August 24, 2024 • 9 mins
Jeff and Rick talk about Jessie's Girl and all the hits!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Jef Stevens on the eighties show. Thank you all
for listening, and I have a very special guest with
me this time around. It is Rick Springfield. And Rick,
somehow we are going to try to pack your amazing
forty or fifty year career into a few segments here
on the eighty show. So thank you for joining me.
Let's do you think it's doable for sure? All right,
let's start back in. It was I believe nineteen eighty one,
(00:22):
and the cool thing is you were actually already cooking.
I mean you had to speak to the sky. I mean,
you had some hits in the seventies, but in eighty
one is where everything changed. You're on General Hospital, Jesse's
Girl Hits. Can you kind of for a minute just
kind of go back to eighty one and how crazy
things were going back and forth from TV to tours
and album.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I wish I could, Jeff, Yeah, it was pretty insane.
I was on General Hospital five days a week, and
then I'd fly out Friday night. I'd tour Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
and then I get up about four in the morning
and fly back to the studio. This is when planes
were flying all hours. You know, now you couldn't do that,
(01:01):
but I catch like a three o'clock, two o'clock playing
in the morning and fly back to la in time
for the Mighty General Hospital.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And how was it? Because you were basically every year
was album tour, album tour, and then Jesse's Girl really
obviously changed everything in the summer of eighty one.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, the Jesse's Girl. Really everything is before Jesse's Girl
and after Jesse's Girl. Not really, you know, that was
really the marker in my life. And it was just
one of those songs. I don't know. I still don't
know why it hit such a chord. I'm glad it,
did you know? It's you write all your life to
get a song like that gets your reaction like that,
(01:41):
and I still enjoy it every time I play it
because of that.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
It's one of the things I love about you the most.
You've always embraced that song, even though you have so
many other ones. So all right, will you do the
introduction of this little song we're talking about from nineteen
eighty one?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I am still Rick Springfield and here's Jesse's Girl on
the eighties show.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Jeff Stevens back on the eighties show. Thank you so
much for listening with my co host Rick Springfield and Rick. Okay,
so eighty one comes out. It is working class Dog,
It's Jesse's girl. I've done everything for you. Love is
all right tonight you're touring and somehow you had time
for another album called Success as it spoiled Me yet
and the spring of eighty two we get don't talk
to strangers.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I'm co hosting this. Do I get paid for this?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
As absolutely?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I'm a professional DJ. Now you know I'm on Serious
XM every week, so you know, don't cheat me out.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Jeff all Right checks in the mail.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I promise don't talk to strangers. I wrote the second album,
actually half of it in the dressing room at ABC,
while I was, you know, down in between scenes in
General Hospital. I had my keyboard and my guitar there.
I remember I'm actually writing's a Fair of the Heart
in that studio, but don't talk to strangers. I just
(02:52):
bought a house because I finally had some money, and
that was a little house in Glendale, and I had
a roommate because I couldn't afford it by myself. Came
home one night and I was banging on the drums
doing an overdub for it Don't Talk to Strangers. Then
he came in said, what is that some weird jungle song?
Because all I could here with the drums going to them.
(03:13):
I said, no, it's actually a little pop song. So
I took it. That was one that Keith Olson, who
produced the second album, didn't He didn't like it at first,
so I went home and redemoed it and took it
back to him and he liked it, and so we
included it, and it turned out to be the first single.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And one of the biggest hits of your amazing career,
got all the way to number two, and uh, I
think we should we should have you introduce it right now.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Rick, this is I'm Rick Springfield still and this is
Don't Talk to Strangers on the Eighties Show.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Thanks for checking out The Eighties Show. I'm Jeff Stevens
with my co host Rick Springfield. Rick, thank you again
for joining me here on the Eighties Show. So you
have working Class Dog with three big hits on their
success hasn't spoiled me yet. With three big hits on there,
Now we've got Living in oz which to me as
a fan, had a little bit more of an edge
to it. We had some living it on as the
(04:01):
song and Alison and of course Human Touch and Souls,
but A fair of the Heart was another game changer.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, I'd been on the road. I wrote this album
actually pretty much on the road in the bus and
we had a six week tour I think, I think
I was still on General Hospital at the time. We
hadn't recorded the album yet and I hadn't left General
Hospital yet, so I was writing it. I took a
sick because I'd take rather than getting more money at
General Hospital, I'd take time off, more time off so
(04:28):
I could go out and tour. And we had six
weeks and I wrote some of it in the General
Hospital dressing room. Like I said earlier, some guy came
up to me while I was peen and in a
public restroom and stood beside me and handed me a
cassette tape and said, here's a song you should listen to,
and I said, yeah, share, Share. So I threw it
on my floor of my car, and one day when
(04:50):
I was driving to the studio, I saw it and
I just put it in. I heard this great intro
bomp boom, bom, bom, like that, and I said, I
was a great intro, but the song never went anywhere.
