This song and music video debuted in 1985, to promote Eurythmics’ album, “Be Yourself Tonight”, as the duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart were taking some badly-needed time off after spending three years on the road on tours. I always got the impression that the music video was intended more for an international audience, to promote the Western idea of feminism in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa.
There wasn't any protest that I remember with this in the 80s, the PMRC led my Al, and Tipper Gore was too bust attacking what they called the Dirty 15. AC/DC, Madonna, Motley Crue, Mary Jane Girls, Judas Priest, Prince, W.A.S.P., Mercyful Fate, Vanity, Def Leppard, Cyndi Lauper and Twisted Sister. Who they felt were the artist that had the most dangerous lyrics in music. Like have never heard the lyrics from the middle ages?
Eurythmics’ most active time period was between 1980 to 1990. After 34 years or so, it is very easy for the younger generation of people to not know who Eurythmics were, or their body of music and music video work. Eurythmics is the duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. Lennox is the lead singer and lyrics songwriter, and plays synthesizer and piano. Dave Stewart is the lead guitarist and music writer and frequent record producer, and also programs the drum machine when in use. Eurythmics would later hire musicians and backup singers when they could afford to do so, and also hire backup singers and musicians to play musical instruments while on tour. While on tour, Annie Lennox would focus on singing songs, while Dave Stewart would play lead guitar on various songs (it was normal for Stewart to change guitars from song to song while on tour). When people post Eurythmics’ music videos or concert performances or TV performances, they would post either Annie Lennox’ name only, or post both Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart in the video description. Both of their names should be listed, but sometimes only Lennox is listed because either they do not know who Dave Stewart is, or the poster was too lazy to find out who Annie Lennox’ musical partner is.
While this song came out years earlier, it was used in the movie Yhe First Wive’s Club - definitely worth a watch!! Stars Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Stockard Channing, Victor Garber, and more.
I liked this song when it was first released and though I have not heard it in years, it still sounds great. I honestly do not recall anything negative said about this song at the time of its release nor any mention that it was controversial. And yes, the male Annie morphed into Dave Stewart, the other member of the Eurythmics.
You need to watch Aretha in 1970, she's beautiful and sings beyond belief! Search: "Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer: her very best performance!" Takes you right there, great picture quality and sound, looks like it could have been shot today.
Not only non-controversial, it was HUGE that summer/fall (1985). The Eurhythmics (Dave Stewart & Annie Lennox) were enormously popular and Aretha was already the legendary "Queen of Soul", in the middle of a major comeback. And the song is a catchy, danceable power anthem, there was no way this wasn't gonna be fire.
i remember when this song came out,i was a teen.don't think any men were bothered by it. this came out before the spice girls and girl power was a thing. takes more than that for gen x to get upset. the eurythmics are annie lennox and dave stewart.yes that was dave
Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox were The Eurythmics. Then Annie Lennox went solo. Phenomenal. Dave Stewart has had a very succesful career as a producer.
I was lucky enough to see Annie Lennox on solo tour after her Diva album came out. It was amazing how she managed to dance and belt in the DC-area summer heat - great show! I love a lot of the Eurythmics catalog - Here Comes the Rain Again is probably my favorite. ETA -- Annie's fashionable androgynous generf*** look was very typical of her. There's a great video out there of her and David Bowie doing a tribute to Freddie Mercury - they performed Under Pressure.
Love Annie. Great choice of song. Btw your British accent is pretty good. We have loads of accents over here. My step brothers live 6 miles away and their accent is different from mine.
Great choice and awesome song! While there really wasn't any "protest" movement during this time (1985), it's also true that (from my "caveman" male point of view) we were still collectively living quite a bit in those traditional 1950s gender roles - Check out sitcoms, shows, and movies from that time and you'll often see mom making meals in the kitchen while dad goes off to work. Pay was rarely if ever equal, and there wasn't much female political representation. That was just "how it was" and was only starting to turn around - this song's just encouraging that turning point :).. Oh yeah - and ARETHA! Keep up the great vids - love your reactions!!!
