The Sad Tale of Jim Gordon

James Beck Gordon was born on July 14^th, 1945, in California. He began playing the drums as a kid, and at the age of 17, he played drums for the Everly Brothers, as a session drummer, of which he passed up a scholarship to UCLA to do. Gordon gained a lot of traction, appearing on many recordings for multiple bands and musicians, having been recommended as a studio musician by Hal Blaine, a famous studio musician, who was busy with more work than he knew what to do with. Blaine stated, “When I didn’t have the time, I recommended Jim. He was one hell of a drummer. I thought he was one of the real comers.”. Soon enough, Gordon would be flooded with plenty of studio work, having 2-3 recording sessions a day, sometimes up to 7 days a week. At the height of his studio musician career, he would fly from Las Vegas to Los Angeles every day to do a session, then back to Nevada to play the nightly show at Caesars Palace.

Near the end of the 60’s Jim Gordon ended up on multiple recordings for big acts such as ‘Pet Sounds’ by the Beach Boys, “Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers” (Gene Clark), “The Notorious Byrd Brothers” (the Byrds), and “Classical Gas” by Mason Williams.

Gordon later created a band, which broke up after one album. In 1969, the music duo Delaney and Bonnie were getting ready to tour in England when their drummer Jim Keltner either pulled out of the band, or made the agreement with Jim Gordon to switch Jim’s studio sessions with Keltner’s tour, since Jim wanted to go on the tour to be part of the backing band (I’ve seen different sources that say either happened). Either way, Jim Gordon got to go on tour with the band, and Keltner started doing more session drumming, later becoming an extremely renown session musician.

At the time, the backing band for Delaney and Bonnie included Eric Clapton, and George Harrison. The tour was a huge success, with the band being more popular in England that the U.S., even still, shows were sold out. While it seemed that the combination would have been everlasting, most left to join Leon Russel for Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and ENGLISHMEN tour. “When they left,“we were the last to know, and it broke out hearts.” one of the Bramletts said.

Delaney and Bonnie

The tour with Joe Crocker would include sex, drugs, forgetting lyrics, and sharing lots of different women. There was heroin, mescaline, MDA, cocaine, and acid. Jim Keltner, who appeared on the tour, said of it, “Sharing girls. Screwing every chick in sight. Most were there for that purpose. The drugs were just as easy to get. I wasn’t a stranger to them myself. Now I feel like I’m just lucky to have survived them.”

Jim Gordon participated in many of these drugs, even being able to power through many of the affects of them, including on stage. Before a show in Seattle one night, Gordon slipped some acid with Keltner, and later while playing “Bird on the Wire”, Keltner couldn’t continue. Gordon allegedly tried to coax Keltner on, but he couldn’t do it, and left in tears. Apparently, Jim did many drugs during the tour, virtually doing anything he could.

Gordon stated that, during this time he felt like he was being watched but it was all in the background.

It was around this time that Jim would hear murmurs, but he ignored them.

Instead of participating in groupies, Jim got into a relationship with fellow musician, Rita Coolidge. They spent their spare time together, would joke laugh, until one day he hit her. They were staying at the Warwick Hotel in New York when he called her into the hall, and left a black eye. She had a the bruise for the rest of the tour, and from then on, wanted nothing to do with him. While he would leave books of poetry and be apologetic, she wouldn’t budge.

Gordon continued on with more incidents. It was seemingly the start of his paranoia.

After the tour ended, Jim worked with George Harrison on the album “All Things Must Pass”, and later joined Eric Clapton to create Derek and The Dominoes. Gordon and Clapton would later create the hit song “Layla” with Gordon adding the piano melody. The band also used drugs, heroin being the one of choice.

After its only tour in 1972, the group broke up. Even though they stated it had to do with musical differences, drugs were a factor too. Allegedly, Gordon wasn’t paid for the song “Layla”, because the producers “said I would be dead in six months anyway.” Even still, Jim still did drugs, mainly heroin.

Jim still had plenty of work, from playing on Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”, John Lennon’s “Imagine” album, to touring with the band Traffic for their album “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”.

Eventually, Jim tired of all the drugs and work, and wanted to go home. He had totaled his ferrari. Word had spread of his drug use, how he hit Rita Coolidge, and how he even crashed his car. But this didn’t stop him from finding work, and he was still in extreme demand. Jim still ended up choosing dates to work with musicians. During this time, he played on “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” for Steely Dan, “Midnight At The Oasis” for Maria Maldaur, and “L.A.” Reggae” for Johnny Rivers.

During this time, Jim also worked with Frank Zappa, and was part of his “Petite Wazoo” and “Grand Wazoo” bands (10 piece and 20 piece). Jim played on the song “Apostrophe’” with Zappa and Jack Bruce, of which both latter musicians received writing credit. When Zappa would introduce Gordon on stage, he would call him ‘Skippy’, because of his youthful appearance.

While there were rumors that he had lost his touch, these songs, among others the worked on proved the rumors weren’t true.

In 1973, Jim’s father passed away, and he took a break from drugs. He bought a house, saw his daughter, and married Renée Armand. He went from drugs to alcohol, where he would end up drinking all day. He said of the time, “Before, I was drinking every night, but I wasn’t getting up in the morning for a drink; I would put a needle in my arm. When I stopped taking the heroin, I began to drink all day.”.

Eventually he went back to drugs, doing speedballs. Still, he had work, and even played with acts that had no participation in drugs. Gordon never stopped production or did drugs during his studio time.

