Cyndi Lauper has released a new version of her 1993 abortion-rights anthem “Sally’s Pigeons” after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 opinion that declared abortion a constitutional right.
“The Supreme Court’s radical decision today makes the re-recording and re-release of ‘Sally’s Pigeons’ more relevant than ever,” Lauper wrote on Instagram. “In my childhood, women didn’t have reproductive freedom and 50 years later we find ourselves in a time warp where one’s freedom to control their own body has been stripped away.”
The two-time Grammy winner continued, “When I wrote this song with Mary Chapin Carpenter in 1991, we wrote about two little girls who dreamt of stretching their wings like the pigeons they watched that flew above them. They dreamt of being free. But freedom then for women and unfortunately now comes at a big price.”
Cyndi added, “If we don’t have control over our own bodies then we have no real freedom. We are second class citizens. We need to mobilize. We need to let our voices be heard.”
“Sally’s Pigeons” was inspired by Lauper’s childhood friend who became pregnant and died after seeking a back-alley abortion. The heartbreaking track includes lyrics, “Some twenty one years back/ She left one night with just a nod/ Was lost from some back alley job/ I close my eyes and Sally’s pigeons fly.”
She has since changed the lyrics of the 2022 version of her song and says the events took place “some fifty-one years back.”
The “Time After Time” singer is a staunch advocate for abortion rights.
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