Annie and Dave traveled to Detroit to record this with Aretha. While there, Aretha had them over to her house and cooked up a mess of soul food for the two of them. Can you imagine? Dave Stewart has said it was one of the most memorable meals he ever had.
There wasn't much controversy in music back then. We had songs about sex, masturbation, incest , famine, war, child abuse and multiple other subjects and no one made a big deal out of them, as long as the music was good. There was no social media for people to look for some invented outrage.
Likely the reason there was little controversy is, unlike some songs, the lyrics had nothing bad to say about men, no blame was laid, no insults hurled, it was pure positivity toward women. Not sure a song could be made today with only positive things to say.
Annie and Aretha are both powerful women, and not just vocally. You haven't seen young aretha? You need to dive down the Blues Brothers rabbit hole. Young Aretha, young-ish Ray Charles, CAB CALLOWAY, and all performing around a story of two white ex-cons on a Mission from God.
One of my all-time favorite movies; phenomenal soundtrack, great cast of notable character actors as well as legendary musicians…and, yes, Aretha and Ray were fire!
Aretha Franklin - Don't Play That Song (LIVE) on an English variety show. Here is Aretha at 28 with a great performance. People forget that Aretha killed on the piano on most of her early recordings
I don’t remember this song being controversial in any way. Kind of amazing where we are now with graduation speakers confidently telling women they should be excited to be in the kitchen. Even in the 80s a speech like that would have been loudly booed and laughed at. But here we are 40 years later.
Don't be apologizing, sister, for saying the word 'feminism' 😉 As a middle aged mother of both a girl and a boy I'm a staunch feminist and in my defenition it simply means to advocate for the SAME rights for men and women! Great reaction and I am in awe with Annie Lennox as well!
The Eurythmics originally went by just "The Eurythmics" when they started. The band was Annie Lennox & Dave Stewart (guitar guy) plus whatever session/tour musicians they needed. Then they broke up for a while and Annie went on to have a successful solo career, while Dave became a well-respected record producer, which meant he was more in the background. When they started playing together again, I guess they billed themselves as "The Eurythmics + Annie Lennox" to capitalize on both audiences: the one that had grown up listening to the band and the one that had latched onto Annie's solo career. No, the song wasn't controversial: by the mid '80s feminism had long been in full blast. Eurythmics recommendations: Sweet Dreams (their breakout hit), Who's That Girl (original version), Love Is A Stranger Annie Lennox recommendations: Cold, Walking On Broken Glass, No More I Love You's
This is good, but you should really hear Annie do a duet with Reverend Al Green on "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" (theme song from Scrooged) and her live duet with David Bowie where she stands in for Queen's dearly departed Freddie Mercury on "Under Pressure".
Women's liberation movement in the 60s and 70s started to gain more legislation to start towards equality, although it is still a long ways from it. This was 1985, so there was a lot of pushback, especially in hiring and, of course, wages. So you can see how this song is like an independence anthem. I marched with my sisters when our union fought for pay equity settlement in the Canadian Federal Government the March started in 1983 and we won it in 1999. But it only covered the federal workers. Any ways the song brought back the memories .
This song was not necessarily controversial, but it was political. Not only were sisters doin' it for themselves, but we had won control over our reproductive rights and that was probably the biggest thing that liberated us from dependence on men. We never in a million years thought we'd have to fight that fight again, but no we do.
It's just "Eurythmics", consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. However, nowadays for some reasons unknown, they are often credited as "Eurythmics, Annie Lennox & Dave Stewart". This song is from autumn 1985 and I remember it filled the gay dancefloors here in East Berlin back then. Knowing all of the Eurythmics now, I think they did much better songs than this anthem. My favourite Aretha Franklin song is the one that followed this - "Who's Zoomin' Who" from winter 1985/86 ❤
Britt: before you metamorphosise into Annie Lennox (speaking about how she looks) make sure you can handle the costumes Annie used on her "Diva" album (1992) 😄 To see how good the younger Aretha was, here she is in 1970 singing the Ben E. King song "Don't Play That Song" live th-cam.com/video/EtTn5aLXZZg/w-d-xo.html Powerful!
