"I'm Gonna Be Strong" is a song written by the songwriting duo

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and was part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early ...

and

Cynthia Weil Cynthia Weil (October 18, 1940 – June 1, 2023) was an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Weil and Mann were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and in 2011, they jointly received the ...

. It was first recorded by

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

and released as a single on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. However, the song did not become a major hit until

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, when

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 h ...

released his version as a single. It was also a single released by the 1980 band Blue Angel, with lead vocals provided by future star

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

. This release was prior to Lauper's solo career; however, Lauper re-recorded the track and released it as a single in 1994. The song was also featured on 1982's '' Quiet Lies'' album by Grammy winner

Juice Newton Juice Newton (born Judith Kay Newton; February 18, 1952) is an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Newton has received five Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categorieswinning once in 198 ...

. Though Newton never released the song as a single, her remake was later added as a bonus track to her first ''Greatest Hits'' collection.

Gene Pitney version

This version was a top ten hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. The song is Pitney's biggest UK solo hit, with only his duet version of "

Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" is a song written by Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook. Originally recorded by Gene Pitney in 1967, the latter's version of the song reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1967, but failed to cha ...

" with

Marc Almond Peter Mark Almond (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop/ new wave duo Soft Cell. He has a distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He has had a diverse career as a ...

peaking higher.

Charts

Blue Angel version

It was also the most successful single released by the 1980 band Blue Angel from their only album, also called '' Blue Angel'' (1980). The vocals were provided by American singer-songwriter

. Like the album, the only country the single charted in was the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, where it reached #37 on the charts. The artwork and track listing for the single varied depending on the country of origin. An Italian promotional 7" vinyl single with the same catalogue number and track listing as the German version was released with alternate artwork. The original 1980 Dutch release was re-released with identical packaging in 1984 after Lauper's solo success.

Track listing

* 7" vinyl (Netherlands) # "I'm Gonna Be Strong" – 2:50 # "Just the Other Day" – 2:42 * 7" vinyl (Germany)/Italian promo 7" vinyl # "I'm Gonna Be Strong" – 2:50 # "Maybe He'll Know" – 3:54 * 7" vinyl (Australia and UK) # "I'm Gonna Be Strong" – 2:50 # "Anna Blue" – 3:57

Cyndi Lauper version

Lauper re-recorded the track as a solo artist for her first greatest hits album, '' Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some'' (1994). It was released as a single in the United Kingdom in January 1995 by

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

. It peaked at number 37 on the UK Singles chart. The single was not commercially released in the US. Its music video was directed by Lauper.

Critical reception

David Bauder from ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

'' praised the song "among her strongest vocal performances". A reviewer from ''

Cox News Service CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company prim ...

'' stated that Lauper "still owns one of the most wide-ranging and dynamic voices in

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

." Ian Tasker from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' wrote that the singer's voice is "arguably best displayed" on the single, describing it as "a highly emotional song of a relationship breaking down, it's unusual in as much as it doesn't really have a chorus – it just builds and builds, adding layer upon layer of pain and hurt as Lauper's majestic voice grows stronger and more insistent, higher and higher until it reaches a heartbreaking climax." In his weekly UK chart commentary,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

said, "This new single turns down the tempo and lets Cyndi's voice come to the fore with another of the overwrought

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

s she is so fond of." Paul Mathur from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' viewed it as "a paean to self confidence that doesn't even seem to want to get nearer than the foothills of the blinding, snow-capped

Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at its ...

that was " Time After Time"." A reviewer from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' deemed it "a dramatic ballad

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

bears Lauper's trademark roar but doesn't perhaps have the hit quality of her more successful work. Gerald Martinez from ''

New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as a local offshoot of Singapore-based ''The Straits Ti ...

'' called it a "

broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

style ballad", stating that "she's got a unique voice — too high pitched — with a vast range of dynamics, from a whisper to operatic crescendos. Just listen to her final note".

Music video

The accompanying music video for "I'm Gonna Be Strong" was directed by Lauper herself. It features a lonely Lauper walking around in an old house. She wears a red dress and her hair is curly and strong-yellow, almost orange. In the beginning, the singer stands by a wooden table, making a cup of tea while she sings. The windows are covered with blonde curtains. Other scenes show her glancing out of one window, sitting on a bed or looking at herself in a mirror. The video was later made available on Lauper's official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel in 2009, and had generated more than 2.5 million views as of January 2023.

Track listings

* Europe 2-track CD single # "I'm Gonna Be Strong" – 3:46 # "A Part Hate" – 4:54 * Europe CD maxi-single / Australian CD single # "I'm Gonna Be Strong" – 3:46 # "Broken Glass" – 3:52 # "Dear John" – 3:40 # "A Part Hate" – 4:54 * UK CD1 # "I'm Gonna Be Strong" – 3:46 # "Broken Glass" – 5:31 # "Dear John" – 3:37 * UK CD2 # "I'm Gonna Be Strong" – 3:46 # "A Part Hate" – 4:53 # "Product of Misery" – 4:08 * Japan CD single # "I'm Gonna Be Strong" – 3:50 # "Sally's Pigeons" – 3:46 # "Feels Like Christmas" – 4:36

Charts

Other versions

Jackie DeShannon Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers; August 21, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and radio broadcaster who has had many hit song credits beginning in the 1960s, as both a singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-son ...

covered the song on her 1965 album ''This is Jackie DeShannon''.

Del Shannon Charles Weedon Westover (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990), better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for his 1961 number-one ''Billboard'' hit " Runaway", which was covered la ...

covered this song on his 1965 album ''One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty One Seconds''.

Tim Rose Timothy Alan Patrick Rose (September 23, 1940 – September 24, 2002) (unofficial website by long-term correspondent of Rose's) was an American singer and songwriter who spent much of his life in London, England, and had more success in E ...

released the song as single with the B-side "I Got a Loneliness" (Columbia USA 4-43958, 19 Dec 1966) and on his selftitled album 1967.

included the song on her albums '' Quiet Lies'' (1982) and ''Greatest Hits'' (1984). Guitarist

Ronnie Montrose Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American musician and guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morri ...

created an instrumental version of this song on his ''

Territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

'' album (1986). Dutch singer

Glennis Grace Glenda Hulita Elisabeth Batta (born 19 June 1978), known professionally as Glennis Grace, is a Dutch singer. In 2005, she represented the Netherlands in the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, and in 2018 she appeared on the 13th seas ...

covered the song in 1994, peaking at 13 on the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

Buddy Miller Steven Paul "Buddy" Miller (born September 6, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in T ...

covered the song on his 1999 album ''Cruel Moon'', with

Joy Lynn White Joy Lynn White (born October 2, 1961) (also known as Joy White) is an American country music singer-songwriter. White was born in Bentonville, Arkansas but raised in Mishawaka, Indiana. Signed to Columbia Records in 1992, she released her debut al ...

on backing vocals.

References

External links

Official Cyndi Lauper website
{{Authority control 1963 singles 1964 singles 1980 singles 1995 singles Songs written by Barry Mann Frankie Laine songs Del Shannon songs Gene Pitney songs Blue Angel (band) songs Juice Newton songs Cyndi Lauper songs Columbia Records singles Musicor Records singles Polydor Records singles Epic Records singles Songs with lyrics by Cynthia Weil 1963 songs Song recordings produced by Roy Halee Pop ballads