Love Stinks: Song Lyric Sunday

Written for Song Lyric Sunday –
“Behavior Patterns”

This week at Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday, the theme is “Behavior Patterns” and our challenge is to write about a song that reflects different types of behavior that people exhibit. I have chosen a couple of songs that deal with jealousy, infidelity, sexual frustration, obsession, fear of commitment, unrequited love, possessiveness, insecurity and regret …. often the behaviors that spark some of the greatest songs. Let’s take a look and a listen.

Born in 1949 in Sydney Australia to an Aussie Army officer and his English wife, Rick Springfield spent his youth moving across army bases in Australia and England. In his teens, he played in several groups, rising to fame as the guitarist for the Australian pop-rock band Zoot from 1969 to 1971. Springfield launched a solo career in the early 70s, scoring an early Australian hit with “Speak to the Sky”, before moving to the US where he found success in both music and acting. He released his breakout multi-platinum album Working Class Dog in 1981, featuring the massive #1 hit single “Jessie’s Girl”, which earned him a Grammy Award. He scored 17 U.S. Top 40 hits, including “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “An Affair of the Heart,” “Jessie’s Girl,” and “Love Somebody”, selling 25 million albums overall, while simultaneously capturing American pop culture hearts playing Dr. Noah Drake on the soap opera General Hospital from 1981 to 1983, and later returning in the 2000s.

I am definitely not too proud to admit I had a massive crush on Rick Springfield, and I was no teenybopper at the time. In August 1981, Springfield’s smash hit “Jessie’s Girl” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, transforming him into a music superstar. The track, which featured guitarist Neil Giraldo, became the definitive power-pop anthem of Springfield’s album Working Class Dog. Inspiration for the song dates back to 1979; while in Pasadena, California, Springfield took a stained-glass making class where he developed a monumental crush on a fellow classmate who had a boyfriend named Gary who was also taking the same class. Unfortunately for Rick, his crush was not crushing on him and he had to endure the couple’s PDAs during each class. Springfield originally tried writing the lyrics as “Gary’s Girl” before the name “Jessie” popped into his head and he stuck with the better-sounding title.

“Jessie’s Girl” is an anthem of unrequited love, sexual frustration, and intense jealousy. The lyrics describe a guy who is tortured by a crush on his good friend’s girlfriend, longing to make her his own while questioning why she does not notice him. Lyrics such as “I’ll play along with the charade” show that the narrator forces himself to hang around just to catch glimpses of her, even though it hurts to see her with her boyfriend. Propelled by heavy early-MTV rotation and Springfield’s popularity with the viewers of General Hospital, the track became his sole US #1 single.

This is “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield

LYRICS

Jesse is a friend
Yeah, I know he’s been a good friend of mine
But lately something’s changed
That ain’t hard to define
Jesse’s got himself a girl
And I wanna make her mine
And she’s watching him with those eyes
And she’s lovin’ him with that body, I just know it
And he’s holding her in his arms late, late at night

You know I wish that I had Jesse’s girl
I wish that I had Jesse’s girl
Where can I find a woman like that?

I play along with the charade
There doesn’t seem to be a reason to change
You know I feel so dirty
When they start talking cute
I wanna tell her that I love her
But the point is probably moot
‘Cause she’s watching him with those eyes
And she’s lovin’ him with that body, I just know it
And he’s holding her in his arms late, late at night

You know I wish that I had Jesse’s girl
I wish that I had Jesse’s girl
Where can I find a woman like that?
Like Jesse’s girl
I wish that I had Jesse’s girl
Where can I find a woman
Where can I find a woman like that?

And I’m looking 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 love’s supposed to be?
Tell me, where can I find a woman like that?

You know I wish that I had Jesse’s girl
I wish that I had Jesse’s girl
I want Jesse’s girl
Where can I find a woman like that?
Like Jesse’s girl
I wish that I had Jesse’s girl

^{Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Rick Springfield
Jessie’s Girl lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Mgb Australia, Vogue Music, Rick Springfield Music}

American blues-rock guitarist and vocalist Elvin Bishop was born in 1942, living on an Iowa farm before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma at the age of 10. Listening to late-night radio sparked his passion for the blues. After winning a National Merit Scholarship in 1959, Bishop moved to Chicago to major in physics at the University of Chicago, but his love for the blues never faded and in the early 60s, he formed the pioneering electric blues group, Paul Butterfield Blues Band alongside Butterfield and composer/guitarist Mike Bloomfield. In addition to the popularity of the band, Bishop is best known for his 1976 Billboard hit single, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” He was inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame.

Released in 1976, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” is a soulful rock ballad written by Elvin Bishop, featuring Mickey Thomas on lead vocals. Bishop felt his own distinctive gravelly voice was not well-suited for such a song. The track peaked at #3 on the US charts and served as a career-defining launchpad for Thomas, who later became the lead vocalist for Jefferson Starship.

The lyrics describe an arrogant, carefree player who casually dates many women and leaves them without a second thought. Showing no empathy and lacking any desire for commitment, the narrator states that crying women leave him feeling “cold as a stone.” He collects names in his little black book and when things get boring or better prospects appear, he just tears out a page and moves on. Our gigolo thought he would always stay free and on his own but his perspective completely flipped when he met a special person, unexpectedly fell and love and lost his desire to play the field. What we will never know is if the woman of his dreams felt the same way. 

This is “Fooled Around and Fell In Love” by Elvin Bishop

LYRICS

I must’ve been through about a million girls
I’d love ’em, and I’d leave ’em alone
I didn’t care how much they cried, no sir
Their tears left me cold as a stone

But then I fooled around and fell in love
I fooled around and fell in love
I fooled around and fell in love
Fooled around and fell in love

It used to be when I’d see a girl that I liked
I’d get out my book and write down her name
But when the grass got a little greener on the other side
I’d just tear out that page

But then I fooled around and fell in love
I fooled around and fell in love, since I met you, baby
I fooled around and fell in love
I fooled around and fell in love

Free on my own, that’s the way I used to be
But since I met you baby, love’s got a hold on me
(Fooled around and fell in love) whoo, it’s got a hold on me now, yeah
(Fooled around and fell in love) I can’t let go of you, baby
(Fooled around and fell in love) I can’t stop loving you now
(Fooled around and fell in love) hey, ’cause I fooled around

I fooled around (fooled around)
I fooled around (fooled around)
I fooled around (fooled around)

Fooled around, fooled around, yes, I did
(Fooled around) I fooled around
(Fooled around) oh, I fooled

I fooled around, I fell in love
(Fooled around) hey-hey

^{Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Elvin Bishop
Fooled Around and Fell in Love lyrics © Crabshaw Music}

BONUS TRACK: This is “Jealous Guy” by John Lennon, a deeply confessional 1971 track with vulnerable lyrics about Lennon’s insecurity, possessiveness, and regret toward his wife, Yoko Ono. The song is an unflinchingly honest reflection of his role as a self-conscious male who wanted to “lock up” his woman out of fear of losing her.

Behavior Patterns

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow his link and check out his site.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to some great music today. I hope you enjoyed the theme for this week as well as the information and music I featured.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2026

^{Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated, and may not be used without permission. Thank you for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.}