"My Girl" was the third single by iconic[1][2] Australian rock group Hoodoo Gurus and was released on Big Time Records and distributed by EMI in October, 1983; it peaked at #35 on the Australian charts.[3] It was written by Dave Faulkner[4] and was also on their first album Stoneage Romeos. The single was also subsequently released in the United Kingdom in 1985 byDemon Records with a different cover sleeve and a different B-side, "Leilani".[5]
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The quirky video for the song was shown on Australian Broadcasting Corporation's popular TV series Countdown and is based around a dog trainer and his former champion greyhound: as suggested by former member Kimble Rendall, who had left Gurus to return to film-making.
"To this day people insist the song was 'written about a dog'. Oh, well. The truth is, it was meant to be part of a never-made home movie, a tribute to 60's beach movies entitled 'GidgetGoes Ape'." - Dave Faulkner.[6]
"It was a love song about love songs, a tribute to all the ‘60s boy-girl love songs, and I felt bad that some people would get quite sad about it —‘That poor guy!’—because it was just a joke!" - Dave Faulkner.[7]
According to Faulkner the B-side, "Be My Guru",
"has always been our unofficial anthem and we loved to play it whenever we felt an audience was too comfortable during a show. This was the first of what we called our 'Punishment Songs'. It was put on the flip-side of 'My Girl' to add a bit of acid to the sugar, so to speak."- Dave Faulkner.[6]
The music video locations include: Belvue St, Glebe; Wentworth Park; the pub was the Central Markets in Darling Harbour, was next to what is now the Pumphouse. The UTS Tower is also briefly visible as Faulkner grooms the greyhound early in the video. The greyhound that wins the race in the video is Winifred Bale[8] and the race is the 1983 National Sprint at Harold Park in Australia.[9]
"The dog was called Defiant Lee. That dog was very beautiful: I could have kissed that dog myself, I must admit. The dog was a champion. All those trophies you see in the video were, in fact, real, from that one dog. It was incredible. I forget the trainer's name, I've got to be honest."- Dave Faulkner.[10]
"My Girl" was performed by Spiderbait on the 2005 tribute album Stoneage Cameos (see Stoneage Romeos), Spiderbait also performed "My Girl Part 2"; where "Be My Guru" was performed by Persian Rugs (containing Hoodoo Gurus' Faulkner, Brad Shepherd and Mark Kingsmill together with bassist Kendall James). The album was launched at the Meadows Greyhound Racing Track in Broadmeadows, Victoria[11] in reference to the video for "My Girl".
Track listing[edit][]
- "My Girl" (Dave Faulkner) — 2:36
- "Be My Guru" (Dave Faulkner, James Baker)[4] — 2:35
Personnel[edit][]
Credited to:[12]
- James Baker — Drums
- Clyde Bramley — Bass, vocals
- Dave Faulkner — Lead vocals, guitar
- Brad Shepherd — Guitar, vocals
- Producer, Engineer — Alan Thorne