1958



Rod Bernard, Pardon Mr. Gordon.
Rod Bernard, This Should Go On Forever.

You might not be able to guess from listening to the tracks, but Rod Bernard was a Cajun. Born in Opelusas, Louisiana, in 1940, Bernard was playing guitar and singing professionally by the time he was 10 years old, first in a group called the Blue Room Gang and, after Bernard had heard Elvis, with a rock & roll band called the Twisters.

"This Should Go On Forever" was Bernard's moment in the sun: a national pop hit, leading to appearances on American Bandstand (where Dick Clark asked Bernard to rewrite the song's best lines, "If it's sin to really love you/then a sinner I will be" so as not to offend teenagers) and tours with Frankie Avalon and Chuck Berry.

However, I've always loved the other side of the single far more. That's where you'll find "Pardon Mr. Gordon," which follows in the grand tradition of songs sung by men who acknowledge they're going to get thrashed by a bigger, meaner guy if they don't get out of the way. (Descendents include Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Gimme Three Steps.")

And is it just me, or does the sped-up Alvin and the Chipmunks-esque line really sound like Bernard's saying "Shut the fuck up"? Maybe it's just me.

Released as Jin 105, and later in 1959 as Argo 5327. On Essential Collection.

Click here to see Gordon lip-synching "This Should Go On Forever" on American Bandstand, April 1959.