More on Jessie's Girl

Rick Springfield was one of the most popular Rock and Roll singers of the 1970s and 1980s.  His most popular and well-known song is Jesse's Girl, which was released in 1981.  The song became a #1 hit in Australia and the United States.  It also won Springfield a Grammy Award in 1981.
Springfield also performed the song on General Hospital, on which he played Dr. Noah Drake 

Springfield wrote the song about an experience he had in college. Most songwriters choose write about their personal experiences. This song deals with only one simple situation, which is being in love with someone that is in love with someone else.  Most people have had someone in their lives that they had strong feelings for and they couldn't do anything about it because they were in a relationship already.  That's the feeling that Springfield gives in his hit song.  In his college days, he was smitten with his friend Gary's girlfriend. He wanted to use Gary's name in his song but changed the name of the guy to Jessie after seeing a girl with that name on her jersey.  Springfield did not want to let his friend know about his feelings for his girlfriend, so he simply changed the name of the man in the song.

The video follows the formula of most videos where they show band and story scenes.  The shows scenes to where Springfield is watching the happy couple and him feeling low when he breaks his bathroom mirror.  In between the story scenes, the band is shown performing the song in front of the brick wall.  Each story and band scene runs one after the other, which is what most music video do.

The chart below shows the different parts of the Rick Springfield video.  It explains how the video works and what the lyrics are supposed to mean.

Codes Visualized	Illustration	Amplification	Disjuncture
Lyrics	The song illustrates a man's desire to be with his best friend's girlfriend	The smashing of the mirror represents the fustration has for wondering why the object of his affections doesn't want him	None
Music	The band consist of Springfield as the lead singer and guitarist, a second guitarist/ backup singer, and a guy on drums	"Patty Is Jessie's Girl". the writing on the wall represents what the narrator of the song wants, which is Patty	None
Performance	The band performs in front of a spray-painted wall. Sometimes the band is seen with Springfield or he plays it himself.	Other than the scenes in front of the brick wall, the video shows Springfield watching his friend and girlfriend.  Shows that he envies what his friend has.	The video shows the band performing with Springfield in between the scenes of the story

Rick Springfield-Jessie's Girl

Rick Springfield (1949-) was one of the most popular rock and roll singers of the 1970s and 1980s. He was a former member of Zoot from 1969 to 1971 before making it big as a solo artist.  Springfield is also an actor who played Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital.

The song that most people remember from Rick Springfield is Jesse's Girl, which was released in 1981.  The song is about a case of unrequited love.  A man who falls in love with his best friend's girlfriend.  At the start of the video, Jesse (played by Steve Antin) is shown spray-painting "Patty Is Jessie's Girl" on a nearby brick wall as Springfield watches on. Most of video shows Springfield and his band performing the song in front of that same wall.  He deeply wishes that she was with him instead even though it appears that she doesn't know that he exists.  This is shown in a scene where he attempts to go to talk with the girl, but she and Jessie walk away from him without saying a word.  Springfield is left wondering why she doesn't like and breaks his bathroom mirror after seeing her image.  Knowing that someone you love is in love with someone else is a terrible feeling to have, Springfield felt the same way when he wrote the song.  The song became a #1 hit in Australia and the United States.  It also won Springfield a Grammy Award in 1981.  Springfield later performed this song as his Dr. Noah Drake character on General Hospital when Drake has to fill in for Eli Love (also played by Rick Springfield).  Jessie's Girl helped Rick Springfield become a mega-superstar.

Springfield wrote the song about an experience he had in college. Most songwriters choose write about their personal experiences. In his college days, he was smitten with his friend Gary's girlfriend.  The three of them were in a stain glass course together.  It was later revealed in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that he does not remember her name and that he was never introduced to her.  He wanted to use Gary's name in his song but changed the name of the guy to Jessie after seeing a girl with that name on her jersey.  The identity of Springfield's inspiration remains a mystery to this day.