Almanac Music: ‘My Girl’ – Songs Referencing the Words ‘Girl’ and/or ‘Girls’
‘My Girl’ by The Temptations, German single, Side A. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: ‘My Girl’ – Songs Referencing the Words ‘Girl’ and/or ‘Girls’
Hi, Almanackers! Well, it had to happen, didn’t it, after our previous ‘boy/boys’ theme? This piece in my long-running series about key popular song themes concerns songs that reference the word ‘girl’ and/or ‘girls’. We’ll keep this songlist simple – all that is relevant are songs that make use of either or both of these words.
So, dear readers, please put your relevant songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to set the tone.
‘My Girl’, written by Smokie Robinson and Ronald White, performed by The Temptations (1964)
‘Girl’, credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney (actually John alone), performed by The Beatles (1965)
‘California Girls’, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, performed by The Beach Boys (1965)
‘Girls, Girls, Girls’, written by Georg Kajanus, performed by Sailor (1975)
‘Girls on the Avenue’, written and performed by Richard Clapton (1975)
‘From the Inside’, written by Artie Wayne, performed by Marcia Hines (1975)
‘Go on girl, you can do it…’
‘Sunday Girl’, written by Chris Stein, performed by Blondie (1979)
‘My Best Friend’s Girl’, written by Ric Ocasek, performed by The Cars (1978)
‘Miami’, written by performed by John Mellencamp (as Johnny Cougar) (1979)
‘Well I hear in Miami they have a lot of girls…’
‘Girls on Film’, written by Simon Le Bon and the rest of Duran Duran, performed by Duran Duran (1981)
‘Anchorage’, written and performed by Michelle Shocked (1988)
(contains numerous thematically fitting reference)
(Unavailable on Youtube, as far as I can tell – KD)
‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’, written by Stacey Ferguson and Toby Gad, performed by Fergie (2006)
…………………………………..
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song referencing girls, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
[Note: as usual, Wikipedia has been a solid general reference for this piece, particularly in terms of checking dates and other details.]
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
Kevin Densley’s latest poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises is available HERE
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Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Some that come to mind KD are:
‘Young Girl’ – Gary Puckett & the Union Gap
‘Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon’ – Neil Diamond
‘Twelve Thirty (Young Girls are coming to the Canyon)’ – Mamas & Papas
‘A Little Ray of Sunshine’ – Axiom
‘Lil’ Red Riding Hood’ – Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs
‘Pretty Girl’ – Easybeats