For My Sunday Song #280 and the final of this 10 song set, we are talking about the 80’s classic “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield. It is an iconic song and one that screams The 80’s. The song went all the way to #1 and I believe is his only #1 song and garnered Rick a Grammy. Did you know, it was the #1 song in the country when MTV debuted!! The song was from the album “Working Class Dog” and helped catapult the album to Platinum status. Rick Springfield was everywhere and even on TV as he played Dr. Noah Drake on the Daytime Soap of ‘General Hospital” which my mom watched which meant I had to watch it. We didn’t have a lot of TV options back in 1981. I am sure that his TV popularity helped shoot this up the charts as women loved him and hoped to be Jessie’s Girl.
The song is about Rick’s friend’s girlfriend. His name was Gary and not Jessie as Rick was trying to protect the innocent. Rick was in a Stained Glass class with Gary and I guess saw the girl, but actually never met her or knew her name (or he is still protecting the innocent). In fact, he states that the girl probably has no idea the song is about her. Rick was lusting from afar, but at least we got a great song out of it. The lyrics are a little silly at times and it is strange that this old guy (he was in his 30’s at the time) was singing a song about teenagers, but he made it work.
The song is pure bubblegum, pop magic and total power pop bliss at the same time. It has this really cool guitar riff throughout and the solo really pushes the song on to the rock side as well which helped it be popular with everyone. Rick sings it with an energy and honest deliver that makes you feel bad for him that he didn’t have her. I am sure we all had someone we crushed on like that growing up. You feel his yearning for her and that is what connected with everyone. Plus, the music is so damn catchy.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 