Here's to you, Mr. Robinson
‘
‘Sing if you re glad to be gay; sing if you re happy that way! *
it for the entire length o f the album. In “ Mary
Lynne’ ’ he recalls a beating he received from a
gang
that forced him to call himself “ Mary
very so often one has the yearning for some
Lynne”
as the violence ensued. As he describes
music that is, for lack o f a better term,
politically correct. It seems to be an inevitable him self as “ overweight,” “ blubbering” and
“ out o f bounds,” he summarizes the experi­
side effect from And the Band Played On, the
ence: ‘ ‘The face o f failure takes a bit o f burying;
filing o f the petition to repeal the governor’s
/ Face to face to face to face with Mary Lynne.'4
executive order, community opposition to an
It’s impossible to hear this song without feeling
AIDS clinic in Queens and other similar
a sense o f outrage — or to reflect on the recent
incidents. Finding challenging musical fare to
murder in Couch Park.
counter the mood of these events, however, is
In the world according to Sector 27 the time
problematic.
is always five minutes after midnight, the forces
For all their supposed credentials, the
o f evil are always alert, and the certainty of
tomorrow is under considerable doubt. Yet
Robinson’s clear refusal to concede comes
through in song after song. It is that inner
strength that gives this album its power and force
and draws the listener back time after time.
Communards are still releasing tired retreads of
Nor does Robinson spare himself in this pro­
disco hits. And while Morrisey o f The Smiths
cess as he describes his own inner turmoil at
still sings o f the gay experience, his viewpoint
operating in a gay world forced underground.
tends to be internal rather than external. This
“ Invitation: What Have We Got to Lose?”
musical void provides a perfect excuse to dis­
“ Not R eady’’ and “ C an’t Keep Away” by title
cuss one o f the best gay rock-and-rollers o f all
alone give clear images o f his struggle. In ‘‘ Not
time, Tom Robinson.
R eady” he seems to pose (?) as a hustler trapped
O K, it’s admitted, opera stars need not apply.
in his own vices: “ It pays to be hard and it’s
N or gay folkies or instrumentalists, or Broad­
hard to be paid, / I ’m not ready, I’m not ready.”
way moguls, dancers, waiters-singers-actors,
And in “ Looking at You” a case o f mistaken
trombone experts or Diana Ross impersonators.
identity places him in the path of an angry pimp
Just plain, simple, honest rock-and-roll, just
in a black limousine:
like mother told you.
E lectric w in d o w rolled d o w n and so m eb o d y pulled
And OK: it’s also admitted that a new Tom
ou t a k nife;
Robinson album has not been seen in these parts
T h e w o m a n just h issed and said: “ There a in ’t no
in some time, at least not by this scorecard.
c o m m issio n on this o n e tonigh t.”
I’m scared as a cat and it’s just another Saturday
Some record stores no longer have a bin with a
m orn ing o n the L ow er East S id e. . . .
piece of cardboard with Robinson’s name on it
— a sure sign o f fading fame if ever there was
Later albums were to continue this same
one. But the Doctor can’t help that; the quality
sense o f struggle, but with the emotional
o f his music hasn’t changed just because the
volume turned down a notch. The 1982 release
albums may be out of print.
North By Northwest is less forceful, but still
Finally, the Doctor confesses that the typical
contains the pulsating “ Now M artin’s G one”
Tom Robinson album sounds a bit rough — like
as well as the first version o f “ Atmospherics,”
your neighborhood garage band — and that
which also appears on the 1984 album Hope
Tom ’s voice will never be compared to that of
and Glory.
Plácido Domingo, but that’s hardly the point.
As the title indicates, Hope and Glory finds
Tom Robinson, of all our modem gay rockers,
Robinson in a more reflective mood, and the
spoke to the gay experience that he found out on
dialogue becomes increasingly internal.
the street, not in his head. Perhaps he is best
“ M urder at the End o f the D ay” is about the
known for his gay anthem, ‘‘Glad to be Gay,’ ’ in
tiny murders that we commit against our mates;
which he takes a sweeping view of the political
the British hit “ War Baby” is about resolving
scene faced by persons whose sexual orienta­
the dilemmas o f modem relationships; a cover-
tion is in the minority:
version o f “ Rikki D on’t Lose that Number”
B Y
D R ,
T
A
N
T
A
L
U
S
E
R ead h ow d isg u stin g w e are in the press.
T h e Evening News and the Sunday Express.
M o lester s o f ch ild ren , corrupters o f youth.
It’s there in the paper; it m ust be the truth.
In his live performance o f this song during
the Secret Policeman’s Other Ball, a benefit for
Amnesty International. Robinson noted that it’s
not necessary to be gay to sing this so n g ,4‘but it
helps.”
Although “ Glad to be G ay” has been per­
ceived in some quarters as a gay anthem, the
song is less an anthem about the rights o f gay
persons than about the wrongs that have been
perpetrated against them:
T h e B ritish p o lic e are the best in the w orld ,
I d o n ’t b e lie v e o n e o f th ese stories I’ve heard.
A bou t them raiding g a y bars for n o reason at all.
L in in g their cu sto m ers up on the w a ll,
P ick in g up p e o p le , k n ock in g them d ow n . . . .
Written about nine years ago, Robinson's
observations seem no less true today. Have you
read about the recent raids on Los Angeles bars?
His first two albums, Tom Robinson Band
and TRB Two, focused not only on the rights of
gays but on political rights in general. But all is
not as bleak as this sounds. Included in TRB
Two, for example, are humorous songs such as
Black Angel” and “ Crossing Over the Road,”
the quintessential coming-out song.
These albums are but a prelude to the
apocalyptic vision contained on Robinson’s
third album. Sector 27. Here he grabs the gay
experience in Britain by the throat and throttles
seems to pick up where “ Crossing Over the
R oad” left off: “ You tell yourself you’re not
my kind, / But you don’t even know your mind /
And you could have a change o f heart. . . . ”
After 1984 the Doctor lost track o f Tom
Robinson. Maybe there’s been another album
out there somewhere that hasn’t been found,
perhaps a single on some independent label that
hasn’t been uncovered. But until these records
are discovered, or until someone else comes
along who can address the dreams and night­
mares that exist only after midnight, there is no
choice but to pull out those time-tested records
to remind ourselves that there’s more to being
gay than keeping up with the latest hits. I hope
that some o f Robinson’s contemporaries will
take note.
•
Join the Chorus!
he Portland Gay M en’s Chorus seeks to
increase its size by several singers in each
voice range for the last major concert in its
1987-88 season.
Rehearsals are held from 6:30 to 9:15 pm on
M ondays in Room 453, Cramer Hall, at Port­
land State University, starting April 18.
The next concert will be a lively program of
songs from the movies and will be performed
jointly with the Seattle M en’s Chorus on June 18
in the Intermediate Theatre of the Portland
C enter for the Performing Arts. Auditions may
be scheduled by calling the conductor, David
York, at 235-4231. *
•
T
“ F lo w e rs ... so sweet , the sense
fa in ts picturing them. ”
^ 7
Shelley
^
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la koro sutro
LOU HARRISON
/ otter peer support to people wi o
are committed to sett respect, sett
empowerment and sett-expression
My healing intent is that those
who work and play with me. using
creative sett-expression and art
media, w ill experience insights,
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new albion records
***
ON SALE * * *
compact disc- $ 13.99
cassette- $ 6.99
"Draw
Voursetf
Out!".
Ann Hinds
an medium
274 9591
MUSIC
MILLENNIUM
32nd & E. Burnside
231-8926
801 N.W. 23rd
248-0163
Just Out • 21 • April 1988