The song kind of fell apart after the So I
wrote a song to that intro and that became the
Fair of the Heart.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, So if anyone ever gives you something while you're
in the restroom, you know, take it. You never know
where it might go.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
That went right into the top ten in nineteen eighty three.
And here's Rick to introduce that big hit.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Hey, I'm Rick Springfield and this is a Fair of
the Heart on the Eighties Show.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
All right, it's the Eighties Show with Jeff Stevens and
my co hosts. Who will get a big check in
the mail? Rick Springfield? Oh yeah, we are talking about
some of your biggest hits from the eighties. And again
I wish we had about one hundred hours to fit
all this in, but so literally, eighty one is working
class dog, all these hits in the tour. Same thing
(05:42):
for eighty two for success as it spoiled me. Yet
eighty three is living in oz Just kept you busy constantly.
I don't know how you had time to do anything else.
And then also how about starring in a movie in
nineteen eighty four. So my question is were you writing
songs for the new Rick Springfield album or did you
write them all tailored to the.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Actually, the guy who directed it wanted a fair of
the heart in the movie, but I said, no, this
is going to be for this album I'm doing now.
And I pretty much wrote the rest of the stuff
for the movie, which as a writer, it's kind of
you kind of forced into it. So it's not my
favorite way to write. But I Love Somebody came out
(06:20):
of just I was in the Fairmont Hotel up in
San Francisco and we're filming, and I'm walking out with
the guitar. You know, you have a lot of downtime
in film and TV, and I started playing this riff
and I got along really well with Patty Hanson, who
was in the movie. She was Keith Richard's girlfriend. She's
his wife now, but we got along really well, and
(06:41):
between we'd always talk and laugh in between in between shots.
I started writing the song kind of based on her.
It's not you'll pick a person if you don't, you know,
and kind of build a story around them. That isn't
necessarily the whole picture, but there's certain elements in there
that she inspired in the song, although I wouldn't say
it's really a about her. Yeah, she inspired it for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That ended up obviously having some of your biggest hits
as well, with Bop to You Drop and Don't Walk
Away and Taxi Dancing got on the radio as well.
But this was a top five hit for you and
certainly one of the biggest hits of your career.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, it's a great song to play live. Always love
playing it live. It just really really rocks. And yeah,
we'll be playing everywhere we go. I am Rick Springfield
and this is love somebody on the Eighties Show.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
All right, thanks for checking out the Eighties Show. I'm
Jeff Stevens and Rick. I want to say thank you
first of all for joining me. We've known each other
for a long time. I really appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, I'm very always glad to work with you know,
with friends. That's why I'm doing the Richard Marks Show too.
We're doing a show together because just sometimes it's just
more fun to go out with you know, and play
with friends and be interviewed by friends. It's just much easier.
You don't have the pressure or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Well, I sure appreciate hearing that. I just want to
say so from the kid who saw you in nineteen
eighty one on MTV and believe it or not, So
my grandma was living with us at the time and
she watched General Hospital every day, so she got me
hooked as an eighth grader on General Hospital. Imagine that right,
it's dangerous. I literally decided at that year that I
(08:19):
wanted to be on the radio and be the guy
who was able to play your music. So I was
in eighth grade. I decided I want to be on
the radio. So here I am all these years later,
so I want to thank you for that. I also
decided at that point that I that I wanted to
be in a band. I wanted to be you, so
hopefully you'll like this picture. So I went out to
the garage, got a rake, tied a microphone to the
(08:39):
end of it because I didn't have a mic stand,
and I would sit there and sing working Class Dog.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
That's Alared. I did pretty much the same thing with
because I was into an instrumental band called the Shadows
when I was a kid in England, and I used
to have turned around a tennis racket and I'd lip
sync all the Shadows records, you know, with a tennis racket,
because I didn't have a get tell her all right.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So this was not planned. But so my band's playing
a show last summer and we're getting ready to do
Jesse's Girl, and I decided to tell them a story
about the rake and tying the microphone on. And I said,
but I don't play guitar, so I used to get
a tennis racket and pretend to be you. I did
the exact same. So now hearing you say that, that's
even more bizarre. But I just wanted to say thank
you for being a friend and always so kind to
(09:22):
me over the years. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Just send money.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
The check is is It's Springfield with a capital S. Right,
Thanks man, Thank you Rick Springfield. Let's play one of
my favorites from one of my favorite albums. Let's go
to nineteen eighty eight for Rock of Life on the
eighty show.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Thank you very I appreciate it. Jeff
It's Jef Stevens on the eighties show. Thank you all
for listening, and I have a very special guest with
me this time around. It is Rick Springfield. And Rick,
somehow we are going to try to pack your amazing
forty or fifty year career into a few segments here
on the eighty show. So thank you for joining me.