If you NEVER read anything else I comment… Please please please react to Aretha’s deepcut 80s bops! Her covers of The Doobie Brothers “What A Fool Believes” as well as The Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” as well as her Luther Vandross produced “Jump To It” and “It’s Just Your Love”. Hell, throw in “Get It Right” for good measure!
Don’t know where you got the idea that this was a protest song ,.. nope !!! It was just a great song by 2 fantastic female singers … don’t over think things ….back then we just enjoyed the music !!! No one boycotted this song !!! lol
Men never protested these worn out feminist issues....they were too busy repairing roads, building bridges, constructing homes and skyscrapers, fishing in the ocean, and fighting endless government's stupid wars. By the time this song came out, men have already spent decades being bombarded over and and over by this tired old repetitive feminist message so much that it has no affect .... at all. It's just an annoyance. The major talent here is gigantic! but it's too bad it's spent on a message that is so played out and stale.
![Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves [Ft. Aretha Franklin] (Official Video)](/img/n.gif)
Forgot just how good Annie and Aretha sound together, their voices are very similar. Great old song.
Lucy Lawless from Xena, Warrior Princess sang this song in the episode Lyre, Lyre Hearts On Fire.
This song and music video debuted in 1985, to promote Eurythmics’ album, “Be Yourself Tonight”, as the duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart were taking some badly-needed time off after spending three years on the road on tours.
I always got the impression that the music video was intended more for an international audience, to promote the Western idea of feminism in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Truly one of THE best duets ever.....
There wasn't any protest that I remember with this in the 80s, the PMRC led my Al, and Tipper Gore was too bust attacking what they called the Dirty 15. AC/DC, Madonna, Motley Crue, Mary Jane Girls, Judas Priest, Prince, W.A.S.P., Mercyful Fate, Vanity, Def Leppard, Cyndi Lauper and Twisted Sister. Who they felt were the artist that had the most dangerous lyrics in music. Like have never heard the lyrics from the middle ages?
Britt speaking Britt made my day😆
It was only Eurythmics and then she went solo as Annie Lennox. Her first album "Diva" is top tier, no skips.
Love Annie
Eurythmics’ most active time period was between 1980 to 1990. After 34 years or so, it is very easy for the younger generation of people to not know who Eurythmics were, or their body of music and music video work.
Eurythmics is the duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. Lennox is the lead singer and lyrics songwriter, and plays synthesizer and piano. Dave Stewart is the lead guitarist and music writer and frequent record producer, and also programs the drum machine when in use. Eurythmics would later hire musicians and backup singers when they could afford to do so, and also hire backup singers and musicians to play musical instruments while on tour. While on tour, Annie Lennox would focus on singing songs, while Dave Stewart would play lead guitar on various songs (it was normal for Stewart to change guitars from song to song while on tour).
When people post Eurythmics’ music videos or concert performances or TV performances, they would post either Annie Lennox’ name only, or post both Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart in the video description. Both of their names should be listed, but sometimes only Lennox is listed because either they do not know who Dave Stewart is, or the poster was too lazy to find out who Annie Lennox’ musical partner is.
While this song came out years earlier, it was used in the movie Yhe First Wive’s Club - definitely worth a watch!! Stars Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Stockard Channing, Victor Garber, and more.
Annie with Aretha you just can't go wrong there
Both Ladies have powerful voices, Great song
"sisters are doing it for themselves!"
yes all my WOMEN!!!! X. X. (Aretha BROUGHT it)
I liked this song when it was first released and though I have not heard it in years, it still sounds great. I honestly do not recall anything negative said about this song at the time of its release nor any mention that it was controversial. And yes, the male Annie morphed into Dave Stewart, the other member of the Eurythmics.
