Cyndi Lauper steps into the past for her upcoming album At Last, taking on standards such as "Unchained Melody," "Walk On By," and "Makin' Whoopie." Speaking the morning after California's gubernatorial election that ousted Governor Gray Davis, Lauper couldn't resist cracking, "It's so sad they had to recall Ray Davies. Even after he wrote 'Hollywood Boulevard,'" before explaining the concept for her latest.

"Growing up, these songs were what my neighborhood was listening to," says Lauper. "There was a beautiful tapestry of sound wafting out of backyard parties with Chinese lanterns. It was an extraordinary experience because as I was singing those songs I related back to those times and those people."

Setting the scene helped Lauper identify the approach she favored for songs like the title track. "For 'At Last,' I figured it was a showcase, one of those songs where you definitely grab their ear," says Lauper. "But I had to find a new soul to it, because there's only one Etta James. I began to realize there was a scenario I was singing about and a place I was singing about. Up on Liberty Avenue there's a place the A train comes above ground. It's eight in the morning when the train comes around the bend in that station and the trestle sways side to side and the sound it makes sounds like the piano going 'duh, duh, duh.' Once we got that we clicked."

Tony Bennett joined Lauper in a duet for "Makin' Whoopee." "When I was a kid growing up in an Italian-American neighborhood I heard Tony's voice in my house," says Lauper. "To work with him, it didn't matter what we sang, it could have been the alphabet. He chose 'Makin' Whoopee' and we made it like a throwback to the records my mom used to listen to around the house. The Satchmo records and Fats Waller where you begin the song, have a conversation, you sing, you have a conversation and all of a sudden within that song you're listening to two things, the song and you're also listening to the banter going on."

Lauper will play scattered club dates before and after the November 18th release of At Last, before mounting a world tour in January.

At Last track list:

At Last
Walk on By
Stay
La Vie un Rose
Unchained Melody
'Til You Come Back to Me (featuring Stevie Wonder)
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
You Really Got a Hold on Me
My Baby Just Cares for Me
If You Go Away
Makin' Whoopee (featuring Tony Bennett)
Hymn to Love
Sunny Side of the Street

Cyndi Lauper tour dates:

10/28-29: New York, NY, Joe's Pub
11/7: Chicago, IL, The Black Orchid
11/10: Los Angeles, CA, The Key Club
11/12: San Francisco, CA, TBA
11/14: Miami, FL, TBA
12/18: New York, NY, Beacon Theater
12/19: Washington D.C., 9:30 Club

COLIN DEVENISH
(October 10, 2003)