Music Sunday: The Pink Edition

Today is Pink's birthday, so what could be more appropriate than to share a few of her songs?

I'll be honest. I am so not in Pink's demographic, having graduated high school five years before she was born in 1979. Despite that generational difference, I really like her music. I only own one of her CDs ("I'm Not Dead", from 2006), but I can't think of any of her work that I haven't liked.

The first of her work that I was really aware of was "Lady Marmalade", which she recorded with Lil' Kim, Christina Aguilera, Mya, and, joining in the video, Missy Elliot, in association with the film "Moulin Rouge!". Of course, I knew the song from its 1974 version by Labelle, and quite liked this newer version from the first time I heard it:



In the same year as "Lady Marmalade" was released (2001), Pink also recorded "Get the Party Started". If you listen to the song, you get the impression that this is a woman who is serious about having a good time. Watch the video, however, and you get what might be the first hint that Pink has a huge sense of humor and does not really take the whole idea of being a party girl all that seriously:



So, Pink showed early on that she can be sexy and funny. In 2003's "Trouble", she showed that while she is those things she is also not prepared to take any shit from anybody. If you've seen the video for the song, that is made even more obvious there. Oh, also, you also get bonus Jeremy Renner, who plays the sheriff in the video:



By 2005, on the CD "I'm Not Dead Yet", Pink demonstrates another side to herself, her social and political consciousness. "Stupid Girls" is probably my favorite of her songs. Sort of a logical extension of the video for "Get the Party Started", Pink makes the case that the party/celebrity lifestyle is really a trap for women, and that they should be looking for something more:



On the same album, "Dear Mr. President" is a departure for Pink, showing her political consciousness. It is a folk song she wrote to express some of her concerns about the presidency of George W. Bush. It was and is a controversial song, but it shows in its content that it isn't something she just dashed off to be politically correct or to jump on the anti-Bush bandwagon. Instead, the lyrics make it clear that she is aware of the policies he held on specific issues and the ways in which he expressed himself while he was president, especially in the lyrics about "hard work" near the end of the song. Here is a clip of her singing the song live in New York City: