Poetry is an extension of universal truth. So song- lyrical poetry- also reflect this idea of truths. However through rigorous hours of not researching anything this ‘journalist’ has found out not all songs exemplify this integrity.

Imagine this. You are the chosen representative for your entire gender. You spend months writing lyrics that embody everything it means to be female. You perform this song for the world so women can unite and bask in the gender’s universal message of fun. Then a few Judas’s have the audacity to betray your entire gender and pursue careers. At first this came as a shock to Cyndi Lauper but despite popular belief girls want to do more than just have fun.

Women have been doing stuff for as long as we can remember. Their humble origins saw them gathering in hunter/gatherer tribes but since then they have expanded well beyond gathering. As a quick aside I’ve noticed women love to pick apples in the fall and I attribute it to this ancient instinct.

During WW2 Nancy Wave fought for the allies in an occupied France. When her husband was killed she continued the fight against the Nazis. After escaping to Spain she parachuted back into France to rejoin the battle where she achieved such feats as taking down the Gestapo HQ in Montlucon. I guess it depends who you ask but generally speaking having your husband executed does constitute a fun endeavor, Cyndi Lauper. Blowing up a Gestapo HQ though, I guess you have to find some enjoyment there.

Even Audrey Hepburn, one of the world’s greatest actresses found time to fight the Nazis as a spy. And while some may find raising a deer as a pet would be fun it’s actually a lot of responsibility and a lot of stress during hunting season.

Russian women got into the action as well. An all-female regiment of aviation bombers feared by Germany soldiers was dubbed the Night Witches. Which actually sounds really cool.

Joan of Arc received a vision from St Michael and was told to free France from British domination late in the Hundred Year War. Joan’s battle victories successfully led to Charles VII achieving final victory but also led to her capture and execution by the British. Most experts can agree burning at the stake is not an enjoyable time.

To be fair, Cyndi Lauper includes the lines:

When the working day is done

Oh, girls they just want to have

The main concern here though is the assumption that the working day is ever truly done. If Clara Barton worked only a 9 to 5 she probably wouldn’t have been able to start the Red Cross. If Marie Curie honored quittin time to have fun for the rest of the evening who knows if she would have developed her theory of radioactivity. Without her we wouldn’t even have the word radioactivity. Without Marie people wouldn’t be dying from radioactive poisoning but per some guy who focused on having fun they died of bad vibes.

Ada Lovelace, daughter of the super poet Lord Byron could have lived her life in a haze of fun but she veered from Cyndi’s mantra. Instead she was the first person to truly see the potential of machines to work beyond simple calculations and published the first algorithm becoming the world’s first computer programmer in the early 1800s. Actually, computers are pretty cool so I guess there’s a level of fun here.

Rosa Parks got an Outkast song wrote about her because she was simultaneously stubborn and brave enough to stand up for herself.

The greatest pirate of all time was Ching Shih, she commanded 40,000 pirates at once. Jack Sparrow had a single ship? Those are rookie numbers.

Okay you know what, look. We’re too far into this. I’m not re-writing the title or the intro but Cyndi was right, girls just want to have fun. Killing Nazis, throwing medieval Britain into disarray, revolutionizing your field of science, standing up for justice and pirating sounds a lot more fun than being told ‘you should smile more’ while at the bar. I guess women know how to gather some of the greatest careers in history.

Merriam Webster has multiple definitions of fun. One reads:

What provides amusement or joy

Another reads:

Violent or excited activity or argument

I think Cyndi knew this. Each of Cyndi’s 17 ‘fun’s in the song probably apply to different definitions. Such simple lyrics conveying such complexity. Her song was about the snapshot of women addressed in this article but so many other great figures as well. A level of poetry only greats like Sylvia Plath, Mary Shelley or Maya Angelou could fully unravel. What fun. Do I still find satisfaction in Regina George getting hit by a bus? Yes. But this 800 word journey has really made me feel like a part of the Ya Ya Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and we all just Got Stella Her Groove Back.