"Sally's Pigeons" is a pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 by Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...

 that was featured on her 1993 album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 Hat Full of Stars

Hat Full of Stars

-Album information:Issued in 1993 it deviated from her pop-rock sound of previous projects and delved heavily into alternative music. It also furthered Lauper's growing penchant for writing topical songs about social issues....

. It was released as the album's second single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 in some countries, and as its third in others.

The song was inspired by the story of a childhood friend of Lauper, who in her teens got pregnant

Teenage pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...

, had a back-alley abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, and died as a result. The song was co-written with Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...

.

Track listing

5" CD (Austria 1993) – Epic (Sony) 659138 1
7" (Holland 1993) – Epic (Sony) 659138 7
CSS (Holland 1993) – Epic (Sony) EPC 659138 4

1. "Sally's Pigeons" – 3:48
2. "Cold" – 3:29

5" CD (Austria 1993) – Epic (Sony) 659138 2
12" (Holland 1993) – Epic (Sony) 659138 6

1. "Sally's Pigeons" – 3:48
2. "Cold" – 3:29
3. "Like I Used To" – 4:28

5" CD (Austria 1993) – 661000 1 – cardboard re-release after "Hey Now" release.

1. "Sally's Pigeons" – 3:47
2. "Someone Like Me" – 4:03

5" CD (Germany 1993) – Epic (Sony) 661000 2 – re-release after "Hey Now" release.

1. "Sally's Pigeons" – 3:46
2. "Feels Like Christmas" – 4:34
3. "Someone Like Me" – 4:07

Music video

The video also featured a then-unknown Julia Stiles

Julia Stiles

Julia O'Hara Stiles is an American actress.After beginning her career in small parts in a New York City theatre troupe, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet...

. One of the "little girls in pony-tails" described in the song's lyrics is played by former Ford model

Ford Models

The Ford Modeling Agency, or as it is known today Ford Models, is a modeling agency in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen and the late Gerard W. Ford.-Company:...

 Valerie Mendler. Sally is portrayed by Blaze Berdahl

Blaze Berdahl

Blaze Autumn Berdahl is an American Actress, Singer, Voice-over actor, Announcer, and Narrator. She is best known for her roles as Lenni Frazier in the children's television series Ghostwriter and Ellie Creed in the film Pet Sematary .-Early life:Berdahl was born in New York City, the youngest...

, who is best known for playing Lenni Frazier, a character on the PBS television series Ghostwriter

Ghostwriter (TV series)

Ghostwriter is an American television program created by Liz Nelson and produced by the Children's Television Workshop and BBC One. It began airing on PBS on October 4, 1992, and the final episode aired on February 13, 1995...

.