Let's do you think it's doable for sure? All right,
let's start back in. It was I believe nineteen eighty one,
(00:22):
and the cool thing is you were actually already cooking.
I mean you had to speak to the sky. I mean,
you had some hits in the seventies, but in eighty
one is where everything changed. You're on General Hospital, Jesse's
Girl Hits. Can you kind of for a minute just
kind of go back to eighty one and how crazy
things were going back and forth from TV to tours
and album.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I wish I could, Jeff, Yeah, it was pretty insane.
I was on General Hospital five days a week, and
then I'd fly out Friday night. I'd tour Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
and then I get up about four in the morning
and fly back to the studio. This is when planes
were flying all hours. You know, now you couldn't do that,
(01:01):
but I catch like a three o'clock, two o'clock playing
in the morning and fly back to la in time
for the Mighty General Hospital.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And how was it? Because you were basically every year
was album tour, album tour, and then Jesse's Girl really
obviously changed everything in the summer of eighty one.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, the Jesse's Girl. Really everything is before Jesse's Girl
and after Jesse's Girl. Not really, you know, that was
really the marker in my life. And it was just
one of those songs. I don't know. I still don't
know why it hit such a chord. I'm glad it,
did you know? It's you write all your life to
get a song like that gets your reaction like that,
(01:41):
and I still enjoy it every time I play it
because of that.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
It's one of the things I love about you the most.
You've always embraced that song, even though you have so
many other ones. So all right, will you do the
introduction of this little song we're talking about from nineteen
eighty one?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I am still Rick Springfield and here's Jesse's Girl on
the eighties show.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Jeff Stevens back on the eighties show. Thank you so
much for listening with my co host Rick Springfield and Rick. Okay,
so eighty one comes out. It is working class Dog,
It's Jesse's girl. I've done everything for you. Love is
all right tonight you're touring and somehow you had time
for another album called Success as it spoiled Me yet
and the spring of eighty two we get don't talk
to strangers.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I'm co hosting this. Do I get paid for this?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
As absolutely?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I'm a professional DJ. Now you know I'm on Serious
XM every week, so you know, don't cheat me out.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Jeff all Right checks in the mail.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I promise don't talk to strangers. I wrote the second album,
actually half of it in the dressing room at ABC,
while I was, you know, down in between scenes in
General Hospital. I had my keyboard and my guitar there.
I remember I'm actually writing's a Fair of the Heart
in that studio, but don't talk to strangers. I just
(02:52):
bought a house because I finally had some money, and
that was a little house in Glendale, and I had
a roommate because I couldn't afford it by myself. Came
home one night and I was banging on the drums
doing an overdub for it Don't Talk to Strangers. Then
he came in said, what is that some weird jungle song?
Because all I could here with the drums going to them.
(03:13):
I said, no, it's actually a little pop song. So
I took it. That was one that Keith Olson, who
produced the second album, didn't He didn't like it at first,
so I went home and redemoed it and took it
back to him and he liked it, and so we
included it, and it turned out to be the first single.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And one of the biggest hits of your amazing career,
got all the way to number two, and uh, I
think we should we should have you introduce it right now.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Rick, this is I'm Rick Springfield still and this is
Don't Talk to Strangers on the Eighties Show.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Thanks for checking out The Eighties Show. I'm Jeff Stevens
with my co host Rick Springfield. Rick, thank you again
for joining me here on the Eighties Show. So you
have working Class Dog with three big hits on their
success hasn't spoiled me yet. With three big hits on there,
Now we've got Living in oz which to me as
a fan, had a little bit more of an edge
to it. We had some living it on as the
(04:01):
song and Alison and of course Human Touch and Souls,
but A fair of the Heart was another game changer.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, I'd been on the road. I wrote this album
actually pretty much on the road in the bus and
we had a six week tour I think, I think
I was still on General Hospital at the time. We
hadn't recorded the album yet and I hadn't left General
Hospital yet, so I was writing it. I took a
sick because I'd take rather than getting more money at
General Hospital, I'd take time off, more time off so
(04:28):
I could go out and tour. And we had six
weeks and I wrote some of it in the General
Hospital dressing room. Like I said earlier, some guy came
up to me while I was peen and in a
public restroom and stood beside me and handed me a
cassette tape and said, here's a song you should listen to,
and I said, yeah, share, Share. So I threw it
on my floor of my car, and one day when
(04:50):
I was driving to the studio, I saw it and
I just put it in. I heard this great intro
bomp boom, bom, bom, like that, and I said, I
was a great intro, but the song never went anywhere.
