“Young Girl” (Gary Puckett & the Union Gap)

Today’s classic song of the day comes from Gary Puckett and his group, the Union Gap. The song is “Young Girl” and it was released on the Columbia label in January of 1968. It was a huge hit, going to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Cash Box Top 100. (It was kept out of the top position on the Billboard chart by Otis Redding’s posthumous hit, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.”)

Like most of the group’s hits, “Young Girl” is about a guy trying to get into a young girl’s pants. In this instance, the singer finds out that the young girl in question is really a young girl, not quite yet of consenting age. He begs her to get out of his life before he does something that might get him arrested:

With all the charms of a woman
You’ve kept the secret of your youth
You led me to believe you’re old enough
To give me love
And now it hurts to know the truth

Woah, oh, oh
Young girl
Get out of my mind
My love for you is way out of line
You’d better run, girl
You’re much too young, girl

That Gary. What a horn dog—albeit one who had enormous appeal to young girls at the time. Wouldn’t play today, but times were definitely different back then.

“Young Girl” was written and produced by Jerry Fuller, who discovered Mr. Puckett and the Gap. He wrote many of their hit songs, including “Lady Willpower” and “Over You.” He also wrote “Travelin’ Man” and “A Wonder Like You” for Ricky Nelson and produced “Little Green Apples” for O.C. Smith and “Silver Bird” for Mark Lindsay. Jerry Fuller passed away in 2024 of lung cancer. He was 85 years old.

And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap on the May 12, 1968, episode of The Ed Sullivan Show, lip-synching “Young Girl.” It was their first of several appearances on Ed’s show; teen girls loved them.