I got a gal
Six feet four
Sleeps in the kitchen
With her feets out the door, YEAH!
My gal is red hot,
Your gal ain't doodely squat
Well she ain't got money
But man, she's really got a lot
"Robert Gordon, Rockabilly Bad Boy"
http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/rgordon.htmRobert Gordon grew up in Washington, D.C. to the rockabilly rock & roll sounds of Billy Lee Riley, Sanford Clark, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Warren Smith and Eddie Cochran. He was affected by their vocal energy - and by the way they lived and looked like they sounded. Link Wray was another of Roberts early heros. "The first time I saw Link was on a rock & roll show at Glen Echo Amusement Park outside of Washington in 1961. He was great. When we started to record I told Richard Gottehrer, my producer, about Link’s guitar style. Richard got in touch with him. Link agreed to come to New York. Not only did he play on several of my albums, but he also played with me live on stage. Link’s from the Washington area too. We have a lot in common." I once asked Robert, "How did you relate to the 1960’s?" "I didn’t," he said.
He relates to rock & roll songs sung great. That’s what he does; he sings about the basic rock & roll emotions, like love, and hurt, with absolute conviction.
His first big hit is, as the song says, "red hot". It’s about kissin’ in the dark, being loved just right, and missing you. It’s also about Robert Gordon being exactly what he is. He told me, "I’m not trying to recreate something. This is how I feel." I’m glad he feels that way because when I listen to him sing I feel that way too.
I saw Robert for the first time in the mid 70's when late one night I wandered into Max’s for a beer. I was immediately taken with the surly intensity with which he delivered his vocals, and with his lean, short-haired look. Onstage, he created a mood that came as much from his neo-rock & roll attitude as it did from the songs he sang. Offstage, he was the same person as he was onstage. Robert has believed in rock & roll since he started singing it when he was fifteen. Today he still shows that rock & roll can see us all through and that when rock & roll is great it makes you feel real good.
Richard Robinson, 1977