Co-written by bandmembers Brian MacLeod and Bill Henderson, it was released on the band's 1981 album Wanna Be a Star.

[2] Guitarist Brian MacLeod invited singer Bill Henderson onto his boat to sail around the coast of British Columbia, fish, and write songs.

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.

[6] In January 2019, the song became certified Platinum (in excess of 100,000 copies sold) as a single in Canada.

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.