My Girl (Hoodoo Gurus song)

"My Girl"
Single by Hoodoo Gurus
from the album Stoneage Romeos
A-side	"My Girl"
B-side	"Be My Guru"
Released	October, 1983 (Australia) 1985 (United Kingdom)
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	Trafalgar Studios
Genre	Rock
Length	2:36
Label	Big Time (Australia) Demon Records (UK)
Writer(s)	Dave Faulkner
Producer	Alan Thorne
Hoodoo Gurus singles chronology
"Tojo" (1983) "My Girl" (1983) "I Want You Back" (1983)
"My Girl" Alternative Cover 1985 UK release

"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 by Demon Records with a different cover sleeve and a different B-side, "Leilani".^[5]

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 'Gidget Goes 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]

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]

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 dog was borrowed from Donnie Sutherland (of Sounds Unlimited/Sounds fame).^{[citation needed]}

"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^[10] in reference to the video for "My Girl".

Track listing

1. "My Girl" (Dave Faulkner) — 2:36
2. "Be My Guru" (Dave Faulkner, James Baker)^[4] — 2:35

Personnel

Credited to:^[11]

• James Baker — Drums
• Clyde Bramley — Bass, vocals
• Dave Faulkner — Lead vocals, guitar
• Brad Shepherd — Guitar, vocals

• Producer, Engineer — Alan Thorne

References

1. ^ "ARIA Awards 2007: About Hall of Fame". ARIA Awards. http://www.ariaawards.com.au/about-hall-of-fame.php. Retrieved 2007-11-20. 
2. ^ Pope, Mark (2007-05-07). (PDF) "ARIA presents the 2007 ARIA Hall of Fame". http://www.amcos.com.au/news/industry/news/070507_ARIA-HallofFame.pdf (PDF). Retrieved 2008-01-22. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "Long Way to the Top Timeline". http://www.abc.net.au/longway/timeline/. Retrieved 2008-01-10. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Australasian Performing Right Association". APRA. http://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt?action=workSearch&switchDet=Y. Retrieved 2007-12-13. 
5. ^ "Rate Your Music - "My Girl (GBR)"". http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/hoodoo_gurus/my_girl___leilani__gbr_/. Retrieved 2007-12-16. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ ^{a b} Faulkner, Dave (June 2000). "Pop and punishment". juliat. Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20070808085453/http://www-personal.umich.edu/~juliat/hg/popandpunishment.html. Retrieved 2007-12-16. 
7. ^ Mills, Fred (January 2007). "Hoodoo Gurus: By My Guru". Harp Magazine. http://harpmagazine.com/articles/detail.cfm?article_id=5095. Retrieved 2007-12-15. 
8. ^ "Pedigree of Winfield Bale". http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?i=252835. Retrieved 2008-03-13. 
9. ^ My Girl Video (September 5, 2007)
10. ^ "Sticky Carpet". The Age. 2005-08-19. http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/sticky-carpet/2005/08/18/1123958136504.html. 
11. ^ "Discogs entry on "My Girl"". http://www.discogs.com/release/443757. Retrieved 2007-12-13. 

External links

• Essay, including interview with Dave Faulkner, about "My Girl" (July 2008) at Webcuts