'An alternative perspective to Lesley Gore's 1963 song, 'It's My Party', told through the eyes of Lesley's supposed boyfriend; Johnny. What was Johnny really doing with Judy and why was she wearing his ring? Was it all a big misunderstanding?
Full Description:
This is my most recent creative piece that I’ve written for school. I really enjoyed writing this story and I think it is one of my best pieces. The task was ‘to re-imagine an event from a short text (song lyric or poem or short story), focusing on a different character’s perspective. The chosen character should be sufficiently underdeveloped to allow you to bring forward a new, original, and convincing perspective in
response to the original event.’ It took me quite a while to find a song that had a character that I wanted to create a narrative around, but I eventually thought of Lesley Gore’s 1963 song ‘It’s My Party’. The original song presents Lesley at her party, upset because “Nobody knows where [her] Johnny has gone / But Judy left the same time, / Why was he holding her hand”. Further conflict is introduced with the line “Judy and Johnny just walked through the door … Judy’s wearing his ring”. I took this tension and told the story through Johnny’s eyes using intertextuality, dialogue, and personification (Gore, 1963).
I thought it would be interesting to write a story that explains where Johnny went, why he was seen holding Judy’s hand and why Judy was wearing his ring. I started my story by developing the context that Lesley is “always overdramatising things” by including a fight between her and Johnny at her party. Through Johnny’s internal monologue, I demonstrate that what he said to Lesley about planning on dancing with her when she got back was true. However, her response shows she is very sensitive and tends to jump to conclusions, therefore establishing my story as a plausible perspective to the song. I’ve always loved this song and so I thought it would be really fascinating to create a possible pairing that brings more depth and development towards the story.
Bibliography: Gore, L., 1963, It's My Party, New York City, Mercury.
Photo Bibliography: US Record Shop - 1950s n.d., Photograph, Flickr, viewed 9 October 2022, https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/us-record-shop-1950s--383580093246195654/
