• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact

Medialoper

We're Not Who You Think We Are

Certain Songs #1981: Robyn Hitchcock – “Don’t Talk To Me About Gene Hackman”

December 13, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Jewels For Sophia
Year: 1999

. . .

This is my second-favorite song in what is perhaps the all-time smallest category: “Late-90s Songs About Gene Hackman as Sung By 1980’s College Rock Icons.”

The other song is, of course, The Hoodoo Gurus “Gene Hackman,” which we discussed a little over four years ago, back before the world blew apart.

I’ll have a warm bath
I’ll have a bottle of wine
I’ll put myself to bed
And I’ll feel just fine
But don’t talk to me about Gene Hackman

And while the Gurus song was a straight-up punk raver, Robyn’s was a bonus acoustic track stuck way after the final official song on Jewels For Sophia, which was a thing that people did back in the 1990s, when they realized that they could dick around with the format. That’s one thing I don’t miss, actually. Well, that, and the thing about putting the introductions to a live song at the ending of the previous track.

He’s got an evil grin
He’s got curly hair
And every time he smiles
It means trouble somewhere
So don’t talk to me about Gene Hackman

There’s not a lot going on musically in “Don’t Talk To Me About Gene Hackman:” it’s basically just Robyn with an acoustic guitar, and it sounds like it was recorded by one of the audience members as opposed to a professional setup. Which adds to the charm, like Robyn just made it up on the spot like one of his funny rambling intros.

He’s in every film
Sometimes wearing a towel
And if it isn’t him
You get Andie MacDowell
So don’t talk to me about Gene Hackman

Don’t talk to me at all
Don’t say hello
You could be Gene himself for all I know

In fact, as it progresses, “Don’t Talk to Me About Gene Hackman,” gets weirder and weirder, and funnier and funnier to boot, especially as the audience gets into it.

In Unforgiven
He was totally mean
But when he got his
I really felt for Gene
But don’t talk to me about Gene Hackman

I’ll have a cold shower
I’ll have a bottle of pop
I’ll get a dog named Laszlo
From a Laszlo shop
But don’t talk to me about
G-E-N-E H-A-C-K-M-A-N
Gene Hackman

Obviously, it’s a goof, especially when compared to the Gurus’s full-throated, utterly enthusiastic rave, but of course, someone as awesome as Gene Hackman contains multitudes, and why not have two totally different songs praising him? In fact, two is clearly not enough.

“Don’t Talk To Me About Gene Hackman”

Did you miss a Certain Song? Follow me on Twitter: @barefootjim

The Certain Songs Database
A filterable, searchable & sortable somewhat up to date database with links to every “Certain Song” post I’ve ever written.

Check it out!

Certain Songs Spotify playlist
(It’s recommended that you listen to this on Spotify as their embed only has 200 songs.)

Support “Certain Songs” with a donation on Patreon
Go to my Patreon page

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Gene Hackman, Jewels For Sophia, Robyn Hitchcock

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ray Charbonneau says

    December 14, 2020 at 4:19 am

    I HATE “the thing about putting the introductions to a live song at the ending of the previous track.”

Primary Sidebar

Lopy

Search

Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2546: Sugar – “If I Can’t Change Your Mind”
  • Certain Songs #2545: Sugar – “Helpless”
  • Certain Songs #2544: Sugar – “Changes”
  • Certain Songs #2543: Sugar – “A Good Idea”
  • Certain Songs #2542: Sugar – “The Act We Act”

Copyright © 2023 · Medialoper