You Don't Own Me

Lyrics

The song expresses a threatened emancipation, as the singer tells a lover that he does not own her, that he is not to tell her what to do or what to say, and that he is not to put her on display. The song's lyrics became an inspiration for younger women and are sometimes cited as a factor in second wave feminist movement. Gore said, "My take on the song was: I'm 17, what a wonderful thing, to stand up on a stage and shake your finger at people and sing you don't own me". In Gore's obituary, The New York Times referred to "You Don't Own Me" as "indelibly defiant".

Chart performance

The song reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song remained at number two for three consecutive weeks on 1 February 1964, unable to overcome the Beatles' hit, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and it became Gore's second most successful hit, next to "It's My Party". The song was Gore's last top-ten single.

Grace version

The song was covered by Australian singer and songwriter Grace and was released as her debut single. It features American rapper G-Eazy. Grace's version was produced by Quincy Jones, who also produced the original recording by Lesley Gore, and Parker Ighile. It was released on 17 March 2015 one month after Lesley Gore died, and peaked at number one on the ARIA Charts, later being certified 3× Platinum by the ARIA. The song was also a success in New Zealand, peaking at number five for two consecutive weeks, and in the United Kingdom, peaking at number four.

In an interview with House of Fraser, Grace said "[Quincy Jones] told me how the song came out during the feminist movement and how it was such a strong statement. I loved the song, started researching Lesley Gore and fell in love with her as an artist. [You Don't Own Me] really inspired me."

The song was released worldwide on 17 March 2015. It grew to prominence in the UK when it was used in the 2015 House of Fraser Christmas advert. It was also performed by The X Factor contestant Lauren Murray on 28 November 2015 and Matt Terry on 8 October 2016.. The increased exposure for the song helped it rise to a peak of number four on the UK Singles Chart. The song was featured in the third trailer for the 2016 film Suicide Squad and appeared on the film's soundtrack album.

The song was featured in the opening of Riverdale's eighth episode in March 2017.

A music video directed by Taylor Cohen was released on 1 June 2015.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other versions

The song has been covered by The Tremeloes, Dusty Springfield on her debut album, A Girl Called Dusty, cello rock group Rasputina on their album How We Quit the Forest, Elaine Paige on her album Love Can Do That, Joan Jett on her debut album Bad Reputation, The Blow Monkeys on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, Jack Killed Jill on their album Hello Neighbor, by Poliça on their Raw Exit EP, and by Quintron on The Unmasked Organ Light-Year of Inifinity Man.

At the time the song was originally released, versions were recorded in several other languages, both by Lesley Gore herself, and by other artists. The German version was "Goodbye Tony", recorded by Lesley Gore. The Italian version was "Va... Tu Sei Libero", recorded by Lesley Gore, Isabella Iannetti, and Dalida. The French version was "Je Ne Sais Plus", recorded by Lesley Gore, Dalida, and Jacqueline Boyer. An alternate French version, "Je Suis Libre", was performed by the Canadian singer Michèle Richard. It was also recorded in Swedish, as "Jag Vill Ha Dig" by Marianne Kock, and in Dutch, as "Ik Wil Vrij Zijn", by Liliane Saint-Pierre, as the B-side to her first hit record, "We Gotta Stop", as well as having been recorded in Japanese by Mieko Hirota.

André Hazes recorded a Dutch-language version of the song in 1981 for his album Gewoon André; "Zeg Maar Niets Meer" was popular in Europe, and reached number 2 in the Dutch charts in early 1982. In 1998, Eva Pilarová sung a Czech version under the name "Cesta končí" on the album Requiem.

German countertenor Klaus Nomi included the song on his self-titled debut album in English, emphasizing the song's original gender and, with a few minor lyric adjustments, gave the song a gay theme.

American rapper Eminem sampled this song for his song "Untitled" as a hidden bonus final track from his 2010 album, Recovery.

Selena Gomez covered the song during her 2015 Revival World tour.

The X Factor UK finalist Matt Terry performed the song on the first week of the show.

The American The Voice contestant Darby Walker performed it on Week 10 of season 11 of the show on November 21, 2016.

In culture

Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton covered the song in the movie The First Wives Club in 1996.

Klaus Nomi version, like most of Nomi's recordings, was fairly obscure in Nomi's lifetime, but it later gained exposure through posthumous airplay on The Rush Limbaugh Show as the theme to Limbaugh's "Gay Updates."

In 2012, American Horror Story used the song in a scene where a nun who was possessed by the devil danced around in red lingerie.

In 2012, Tavi Gevinson and Petra Collins, along with many other celebrities, starred in a music video lipsynching to the song. These videos were later made into a public service announcement (PSA) addressing Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign and his intentions regarding abortion and Planned Parenthood. The PSA was directed by musician Sarah Sophie Flicker of The Citizens Band and filmmaker Maximilla Lukacs, and produced by Rebecca Fernandez. Other celebrities in the video include Carrie Brownstein, Alexa Chung, Karen Elson, Zoe Kravitz, Natasha Lyonne, Tracee Ellis Ross, Lena Dunham, Sia, Becky Stark and Miranda July. The online video included spoken commentary by Gore.

Filipina singer Lani Misalucha covered the song as the theme song for the movie Etiquette for Mistresses in 2015.

It was also covered by Arielle Dombasle on the album French Kiss, released in 2015 with The Hillbilly Moon Explosion.

The song was featured in the 2016 film Suicide Squad, on Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie)'s debut scene.

The song was featured in a Toyota television ad campaign in the United States in 2016-2017.