The song kind of fell apart after the So I
wrote a song to that intro and that became the
Fair of the Heart.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Yeah, So if anyone ever gives you something while you're
in the restroom, you know, take it. You never know
where it might go.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
That went right into the top ten in nineteen eighty three.
And here's Rick to introduce that big hit.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Hey, I'm Rick Springfield and this is a Fair of
the Heart on the Eighties Show.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
All right, it's the Eighties Show with Jeff Stevens and
my co hosts. Who will get a big check in
the mail? Rick Springfield? Oh yeah, we are talking about
some of your biggest hits from the eighties. And again
I wish we had about one hundred hours to fit
all this in, but so literally, eighty one is working
class dog, all these hits in the tour. Same thing
(05:42):
for eighty two for success as it spoiled me. Yet
eighty three is living in oz Just kept you busy constantly.
I don't know how you had time to do anything else.
And then also how about starring in a movie in
nineteen eighty four. So my question is were you writing
songs for the new Rick Springfield album or did you
write them all tailored to the.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Actually, the guy who directed it wanted a fair of
the heart in the movie, but I said, no, this
is going to be for this album I'm doing now.
And I pretty much wrote the rest of the stuff
for the movie, which as a writer, it's kind of
you kind of forced into it. So it's not my
favorite way to write. But I Love Somebody came out
(06:20):
of just I was in the Fairmont Hotel up in
San Francisco and we're filming, and I'm walking out with
the guitar. You know, you have a lot of downtime
in film and TV, and I started playing this riff
and I got along really well with Patty Hanson, who
was in the movie. She was Keith Richard's girlfriend. She's
his wife now, but we got along really well, and
(06:41):
between we'd always talk and laugh in between in between shots.
I started writing the song kind of based on her.
It's not you'll pick a person if you don't, you know,
and kind of build a story around them. That isn't
necessarily the whole picture, but there's certain elements in there
that she inspired in the song, although I wouldn't say
it's really a about her. Yeah, she inspired it for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That ended up obviously having some of your biggest hits
as well, with Bop to You Drop and Don't Walk
Away and Taxi Dancing got on the radio as well.
But this was a top five hit for you and
certainly one of the biggest hits of your career.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, it's a great song to play live. Always love
playing it live. It just really really rocks. And yeah,
we'll be playing everywhere we go. I am Rick Springfield
and this is love somebody on the Eighties Show.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
All right, thanks for checking out the Eighties Show. I'm
Jeff Stevens and Rick. I want to say thank you
first of all for joining me. We've known each other
for a long time. I really appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, I'm very always glad to work with you know,
with friends. That's why I'm doing the Richard Marks Show too.
We're doing a show together because just sometimes it's just
more fun to go out with you know, and play
with friends and be interviewed by friends. It's just much easier.
You don't have the pressure or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Well, I sure appreciate hearing that. I just want to
say so from the kid who saw you in nineteen
eighty one on MTV and believe it or not, So
my grandma was living with us at the time and
she watched General Hospital every day, so she got me
hooked as an eighth grader on General Hospital. Imagine that right,
it's dangerous. I literally decided at that year that I
(08:19):
wanted to be on the radio and be the guy
who was able to play your music. So I was
in eighth grade. I decided I want to be on
the radio. So here I am all these years later,
so I want to thank you for that. I also
decided at that point that I that I wanted to
be in a band. I wanted to be you, so
hopefully you'll like this picture. So I went out to
the garage, got a rake, tied a microphone to the
(08:39):
end of it because I didn't have a mic stand,
and I would sit there and sing working Class Dog.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
That's Alared. I did pretty much the same thing with
because I was into an instrumental band called the Shadows
when I was a kid in England, and I used
to have turned around a tennis racket and I'd lip
sync all the Shadows records, you know, with a tennis racket,
because I didn't have a get tell her all right.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So this was not planned. But so my band's playing
a show last summer and we're getting ready to do
Jesse's Girl, and I decided to tell them a story
about the rake and tying the microphone on. And I said,
but I don't play guitar, so I used to get
a tennis racket and pretend to be you. I did
the exact same. So now hearing you say that, that's
even more bizarre. But I just wanted to say thank
you for being a friend and always so kind to
(09:22):
me over the years. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Just send money.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
The check is is It's Springfield with a capital S. Right,
Thanks man, Thank you Rick Springfield. Let's play one of
my favorites from one of my favorite albums. Let's go
to nineteen eighty eight for Rock of Life on the
eighty show.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Thank you very I appreciate it. Jeff
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