1) American rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon (March 29, 1947 – October 18, 2022) grew up in Bethesda, M.D., a suburb of Washington D.C. Unlike many of his heroes, he had a relatively comfortable childhood. At a young age, after hearing Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel, he was inspired to choose R'n'R as his future career path, according to Wikipedia. In the mid-seventies Gordon was a part of the then-flourishing downtown NYC punk scene, fronting the CBGB regulars, Tuff Darts (who appear on an early CBGB live compilation album). After recording one album with the band ("All for the Love of Rock 'n' Roll) he parted ways with the band to work with such artists as Link Wray and Chris Spedding, both of whom share a love for early rock 'n' roll and rockabilly. Bruce Springsteen wrote the song, Fire, for Gordon and played piano on the studio version which also features the guitar-legend Link Wray.
Official site
2) Robert Gordon is a Sheffield-based producer and co-founder of Warp Records. Most of his output is under pseudonyms (including "Track With No Name" as Forgemasters which was Warp's first release), but he has put out a handful of EPs and a full-length under his own name.
Bad Boy
Robert Gordon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Say I'm a bad boy, say I'm a bad boy
Say I'm a bad boy
Even dear old dad, when he gets mad
Says I'm a bad boy, says I'm a bad boy
Says I'm a bad boy
And we stay out late, almost every night
Well, the people just stare and they declare
Well well, it just ain't right
But if only they knew how I love you
They'd say a bad boy, could be a good boy
Who's just in love
Well, you see now, I got a girl
And we stay out late, almost every night
Well, the people just stare and they declare
Well well, it just ain't right
But if only they knew how I love you
They'd say a bad boy, could be a good boy
Who's just in love
So much in love
So crazy in love
So much in love
The lyrics of Robert Gordon's song Bad Boy deal with the perception of others about the singer of the song. We learn that everyone down the street identifies him as a "bad boy," and even his father sees him as such when he gets angry. However, the singer has found love with a girl, and they stay out late almost every night. The people around them stare and declare that it isn't right. But if only they knew how much the singer loves the girl, they'd understand that he's just a good boy in love.
The overall message of the song is quite straightforward. It's about how others tend to judge us without knowing our true intentions and feelings. People tend to create their narratives about someone based on their actions alone, and they often get it wrong. In the case of the singer of the song, he's labelled as a "bad boy," but in reality, he's just a good guy who has fallen in love.
Line by Line Meaning
All the people down the street, whoever you meet,
Say I'm a bad boy, say I'm a bad boy
Say I'm a bad boy
Everyone in the neighborhood calls me a bad boy
Even dear old dad, when he gets mad
Says I'm a bad boy, says I'm a bad boy
Says I'm a bad boy
Even my dad calls me a bad boy when he's angry
Well, you see now, I got a girl
And we stay out late, almost every night
Well, the people just stare and they declare
Well well, it just ain't right
I have a girlfriend and we go out late every night. People stare and judge us
But if only they knew how I love you
They'd say a bad boy, could be a good boy
Who's just in love
If they knew how much I love you, they would realize that being called a bad boy doesn't define me. I'm just a guy in love
So much in love
So crazy in love
So much in love
I love my girlfriend so much, it's almost crazy
Contributed by Jayden E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.