The cover of Lesley Gore’s 2005 album, Ever Since.
There was sad news today: Lesley Gore, who grew up in Tenafly and attended Dwight School for Girls in Englewood, died at the age of 68, of lung cancer.
The obituaries will focus on her ’60s hits such as “It’s My Party,” “Judy’s Turn to Cry” and “You Don’t Own Me,” and rightly so. (I featured the still stirring anthem “You Don’t Own Me” as the third entry in the 350 Jersey Songs series). But at this moment, I’d like to focus on a far more recent and far less well known song: “Someday,” from her 2005 album, Ever Since.
The album was her first collection of new material in 30 years, and she released it on a small, independent label, Engine Company Records. Three songs on it were written by the relatively young singer-songwriter Mike Errico, and I’m particularly fond of one of them: “Someday,” a slow-burning anthem that echoes the defiant, self-aware, determined streak in Gore’s ’60s pop.
“I am going past all of my own mistakes/A thousand more I’ve yet to make/But I am going,” Gore sings, in a sure and steady tone, before concluding, “I know myself and I am not afraid/And someday, I’ll get there.”
Good words for Gore’s fans to remember her by, and for anybody to live by.
New Jersey celebrated its 350th birthday in 2014. And in the 350 Jersey Songs series, we marked the occasion by posting 350 songs — one a day, from September 2014 to September 2015 — that have something to do with the state, its musical history, or both. To see the entire list, click here.
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