Credit: ABC/Randy HolmesToday marks the 151st birthday of pioneering journalist and feminist Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Jane Cochran. To celebrate, Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O wrote the song "Nellie," in Bly's honor. "Nellie" plays alongside today's Google doodle, and is in fact the first original song to accompany a Google doodle.
O's song opens with the line "Someone's got to stand up and tell them what a girl is good for," a reference to Bly's 1885 rebuttal of a misogynistic article entitled "What Girls Are Good For," published in the Pittsburgh Dispatch, that essentially said women should be homemakers, full stop. The editor for the Dispatch was so impressed with Bly's writing skills, he hired her for her first job in journalism.
O has had an eventful few weeks. In April, she performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in honor of the late Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed, where she also revealed she's pregnant. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony airs on HBO May 30.
Crush Songs, O's debut solo album, was released last year. The last Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, Mosquito, was released in 2013.
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