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Released in 1978

Girlfriend

Written by Paul McCartney

Last updated on May 13, 2020

Album This song officially appears on the London Town Official album.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1978

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

From Wikipedia:

“Girlfriend” is a song written by Paul McCartney. McCartney thought of the song as one that Michael Jackson might like to record, and mentioned this to Jackson at a party in Hollywood. Jackson had stated in interviews with the music press in the 1970s that he was a fan of The Beatles and the chance to record a McCartney original helped to inspire his next project. However, McCartney ended up recording it himself with his band Wings, and it was issued in 1978 on the album London Town. Subsequently, it was suggested by Quincy Jones as a possible track for Jackson to record for his 1979 album Off the Wall. Jones was unaware that the song had been written for Jackson in the first place. Jackson’s recording omitted the middle eight heard in McCartney’s version. It was issued as a single in 1980, in the UK only, as the fifth and final single from the Off the Wall album. This proved to be another huge hit single for Jackson and one of his first recordings of a Paul McCartney song.

McCartney and Jackson subsequently worked together on “The Girl Is Mine” from Thriller and two tracks from McCartney’s Pipes of Peace album, “Say Say Say” and “The Man”. In 1985, Jackson acquired the ATV Music Publishing catalog (which held the rights to nearly every Beatles song) uncontested by McCartney. According to McCartney, they “drifted apart” after he talked to Jackson about getting a “raise” and Jackson didn’t act on it.

In June 1976, during a party in Beverly Hills, Paul McCartney met with Michael Jackson for the second time, and told him he had written Girlfriend for him. Michael Jackson had to say about this event:

We shook hands amid a huge crowd of people, and he said, ‘You know, I’ve written a song for you.’ I was very surprised and thanked him. And he started singing Girlfriend to me at this party. So we exchanged phone numbers and promised to get together soon, but different projects and life just got in the way for both of us and we didn’t talk again for a couple of years. He ended up putting the song on his own album London Town

Michael Jackson

Lyrics

Girlfriend I'm gonna tell your boyfriend

Tell him exactly what you're doing

Tell him what you do to me

Late at night when the wind is free

Girlfriend

Girlfriend I'm gonna show your boyfriend

Show him the letters I've been saving

Show him how you feel inside

Then our love couldn't be denied

And we're gonna have to tell him

You'll only be a girlfriend of mine

Till the river stops a-flowin'

Till the wind doesn't wanna blow

Till the flowers stop a-growin'

Till my love doesn't want to know

Girlfriend we'd better tell your boyfriend

Tell him exactly what we're doing

Tell him what he needs to know

Or he may never let you go

Yes, we're gonna have to tell him

You'll only be a girlfriend of mine

Till the rivers stops a-flowin'

Till the wind doesn't wanna blow

Till the flowers stop a-growin'

Till the ocean's a sea of snow

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “Girlfriend”

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

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