I remember when this song came out. Always wondered if he actually had a friend named Jessie that he was dissin'
@Going Greek:
From the song's wiki:Springfield was taking a stained glass class along with his friend Gary and Gary's girlfriend. He initially wanted to use the actual name of the friend he was singing about, but instead decided to go with a different name — "Jessie". He was wearing a T-shirt with the name of football player Ron Jessie on it and changed the name from Gary to Jessie, then recorded the song.[8]Springfield says that he does not remember the name of the girlfriend, and believes that the real woman who inspired the song has no idea that she was "Jessie's Girl", telling Oprah Winfrey, "I was never really introduced to her. It was always just, like, panting from afar."[9] Springfield told Songfacts that Oprah's people tried to find her, and they got as far back as finding out that the teacher of the class had died two years previously and that his class records were thrown out one year after his death.[ 4951