Musical Monday - It's My Party by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: October 17, 1981 through November 7, 1981.

This is an electronica remake of Leslie Gore's 1963 hit, and it is weird. Not only is the music changed to electronic pop, through most of the song the beat is at a languid pace, giving the tune a kind of surreal sounding feel. Just when you think you've adjusted to the changed tempo of the music, it suddenly accelerates again in a somewhat disorienting manner. The oddness is compounded by the fact that Gaskin's voice is not nearly as strong as Gore's was, so if you've heard the original, you probably end up mentally comparing the two, and the comparison does Gaskin no favors. I can't say this is a good cover version of the song, but it isn't really terrible either. It is just strange, and to a certain extent, unnecessary.

For some reason this song stayed at the top of the U.K. chart for four weeks. Granted, it only had the tepid competition of Adam and the Ants' song Prince Charming to beat out to reach that spot, but the fact that this song was ascendant for a month is somewhat puzzling. The lyrics aren't particularly interesting, and the cover version isn't really a particularly danceable song. The arrangement is mildly interesting, but not overly so. There's just not much here that stands out as being really good about this version of It's My Party, so I can only surmise that it just served to fill up space until something better came along.

Previous Musical Monday: Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants

Subsequent Musical Monday: Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) by Christopher Cross

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by the Police

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

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