jessie's girl

Thirty years ago, Rick Springfield was cool with the lines on this covetous pop classic about unrequited love. Rick remembers: "I don't know her name. It was a brief relationship I had when I was making stained glass for a while. 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. And sexual angst is an amazing motivator to write a song. Actually, 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." 'Jessie's Girl' became his only number one hit, topping the charts in the US and his native Australia. The video was a mainstay of MTV, since the song was number one when the network made its debut. It features an iconic scene where Springfield smashes his mirror with his guitar and also has a cameo of his bull terrier Ronnie who was pictured on the album cover for 'Working Class Dog'.

Jessie is a friend,

Yeah I know he's been a good friend of mine

But lately something's changed

It ain't hard to define

Jessie's got himself a girl

And I want to make her mine

And she's watching him with those eyes

And she's lovin' him with that body, I just know it

And he's holding her in his arms late, late at night

You know I wish that I had Jessie's Girl

I wish that I had Jessie's Girl

Where can I find a woman like that

I'll play along with this charade

That doesn't seem to be a reason to change

You know I feel so dirty when they start talking cute

I wanna tell her that I love her but the point is probably moot

'Cause she's watching him with those eyes

And she's lovin' him with that body, I just know it

And he's holding her in his arms late, late at night

You know I wish that I had Jessie's Girl

I wish that I had Jessie's Girl

Where can I find a woman like that?

Like Jessie's Girl

I wish that I had Jessie's Girl

Where can I find a woman

Where can I find a woman like that

And I'm lookin' in the mirror all the time

Wonderin' what she don't see in me

I've been funny; I've been cool with the lines

Ain't that the way love's supposed to be

Tell me where can I find a woman like that

You know I wish that I had Jessie's Girl

I wish that I had Jessie's Girl

I want Jessie's girl

Where can I find a woman like that?

Like Jessie's Girl

I wish that I had Jessie's Girl

I want, I want Jessie's Girl