and she's watching him with those eyes

"and i'm lookin' in the mirror all the time,
wondering what she don't see in me.
i've been funny,
i've been cool with the lines;
ain't that the way loves supposed to be?"

history lesson:
jessie's girl, written and performed by rick springfield, was released on the album working class dog in 1981. soon after it's release, the song became an instant hit, and later won springfield a grammy award for best male rock vocal performance. the song is about unrequited love, and is centered around a man in love with his best friend's girlfriend.

story has it that rick was taking a stained glass class along with "jessie" and his girlfriend. Springfield wanted to use the name of the friend he was actually singing about (gary), but instead decided to go with a different name. he happened to see a girl in a softball jersey with the name "jessie" on it, and he changed the name from gary to jessie, and recorded the song. jessie's girl herself is thought to be former model and actress diana davidson, now a mother of two who lives in vermont.

- why do i find myself picturing rick making stained glass pictures of this girl in the class? though that would probably make this more stalkerish if that were true. perhaps it was stained glass renditions of his dog, that later featured on the album cover.

before duran duran, but after han solo, my fangirl crush was rick springfield. i'd actually noticed him that same year as dr. noah drake, on general hospital, a staple at my house (and from what i remember, all the girls at school) being that this was part of the luke and laura era. this was junior high, a time in my life that i'm not sure i'd care to repeat. there is so much awkwardness at that age, so much change and tender feelings. there were fun times, too, and music was certainly a big part of that. i remember christina used to bring a portable radio to school, and at lunch and recess we would listen to the only station that would tune in - the might 690. it was this pop station that had a very limited rotation of songs, but there were some favorites among them that we loved to sing-a-long to, and jessie's girl was definitely one of them. i remember i had a pin-up of rick springfield tucked in the inner sleeve of my binder, and we would all swoon over him pretty much every afternoon, singing about wishing for someone else's girl.

the 80's