Best blend of voices ever
You need to watch Aretha in 1970, she's beautiful and sings beyond belief! Search: "Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer: her very best performance!" Takes you right there, great picture quality and sound, looks like it could have been shot today.
Back then 'men' didn't get tweaked by stuff like that.
Back when women didn’t expect more than equality
Probably because feminists weren’t as extreme or misandristic back then.
Oh no. Men were real mad about this. Ya'll have a interesting idea of what folks were like in the 80s....
Not only non-controversial, it was HUGE that summer/fall (1985). The Eurhythmics (Dave Stewart & Annie Lennox) were enormously popular and Aretha was already the legendary "Queen of Soul", in the middle of a major comeback. And the song is a catchy, danceable power anthem, there was no way this wasn't gonna be fire.
i remember when this song came out,i was a teen.don't think any men were bothered by it.
this came out before the spice girls and girl power was a thing.
takes more than that for gen x to get upset.
the eurythmics are annie lennox and dave stewart.yes that was dave
The first time I heard this song was from the movie The First Wives Club.
Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox were The Eurythmics. Then Annie Lennox went solo. Phenomenal.
Dave Stewart has had a very succesful career as a producer.
She had the talent voice, he was the musically talented one, and they both wrote the lyrics, it’s like Queen they worked together
Aretha was very young in the Blues Brothers. Fantastic movie.
I was lucky enough to see Annie Lennox on solo tour after her Diva album came out. It was amazing how she managed to dance and belt in the DC-area summer heat - great show! I love a lot of the Eurythmics catalog - Here Comes the Rain Again is probably my favorite. ETA -- Annie's fashionable androgynous generf*** look was very typical of her. There's a great video out there of her and David Bowie doing a tribute to Freddie Mercury - they performed Under Pressure.
Love Annie. Great choice of song. Btw your British accent is pretty good. We have loads of accents over here. My step brothers live 6 miles away and their accent is different from mine.
Great job as usual, Britt!! Your next reaction by The Eurythmics should be "There Must Be An Angel" or "It's Alright". Or maybe do both!!
Great choice and awesome song! While there really wasn't any "protest" movement during this time (1985), it's also true that (from my "caveman" male point of view) we were still collectively living quite a bit in those traditional 1950s gender roles - Check out sitcoms, shows, and movies from that time and you'll often see mom making meals in the kitchen while dad goes off to work. Pay was rarely if ever equal, and there wasn't much female political representation. That was just "how it was" and was only starting to turn around - this song's just encouraging that turning point :).. Oh yeah - and ARETHA!
Keep up the great vids - love your reactions!!!
Annie and Dave traveled to Detroit to record this with Aretha. While there, Aretha had them over to her house and cooked up a mess of soul food for the two of them. Can you imagine? Dave Stewart has said it was one of the most memorable meals he ever had.
There wasn't much controversy in music back then. We had songs about sex, masturbation, incest , famine, war, child abuse and multiple other subjects and no one made a big deal out of them, as long as the music was good. There was no social media for people to look for some invented outrage.
Likely the reason there was little controversy is, unlike some songs, the lyrics had nothing bad to say about men, no blame was laid, no insults hurled, it was pure positivity toward women. Not sure a song could be made today with only positive things to say.
Annie and Aretha are both powerful women, and not just vocally. You haven't seen young aretha? You need to dive down the Blues Brothers rabbit hole. Young Aretha, young-ish Ray Charles, CAB CALLOWAY, and all performing around a story of two white ex-cons on a Mission from God.
One of my all-time favorite movies; phenomenal soundtrack, great cast of notable character actors as well as legendary musicians…and, yes, Aretha and Ray were fire!
Absolutely beyond awesome 🔥🔥🔥
Thank you 🙌
Aretha sings " THINK " to her husband
in the Movie " The Blues Brothers "
The " Blues Brothers 2000 " she sings " Respect. "
Both clips are on UTube.
