B-side "I'm Losing You" Format 7", 45rpm Length 3:16 | Released March 1968 Genre Pop Label Columbia | |
"Young Girl" is an RIAA million-selling Gold-certified single, written by Jerry Fuller, performed by Gary Puckett & The Union Gap with instrumental backing by members of The Wrecking Crew, and released in 1968.
The song hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, stuck behind (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding for the first week and Honey by Bobby Goldsboro for the remaining two. It also hit #1 on the UK Singles Chart and the US Cash Box listing.
The song is sung from the point of view of a man who has become distressed upon finding out that the girl he is with is under the legal age of consent. He is asking her to leave before things go any further, "Get out of here / before I have the time / to change my mind / 'cause I'm afraid we'll go too far."
In the UK, the recording enjoyed a second chart run in 1974, when it peaked at No. 6.
Gary Lewis and the Playboys released a version of the song on their 1968 album, Gary Lewis Now!