Single:
Jessie’s Girl entered the Australian singles chart* on 29 June 1981 and peaked at #1. It was #17 on the Top 100 of 1981.
Album:
The song is on Working Class Dog which entered the Australian albums chart* on 20 July 1981 and peaked at #33.
Songwriter:
Rick Springfield
Producer:
Keith Olsen
Record label of Australian release:
Wizard
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
40th anniversary live version:
Songfacts:
In a Songfacts interview with Rick Springfield, he told the story:
“I was going to a stained glass class in Pasadena, and I met this guy and his girlfriend. I was completely turned on to his girlfriend, but she was just not interested. So I had a lot of sexual angst, and I went home and wrote a song about it. Then about four months later I stopped going to the class and lost contact with them. The only thing I remember is his name was Gary, so I changed the name, because ‘Gary’ didn’t sing very well. But the whole thing is absolutely what I was feeling. He was getting it and I wasn’t, and it was really tearing me up.”
“Oprah’s people tried to find her, and they got as far back as finding the stained glass guy. I couldn’t remember his name, but I said it was late ’70s. They found him, and he had died two years earlier, and they’d thrown all his papers out a year after that. So we missed finding out who she was by a year.”
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/rick-springfield/jessies-girl
Lyrics:
Jessie is a friend
Yeah I know he’s been a good friend of mine
But lately something’s changed that ain’t hard to define
Jessie’s got himself a girl and I want to make her mine
Click for full lyrics
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