Jessie's Girl by Mark49

Mark49 - Jessie's Girl

Mark49

Jan 19, 2025 10:58am

"Jessie's Girl" is a song written and performed by Australian singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Springfield" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rick Springfield</a>. It was released on the album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Class_Dog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Working Class Dog</a>, which was released in February 1981.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[2]</a> The song is about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrequited_love" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">unrequited love</a> and centres on a young man in love with his best friend's girlfriend.Upon its release in the United States in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_in_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">1981</a>, "Jessie's Girl" was slow to break out. It debuted on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Billboard</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hot 100</a> chart on 28 March<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-Whitburn-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[3]</a> but took 19 weeks to hit No. 1<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-Grein-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a> reaching that position on 1 August,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[5]</a> one of the slowest climbs to No. 1 at that time.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-Grein-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a> It remained in that position for two weeks and would be Springfield's only No. 1 hit.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-Whitburn-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[3]</a> The song was at No. 1 when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MTV</a> launched on 1 August 1981.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-Songfacts-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a> The song ultimately spent 32 weeks on the chart.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[7]</a> Billboard ranked it as No. 5 for all of 1981.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-US-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[8]</a>The song also peaked at No. 1 in Springfield's native country of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Australia</a> and later won him a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Male_Rock_Vocal_Performance" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance</a>."Jessie's Girl" was released in the United Kingdom in March 1984 and peaked at No. 43 on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Singles_Chart" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UK Singles Chart</a> in April 1984.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-UK-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[9]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_World" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Record World</a> said that "a strong rhythm guitar fuels the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop-rock" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pop-rocker</a> while Rick's determined vocal works the hook."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-rw-10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[10]</a>Springfield recorded an acoustic version of the song for his 1999 album, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_(Rick_Springfield_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Karma</a>.Springfield was taking a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stained_glass" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">stained glass</a> class. Also in the class was his friend Gary as well as Gary's girlfriend. Springfield initially wanted to use the actual name of his friend, but instead decided to go with a different name. He chose "Jessie" because he was wearing a T-shirt with the name of football player <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Jessie" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ron Jessie</a> on it.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-11" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[11]</a>Springfield says that he does not remember the name of the girlfriend, and he believes that the real woman who inspired the song has no idea that she was "Jessie's Girl". He told <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Oprah Winfrey</a>, "I was never really introduced to her. It was always just, like, panting from afar."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-12" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[12]</a> Springfield told Songfacts that Oprah's people tried to find her, and they got as far back as finding out that the teacher of the class had died two years previously and that his class records were thrown out one year after his death.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie%27s_Girl#cite_note-Songfacts-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a> In 2006, the song was named No. 20 on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VH1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">VH1</a>'s "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s"