place that has really good restaurants— ithasthisgreat

yakatori restaurant. Yeah. | like those blue collar places.” . Are you a professional shopper AoOwWe " ;

“lused to be. Butl don'thave time foritnow. Ha. That really seems like a sadthing to say. Butshopping becomes more difficult: you have to getinand get out quick, wear a hat and glasses. You have to go off hours - Youwouldn't exactly blend in with

the Japanes locale, would you? “No.Notreally (giggles). No, the blonde hair thing is definitely a stand-out point here.” Ihearit's very popular with the menin Japan. : “Men? With blonde hair?” No, no: men like women with blonde hair. “Ohhh.ldon'tknow. That's what everyone says but, | dunno. There are some really gorgeous Asian women here. They don't ever seem to age. Beautiful. Butblonde women .. |have to stop and think about that. | have a black spot on my head too, yknow." - Like on the cover of the album. “Isn’tthat amazing? It's been this - way for a long time now! A long time forthese two hair colours, right? | just couldn’t make up my mind, blonde or black, blonde or black, aww, I'll do both.” You're settling into one groove now. : “Yeah, one groove, two colours.” What'sitlike being so famous that you can’tgo into a store without being hassled? “They don't really hassle you, they're just enthusiastic and appreciative. But | don'tthink of it like that.l usually gointo a store, look around, say | wantthat, that and that, getitand go. lt's a wild way to shop buty'know, when you shop you gotta throw down big and do itfast. You think about it later.” That sounds like a good approach to recording an album. “Idon’tthink like thatwhenl'm making a record. | just write and see whatdevelops.” Yournew album, ANightTo Rememberseems a lot more plannedthan the other two. “I really didn’tknow what | had with this one until | putittogether, until | sequenced it. | wentto Russig, came back withtwo songs, and they gave me the idea for the fitle ..." What'dyou get out of your songwriting trip to Russia? “What did | get out of ite” , Youknow, personally. | don't mean cash or anything. “Cash2 Oh, you don'thave to worry aboutthat. | won'tbe making - any cash from thatexcursion. (laughs) Itwas just out of love.” ; Were you going there to get away fromyourimage and fame? “Yeah, going back to being a writerand an artistand notthis famous person who gets fold by people, "YOU KNOW HOW | SEE YOU—22"Whenyoubecome - popular orfamous there's always somebody saying “WELL YOU SHOULD DO THIS". But the reason you became popularin the first place is that you were being yourself.” Merchandising inthe States is big business now. Look at Batman.

“Yeah, | didn'teven go and see it because of that. | like the Prince song though. | think Prince is brilliant. He's quite a special arfist. He hasn'tbeen round the States for a while, he's been round Europe and Paris instead. I'm kind of a fan of his. | heard so many strange stories about

himthatl've alwaysbeen - apprehensive about his music.” I think he's probably pretty straight up. “Yeah, probably. You know, you can'tbelieve everything you read, right? You should know that.” Yeah, I'm the one who has to think all that stuff up. - “I know. And you also have an editor who edits your work.” Not here. | edit my own stuff. “That's good. (laugh) Tell ‘em how you REALLY feel.” Yourdebut albumimpressed a lot of people because you really could Spgo e “Yeah. You wind up doing a lot of things butreally, Ising. Singingis whatl really do. | like making videos too, | like the live videos. Each thing | do, llearn.” : Youwere really good as a Chinese girlinthe ‘Hole In My Heart' video. “Thatwas hilarious. We laughed so hardon that. We were in hysterics. There's a version of that where they overdubbed my voice in Chinese.” Video seems like the perfect medium for a natural extrovert. “An extrovert? Yeah, | guess I'm notshy am [2 No. | don't come offasa very shy person? Underneath this | ama veryshy person. Digdown - deep—veryshy! (laugh)” Youstillinto wrestling2 “Not any more. Thatwasin 1985. You guys looked at me cross-eyed when | talked about it down there.” What, atthe press conference? “lwasin Australia. Oh sorry, wrong country. I've never been fo New Zealand. I'm kinda excited about going there.” The album's doing well here —it sounds very professional. “| guess that's a compliment. There'sbeen people in other places who've said YKNOWIT'S SO DIFFERENT! (laughs) Whatever. | worked really hard oniit. It's good that it sounds professional, you know, because ifthere’s one thing that | yam, it's professional. (giggle)” I heard that Japanese audiences are very attentive and polite. “They scream a lot, you know: (high voice) “Siiiiiindiil” They're

sweet. Last night| went outto goin the car and like a whole bunch of 30 kids rushed me, and the police gotin the way. With a crowd like that if you don'trun orfreak, you can calm people down. The cops made these kidsline upin aline, along line, and | was at the front signing autographs. | mean itwas easier to get the autographs done that way, but, God

- What'sit like singing to people in Japang 7

“| speak a mix of pidgin Japanese and English. The other night Isang them this old Japanese song I'd learntyears ago, alove song, an old Peggy Marchtune. I looked atthe band and said, I'lljust do this one A/ Capella[sic], guys. There | was, no shame. Il be weird in New Zealand, singing to people who speak English. Iwon'tknow whattosay.”

CHADTAYLOR