Aretha Franklin - Don't Play That Song (LIVE) on an English variety show. Here is Aretha at 28 with a great performance. People forget that Aretha killed on the piano on most of her early recordings
You need to react to Aretha’s Freeway of Love then.
P.S. It sparked dancing
Among my favorites by each of these artists that you *rarely* hear: Eurythmics “Right By Your Side” and Aretha “Another Night”.
Never “The”, just Eurythmics. 🙂🙂🙂
I don’t remember this song being controversial in any way. Kind of amazing where we are now with graduation speakers confidently telling women they should be excited to be in the kitchen. Even in the 80s a speech like that would have been loudly booed and laughed at. But here we are 40 years later.
Don't be apologizing, sister, for saying the word 'feminism' 😉 As a middle aged mother of both a girl and a boy I'm a staunch feminist and in my defenition it simply means to advocate for the SAME rights for men and women! Great reaction and I am in awe with Annie Lennox as well!
Unfortunately, most “feminists” today are really just a bunch of bitter, entitled, misandrists.
The Eurythmics originally went by just "The Eurythmics" when they started. The band was Annie Lennox & Dave Stewart (guitar guy) plus whatever session/tour musicians they needed. Then they broke up for a while and Annie went on to have a successful solo career, while Dave became a well-respected record producer, which meant he was more in the background. When they started playing together again, I guess they billed themselves as "The Eurythmics + Annie Lennox" to capitalize on both audiences: the one that had grown up listening to the band and the one that had latched onto Annie's solo career.
No, the song wasn't controversial: by the mid '80s feminism had long been in full blast.
Eurythmics recommendations: Sweet Dreams (their breakout hit), Who's That Girl (original version), Love Is A Stranger
Annie Lennox recommendations: Cold, Walking On Broken Glass, No More I Love You's
It's just "Eurythmics" without the definite article. However, I fully agree with your recommendations 😊
They were only ever Eurythmics and they were never Eurythmics and Annie Lennox - that never happened.
They have always just been Eurythmics (no The) - Dave and Annie ARE Eurythmics
Yeassssssss queeeens
This is good, but you should really hear Annie do a duet with Reverend Al Green on "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" (theme song from Scrooged) and her live duet with David Bowie where she stands in for Queen's dearly departed Freddie Mercury on "Under Pressure".
The Eurthymics are a duo with a backing band. The duo are Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart.She handles the vocals and he plays guitar.
They only had a backing band when singing live and musicians changed
Women's liberation movement in the 60s and 70s started to gain more legislation to start towards equality, although it is still a long ways from it. This was 1985, so there was a lot of pushback, especially in hiring and, of course, wages. So you can see how this song is like an independence anthem. I marched with my sisters when our union fought for pay equity settlement in the Canadian Federal Government the March started in 1983 and we won it in 1999. But it only covered the federal workers. Any ways the song brought back the memories .
Wow, this is well into Aretha’s career, her many iconic hits were decades before this, a lot for you to dive into with Aretha
Fun fact. This is a montage song in first wives club movie.
TBH, I don't remember hearing this tune before. I do admit, it ROCKS!
You have to check out Aretha and George Michael if you haven't already!❤
It's funny you saying you hadn't seen Areatha looking so young.
Before this song she had seemed like someone from a different era to us
Two/three beautiful women and I mean that most sincerely!
I don't remember any protesting about this song. I actually don't even remember this song.
Lol. No, the song never was controversial, it was mainstream.
Aretha is in her mid 40s in 1985, when this came out. This was kind of a comeback hit for her. Her classic songs came in the 60s and 70s.
Late reviews tonight. I'm here for it!
This song was not necessarily controversial, but it was political. Not only were sisters doin' it for themselves, but we had won control over our reproductive rights and that was probably the biggest thing that liberated us from dependence on men. We never in a million years thought we'd have to fight that fight again, but no we do.
No, there weren't men boycotting the song and I don't recall it being controversial. It was definitely a song that brought two great talents together.
