How Rick Springfield Knew His Biggest Song Would Be a Hit

Rick
Springfield
landed
his
first
and
only
No.
1
single
with “Jessie’s
Girl”
in
the
summer
of
1981.
While
some
artists
have
said
they
had
no
idea
they
were
about
to
have
major
success,
the
Australian
singer-songwriter
fortunately
had
a
different
viewpoint.

“I
always
thought
every
song
I
wrote
is
going
to
be
a
hit,”
he
shares
in
a
new
interview
on
the


UCR
Podcast. “You
have
to
think
that,
otherwise,
I
won’t
finish
the
song.
If
I
think
[something]
is
album
filler,
I
won’t
finish
it.
Back
then,
I
was
certainly
writing
songs
that
I
would
love
to
hear
on
the
radio.”

He
credits
his
tireless
work
ethic,
even
then,
as
something
that
contributed
in
a
helpful
way
to
the
vision
he
had
for
his
music. “I
love
to
write
and
play,”
he
says. “I
would
have
a
commercial
element
[in
the
things
I
was
writing], 
but
I
thought
there
were
way
better
songs
on


Working
Class
Dog
than ‘Jessie’s
Girl.'”

Springfield
was
in
the
process
of
going
over
material
for
the
album
that
became
1981’s Working
Class
Dog. It
was
his
manager,
Joe
Gottfried,
who
also
owned
Sound
City,
the
legendary
studio
where
he
was
recording,
that
suggested
perhaps
he
should
look
to
work
with
producer
Keith
Olsen
(Foreigner,

Pat
Benatar,

Fleetwood
Mac)
on
a
couple
of
songs.
The
pair
had
a
bit
of
history,
as
Olsen
had
done
some
production
work
on
Springfield’s

Beginnings
album,
which
was
released
in
1972.

The
Origins
of ‘Jessie’s
Girl’

“He
listened
to
all
of
my
demos.
I
do
very
thorough
demos
and
back
then,
I
was
using
cushions
for
drums,”
Springfield
recalls
now. “I
had
an
old
bass
that
I
got
for
20
bucks
from
a
pawn
shop.
It
all
fit
into
the
Teac
four-track
[recorder]
that
was
kind
of
standard
for
home
songwriters.
I
had
10
songs
that
I
was
really
happy
with.
I
went
to
Keith’s
house
and
played
them
and
he
listened
to
them
all
and
picked ‘Jessie’s
Girl,’
I
go, ‘Why?’
I
thought
there
were
much
more
commercial
songs
on
there.
But
he
was
right
and
you
can’t
fault
that.”

Watch
Rick
Springfield’s
Video
For ‘Jessie’s
Girl’

The
guitarist
had
written
the
song
near
the
end
of
the ’70s
and
when
he
eventually
recorded
it
with
Olsen,
the
producer
made
some
changes. “There
was
a
big
long
solo
in
the
middle
of
the
song
on
the
demo.
I’d
vamp
on
A
and
play
a
two-minute
solo,”
he
says
now. “As
Keith
was
listening
to
it,
he
was
making
a
cutting
motion.
So
I
learned
from
him
to
be
very
concise
in
my
writing.
That’s
probably
the
main
thing
I
learned
from
him.
You
know,
make
it
short
and
sweet
and
hit
the
good
spots
and
leave
the
stuff
that
people
are
going
to
start
yawning
about
out.
I’ve
tried
to
follow
that
all
along
with
my
career.”

Springfield
will
be
back
on
the
road
this
summer,
headlining
a
bill
that
also
includes

John
Waite,
Wang
Chung,
Paul
Young
and
John
Cafferty.
The
concerts
will
showcase
music
from
his
newest
record,


Big
Hits:
Rick
Springfield’s
Greatest
Hits,
Vol.
2,
which
highlights
some
of
the
best
material
from
the
albums
he’s
released
in
the
past
25
years.
The
collection
features
several
songs
that
are
previously
unreleased
or
hard
to
find,
including
a
new
song, “Lose
Myself.”

READ
MORE:

Rick
Springfield
and
John
Waite
Announce ‘I
Want
My ’80s
Tour’

He
also
went
back
and
recorded
a
new
version
of “Jessie’s
Girl”
to
include
on

Big
Hits
and
admits
that
it
was
an
adventure
revisiting
what
he’d
done
at
the
beginning
of
the ’80s
on
the
original
version. “The
initial
guitar
sound
was
a
tough
one
to
[replicate],”
he
shares. “Because
it
was
two
amps
—
two
old
Marshalls
with
an
Eventide
between
them.
So
you’d
lower
the
pitch
of
one
and
it
created
this
really
unique
sound.
As
soon
as
you
hear
the
riff
on
the
radio,
you
recognize
that
sound.
Matching
that
was
pretty
tough.”

Listen
to
Rick
Springfield
on
the ‘UCR
Podcast’