My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)

"My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)" is a song that was performed by the Canadian group Chilliwack. Co-written by bandmembers Brian MacLeod and Bill Henderson, it was released on the band's 1981 album Wanna Be a Star.

"My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)"
Single by Chilliwack
from the album Wanna Be a Star
B-side"Sign Here"
ReleasedSeptember 1981
GenreRock
LabelMillennium Records
Songwriter(s)Brian MacLeod, Bill Henderson
Producer(s)Brian MacLeod, Bill Henderson
Chilliwack singles chronology
"Secrets"
(1978)		 "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)"
(1981)		 "I Believe"
(1982)

In Canada, the song spent four weeks at number 3.[1] In the United States, it reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.[2]

Background

Guitarist Brian MacLeod invited singer Bill Henderson onto his boat to sail around the coast of British Columbia, fish, and write songs. MacLeod was playing some chord changes on a Fender Rhodes keyboard and singing the melody "down down down down down d-down". He thought it was a bad idea, "like the Beach Boys, but with a lot of weird chord changes going on."[3] Henderson saw potential, and decided the words were "Gone gone gone she's been gone so long, she's been gone gone gone so long." From there, MacLeod came up with chords for verses and chorus, and Henderson came up with the melody and made up a story around a girl being gone so long. The song was written in a day, the demo was recorded on Henderson's 4-track cassette studio recorder, and he added the bridge and a cappella that night.[3]

In the studio, the band was under contract with Mushroom Records, whose owner died, and in the asset-selling confusion that followed, the label wouldn't let Chilliwack record. Under a pseudonym, they snuck into the studio and recorded anyway, then shopped "My Girl" and other songs around. This got them a deal with Millennium Records in New York, breaking them into the mainstream after eleven years.[3]

Brian MacLeod pressed his face so close to the microphone to sing the intro that he would saturate it with moisture, the microphone would cut out, and they would have to stop every five words or so to wait for it to dry.[4]

Reception

In their native Canada, writers MacLeod and Henderson were nominated for the Juno Award for 1982 Composer of the Year,[5] as well as Single of the Year for "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone).".[6] In January 2019, the song became certified Platinum (in excess of 100,000 copies sold) as a single in Canada.[7]

Chart performance

On the April 23, 1982 episode of the sketch comedy TV series SCTV during the skit "Pre-Teen World Telethon,"[15] the fictional adolescent garage band The Recess Monkeys,[16] as performed by Stephan Seely (John Candy) on drums and backing vocals; Paul Rey (Eugene Levy) on guitar, backing vocals, and tambourine and Steve Applebaum (Rick Moranis) on guitar and lead vocals;[17] do a very amateurish cover of the song.[18]

References
  1. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  2. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  3. Michaels, Randolph (2005). "11: Bill Henderson: Vocalist and Guitarist for Chilliwack". Flashbacks to Happiness: Eighties Music Revisited. iUniverse. pp. 292–293. ISBN 978-0-5953-7007-8.
  4. Behind The Vinyl: Chilliwack "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)". Boom 97.3 (CHBM-FM). October 15, 2019. Retrieved May 19, 2023 – via YouTube.
  5. "Awards | The JUNO Awards". Junoawards.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  6. "Awards | The JUNO Awards". Junoawards.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  7. "Gold/Platinum". 3 January 2019.
  8. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 62. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  9. Nanda Lwin (1999). Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide. Music Data Canada. ISBN 1-896594-13-1.
  10. Billboard Mainstream Rock, December 12, 1981
  11. "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, December 19, 1981". Archived from the original on June 3, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  12. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  13. Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
  14. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  15. "sctvguide.ca/episodes".
  16. "thisismyjam.com/song/the-recess-monkeys/my-girl-gone-gone-gone".
  17. "fakebands.com-The_Recess_Monkeys".
  18. "YouTube video". YouTube.
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