Probably because feminists back then weren’t as extreme or misandristic back then.
Aretha was that woman....from the late 60s, 70s and definitely the 80s.
Aretha was either 44 oŕ 45 when she did this videos.😊
oyes? GUD NYTY!
You, LOVE !!♥️🌷🩷🫱🏼🏇🏼
This wasn't too long after Title 9 and the E.R.A. movement so we was feeling it back then. If we only had a crystal ball.
It's just "Eurythmics", consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. However, nowadays for some reasons unknown, they are often credited as "Eurythmics, Annie Lennox & Dave Stewart". This song is from autumn 1985 and I remember it filled the gay dancefloors here in East Berlin back then. Knowing all of the Eurythmics now, I think they did much better songs than this anthem. My favourite Aretha Franklin song is the one that followed this - "Who's Zoomin' Who" from winter 1985/86 ❤
It was a hit.
This song was everywhere. Outrage politics is a relatively new thing. If someone had a problem,for attention you told them to Pound Sand!
Outrage politics is not as new as you think it is it’s just taken many different forms. Just look at the McCarthy Era for example.
I think it's just incorrect labelling. Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart are The Eurythmics.... Great English accent btw 😆👍
If you want a dancing Aretha... check out "knew you were waiting", with George Michael. You will love it.
I’ll check it out !
Britt: before you metamorphosise into Annie Lennox (speaking about how she looks) make sure you can handle the costumes Annie used on her "Diva" album (1992) 😄
To see how good the younger Aretha was, here she is in 1970 singing the Ben E. King song "Don't Play That Song" live th-cam.com/video/EtTn5aLXZZg/w-d-xo.html Powerful!
You need to react to “Would I Lie to You” by the Eurythmics. It is a rocker!
I’ll check it out!
Just for fun you should react to Xena Warrior Princess sing this song.
Wow that's a nice t-shirt Britt!!😎
These ladies were and remain giants but as a person of that passed thru this time it is sad to say women's right's were stronger then.
Big fan of your stream, this hit is for you, Yah MO Be there by James Ingram, enjoy.
the gentleman is dave stewart...along with annie lennox, they made eurythmics. (no "the").
If you NEVER read anything else I comment…
Please please please react to Aretha’s deepcut 80s bops!
Her covers of The Doobie Brothers “What A Fool Believes” as well as The Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” as well as her Luther Vandross produced “Jump To It” and “It’s Just Your Love”. Hell, throw in “Get It Right” for good measure!
And another time I think of Aretha and Annie Lennox- I think of them doing Chain Of Fools for the Rock and Roll Anniversary some 15+ years ago.
I don’t remember any push back; 10-20 years earlier, there probably would have been….
Don’t know where you got the idea that this was a protest song ,.. nope !!! It was just a great song by 2 fantastic female singers … don’t over think things ….back then we just enjoyed the music !!! No one boycotted this song !!! lol
Please do Annie Lennox into the west from lotr ost.
Hello beautiful Lady, greetings from Luxembourg in Europe 😉👍
Everyone loved/loves both of them, and alot of us was hoping for the team up so no... nothing controversial at all.
Aretha young watch og R-E-S-PECT (Respect) the Goat Ms Aretha young.
Check out 1967 Respect
Okay!
No not controversial that I remember
No back then the song was enjoyed by all...no one was offended.
I like to make a request for suicide squad parody by Hillywood show it a good and fun
Men never protested these worn out feminist issues....they were too busy repairing roads, building bridges, constructing homes and skyscrapers, fishing in the ocean, and fighting endless government's stupid wars. By the time this song came out, men have already spent decades being bombarded over and and over by this tired old repetitive feminist message so much that it has no affect .... at all. It's just an annoyance. The major talent here is gigantic! but it's too bad it's spent on a message that is so played out and stale.
Does someone need a hug?
It was fine back then… this was before the Democrats got hold of the women’s movement and turned it into a gripe fest.