"Jessie's Girl" is a song written and performed by Australian singer Rick Springfield. It was released on the albumWorking Class Dog, which was released in February 1981. The song is about unrequited love and centers on a young man in love with his best friend's girlfriend. Upon its release in the United States in 1981, "Jessie's Girl" was slow to break out. It debuted on Billboards Hot 100 chart on 28 March but took 19 weeks to hit No. 1 reaching that position on 1 August, one of the slowest climbs to No. 1 at that time. It remained in that position for two weeks and would be Springfield's only first-place hit. The song was at No. 1 when MTV launched on 1 August 1981. The song ultimately spent 32 weeks on the chart. Billboard ranked it as No. 5 for all of 1981. The song also peaked at No. 1 in Springfield's native Australia and later won him a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. "Jessie's Girl" was released in the United Kingdom in March 1984 and peaked at No. 43 on the UK Singles Chart in April 1984. Springfield recorded an acoustic version of the song for his 1999 album, Karma.
Background
Springfield was taking a stained glass class. Also in the class were a friend of his named Gary and 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 playerRon Jessie on it. 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 Oprah Winfrey, "I was never really introduced to her. It was always just, like, panting from afar." 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. In 2006, the song was named No. 20 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s".
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Chart
Peak position
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications
Music video
The music video depicts Springfield watching a young couple with envy, desiring the girl's love. It opens with Jessie spray painting "Jessie's Girl" onto a brick wall, then leaving with his girlfriend, as Springfield watches and gives a monologue in the form of the song's first verse. Springfield runs into the couple one more time on the sidewalk, and he just stares as they walk away from him. Later, he goes home and looks in the mirror and grieves over why Jessie's girlfriend does not like him; he angrily smashes the mirror when an illusion of her appears in it.
In regards to the song's use in films such as Boogie Nights, 13 Going on 30, and Suicide Squad over 20 years after its original release, Springfield said, "I'm thrilled by it. As a writer, all you can ask is that a song has legs. It has an appeal that keeps coming back." "Jessie's Girl" was covered on Glee in the episode "Laryngitis". Finn Hudson sings it to Rachel Berry to express his opinions about her relationship with her then-boyfriend, Jesse. This version was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association in 2010.
