Rick Springfield’s Biggest Hit Is Almost Entirely Autobiographical (And Embarrassing, According to Him)

Almost every 80s kid alive can still sing along to all of the words of Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl”. Springfield’s first and only No. 1 single, “Jessie’s Girl” is on Springfield’s Working Class Dog record. It became a two-week No. 1 hit for Springfield.

“Jessie’s Girl” is the story of a man who is in love with another man’s girlfriend. The chorus says, “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?“

Perhaps surprisingly, “Jessie’s Girl” is almost entirely autobiographical, although his friend with the girlfriend wasn’t actually named Jessie.

“I don’t know her name,” Springfield told Songfacts. “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.”

Springfield might have changed the name, but the rest of “Jessie’s Girl” is pretty accurate.

“The whole thing is absolutely what I was feeling,” Springfield said. “He was getting it, and I wasn’t, and it was really tearing me up.”

What Happened to The Woman That Inspired “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield

Unfortunately for Springfield, he was never able to reconnect with the woman he was so deeply attracted to, who inspired this song, in spite of an attempt by Oprah Winfrey.

“Actually, Oprah’s people tried to find her,” Springfield reveals. “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.”

Springfield later concedes he didn’t necessarily have the best rapport with women, at least back in his early days.

“I remember being a jerk because I thought that’s what girls wanted,” Springfield acknowledged. “You only really learn about women when you get into a long relationship, unless you got a really great dad – a really clued-in father – or a really open mom.”

Springfield did have other hits after “Jessie’s Girl”, although none that went to No. 1. “I’ve Done Everything For You”, released after “Jessie’s Girl”, reached the Top 10. In 1982, Springfield returned to the Top 10 with “Don’t Talk To Strangers”.

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images