It all begins with young Judy (Gottlieb) Solash, daughter of songwriter Seymour Gottlieb, whose sweet sixteen birthday party generated one of the most classic lines in history. Structured like an Abbot and Costello setup, it stemmed from a conversation with her father:

My parents insisted that my grandparents had to be invited. I of course, being a bratty teenager, said I didn’t want them there. I burst into tears, and my father said, “Don’t cry.”

Judy, of course, answered: “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to.”

Lesley Gore’s recording of the song went to #1 in the US in June 1963, also topping the charts in Australia and New Zealand that year. A sequel, “Judy’s Turn To Cry”, reached #5 two months later.