(1978) Grease - Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee
(1978) Grease
Upon learning Danny is Sandy's sweetheart, Rizzo arranges for the two to reunite, but Danny is forced to maintain his bad-boy attitude in front of his pals, upsetting Sandy. Frenchy invites the girls to a pajama party, but Sandy falls ill from trying a cigarette and drinking. "Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee" is a song in Grease sung by Rizzo and help from some of the other Pink Ladies. It's all about Rizzo picking on Sandy. They are picking on her about how safe she is.
Artist: Stockard Channing
Movie: Grease
Fun Facts:
In the stage play, the song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" had a reference to Sal Mineo, who was murdered in 1976. For the movie, the lyric was changed to reference Elvis Presley, who died the same day the scene was filmed.
The song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" references Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue. Both appear in Imitation of Life (1959), which came out in 1959, the year the class of Grease graduates.
Stockard Channing raps (or speaks) the bridge verse of "Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee" as opposed to singing it; she does the same thing to most of the last verse of that song; further underscoring that Channing is more of an actress than a singer. It made no difference though, neither did the fact that she was 34 when she played the part of a high school senior; she still got raves for her performance, and "Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee" was called a showstopper by the critics; (even though she didn't even sing most of it).
The "Look at me I'm Sandra Dee" number was supposed to suggest a class conflict between Rizzo and Sandy; and also between the Greasers and the preppies. Show producers Warren & Jacobs have said in interviews that they were biased towards the Greasers in this class conflict; and just as Rizzo skewers Sandy for her uptight and rigid values; Jim Jacobs was also satirizing uptight and phone middle class shallowness and prudishness with that number as well. When Sandy "conforms" to the Greasers at the ending they felt she was being liberated from this phony value system.
Lyrics:
Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee
Lousy with virginity
Won't go to bed
Till I'm legally wed
I can't, I'm Sandra Dee
Watch it, hey, I'm Doris Day
I was not brought up that way
Won't come across
Even Rock Hudson lost
His heart to Doris Day
I don't drink or swear
I don't rat my hair
I get ill from one cigarette
Keep your filthy paws off my silky drawers
Would you pull that crap with Annette
As for you, Troy Donahue
I know what you wanna do
You got your crust
I'm no object of lust
I'm just plain Sandra Dee
Elvis, Elvis, let me be
Keep that pelvis far from me
Just keep your cool
Now you're starting to drool
Hey, fungu, I'm Sandra Dee
