Cyndi Lauper recalls disagreement with Steven Spielberg over “The Goonies” music video

Marina WattsMon, June 29, 2026 at 10:30 PM UTC

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Cyndi Lauper; Steven SpielbergCredit: Frazer Harrison/Getty; Maya Dehlin Spach/GettyKey Points -

Cyndi Lauper wants to bury the hatchet with Steven Spielberg over the Goonies theme song and music video.

"I never spoke right to him," she said of their miscommunication on the Wiser Than Me podcast hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

The Seinfeld star encouraged Lauper to write an apology note to the director.

Cyndi Lauper has a message for Steven Spielberg 40 years after making The Gooniestheme song.

The "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" singer reflected on the creative disagreement she had with the Raiders of the Los Arkdirector while making the music video for "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough," which served as the theme song for the 1985 film, which he produced. Spielberg asked Lauper to be the film's soundtrack musical director.

"I never spoke right to him. He wanted to do a green screen, and I went to Hollywood to work with a Hollywood director," Lauper began during the latest episode of Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, reflecting on the creative control she worked to maintain during her career.

Cyndi Lauper performs at Glastonbury Festival in June 2024Credit: Jim Dyson/Redferns

"Instead of saying, 'I was hoping I’d be on a Hollywood set, I came all the way here to work with you on a Hollywood set, and a green screen. We'd do that with MTV.'"

The continued, "But instead I said, 'I was hoping we could do something a little more creative'… he got up very indignant. He was very upset with me, but I didn't know how to say it right."

Lauper clarified, "I didn’t mean it as, it wasn't creative, that's why I feel bad."

She added, "I just meant that I came all that way. And I never really said anything. And now that I'm getting older, I keep thinking, 'Well, why don't you write a letter to so and so, just so they know.' ... Just like, just apologize, just so they know that's not really what you meant."

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The Seinfeld star told Lauper it wasn't "a bad idea" to write a note to Spielberg. The Grammy winner said she would. "When I got off the road, I was thinking of all these people and maybe how they misunderstood," she said.

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The song played throughout the movie, including the end credits. Joel Sill, the film's music supervisor, told Portland-based publication Willamette Week in 2015 about Lauper's reported disdain for the song and music video. "I think she felt it was an infringement on her creativity, which I agreed with," he said.

"But all of us had a bigger responsibility to the movie," he continued. "It was a big investment we all had in utilizing the music to sell the film, and the film would then sell the music." Per Sill, Spielberg had presented his ideas for the music video, and Lauper "just dismissed them, in a way that was not really considerate of Steven's creativity."

Cyndi Lauper in 'The Goonies 'R' Good Enough' music videoCredit: vevo

The Goonies theme song, which has a 13-minute, two-part music video associated with it, peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100, but Lauper kept the song off her concert setlist for decades, as well as her albums. She eventually started to incorporate it into her concerts due to popular demand. It only became part of her records in 2003 on her album, The Essential Cyndi Lauper.

Several professional wrestlers make an appearance in the music video, which features Lauper attempting to rescue her family's local business from creditors, including The Iron Sheik and Andre the Giant, who appeared as pirates.

Lauper and Spielberg joined the Goonies cast for a virtual reunion in April 2020. "For me, the Goonies was kind of a ‘Our Gang’ kind of thing," she reflected. "It was one of those incredible underdog movies where you’re always rooting for the underdog, and it was funny."

on Entertainment Weekly

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