Jim was noticeably changing during this time period, becoming more paranoid, less talkative, and even standing in the corner talking to himself in between sessions. Gordon told a friend not to give out his number, since he didn’t want to talk to anyone. He eventually retreated into isolation more, became self doubtful, and was full blown paranoid.

One day, Jim’s wife Renee came home from grocery shopping, having barely placed the groceries on the floor, when he came up to her with a menacing glare. He said, “I know what you’re doing.”, though she had no idea what he was talking about. Gordon then pointed at the groceries, saying, “The Magic Triangle”. He then accused her of being responsible for evil spirits in the house. To which she denied, and then he punched her, cracking several of her ribs. Renee stated that while she loved him so much, she couldn’t stay with him after that. She had no idea what had happened to him. Their marriage ended after 6 months.

When Jim was completely sober, he heard the voices. They came back, and were everywhere. There was a family of voices, with faces he could see in his mind but whose names he did not know. The leader was a man with a white beard, along with a young blonde woman. Some of the others were his brother aunt and mother.

Originally the voices started out friendly, telling him how to do things, and giving pointers in his life. “How to take care of myself and the house. How to shop. I was glad for the help. I was getting ready for the rest of my life. I thought it was pretty strange, but there was nothing I could do about it. I heard them all the time. They would tell me if I was doing right or wrong. And I took it in like a fool. They said I had some kind of responsibility to God and country. I was the king of the universe, they said. I had to make sacrifices, and I had to do what they said. That’s when my mother started making me eat half my food.”

When Jim would only eat half of his food, he would supplement the other half with alcohol. He would consume a fifth of scotch or vodka, and still work.

Eventually he got into another relationship, this time with a woman named Stacey Bailey. Jim would tell Bailey about the voices, while also complaining about how his mother was trying to take over his life. He’d complain that he would try to please his mother, but it was never enough for her. One night, Stacey woke up unable to breath. Jim was choking her. She tried to say whatever she could to get him to stop, and when on the verge of passing out, he loosened his grip. He repeated it over and over, and eventually fell back laughing, saying that it was a joke. Bailey ran to the neighbors, hysterical, while Gordon begged her to come back. He told her, “I just wanted to see if you really cared about me”.

While people heard and knew of his abuse to women, most didn’t say anything.

Gordon tried to cut back on drugs and alcohol, but only stayed off of them for a short amount of time. The voices were getting worse, and he later went back to drinking to try and quiet the voices.

In 1977, Gordon was in session recording with Johnny Rivers, when he started to glare at the guitarist, Dean Parks. Jim apparently rose to his feet, and said, “You’re messing with my time. You’re moving my hands, I want you to stop it.” Parks told Jim that there was no way he could be messing with him from across the room, and eventually they went back to playing. Not long later, Jim tried to get at another person.

Eventually, it became known that Gordon was turning into a liability, and producers didn’t want to hire him anymore. In turn, Jim started taking lower paying work, such as TV and commercials.

The voices got worse, to the point that they would only allow him to eat one bite of his food. His mother’s voice was the worst in his head, never relenting. He called his mother, who didn’t know what was even going on. His mother told him that he needed help, and so he checked into the Van Nuys Psychiatric Hospital. This would be the beginning of over 14 times he’d check himself into hospitals, over the next 6 years.

When with the doctors, he told them that he heard his mother’s voice, among others. His mother, Osa, would visit, and he’d tell doctors that she was the only friend that he had. He was able to get permission to go home with her on weekends, but the voices would still torment him. Eventually, Jim checked himself out of the hospital after two months, against his doctor’s recommendations. Jim agreed to see a doctor outpatient, but on his September 3^rd appointment, he didn’t show up.

Gordon’s mother found him at home, unconscious, having attempted suicide. He stated that the voices didn’t care if he killed himself. He refused to continue therapy, and reluctantly went back to work. Gordon went on tour with Jackson Browne in 1978, but ultimately, it didn’t change things. When he came back from the tour, the industry was slow, and he found it hard to get work. When he was out of work, he would drink to drown out the voices, but it didn’t help.

Gordon got a call to go on tour with Bob Dylan, but the voices made him say no, which saddened him to have missed the opportunity. Later, he got a call to do a job in Las Vegas, to which he initially agreed, but the voices told him to leave, so he did. This was another blow, since Gordon really wanted to perform.

When he came back, he was severely depressed, and checked himself into Valley Presbyterian Hospital. While there, he threatened to kill a nurse, who he claimed, “Wouldn’t leave me alone.”. Once again he checked out of the hospital, against the doctor’s orders.

By the time the 80’s started, Jim Gordon was barely considered a professional musician anymore. He stopped playing his drums, stopped bathing at times, and would go days without shaving or changing his clothes. He checked into a hospital on June 5^th of 1980, but left the next day. When he came to hospital, he had already consumed two thirds of a bottle of cognac and half a gallon of wine.

When he would leave the hospital, he would always go back to Osa, his mom, despite having the voice in his head of her. At times, he thought that his mother wanted him to die. He felt that this purpose was over.

Jim on the far left

On October 22^nd, 1982, Jim checked himself into another hospital. He said that he felt he was dying of “hate” and that his “world was falling apart.” Having not seen her son in two years, Osa wrote Jim a letter. He never opened it. The voices in his head told him not to. Her letter stated that she thought of him, loved him, and was moving in with his brother in Seattle in a month.

On June 1^st of that year, at 9:30 pm, Gordon called his mother. He told her, “You’re bugging me again. I’m going to kill you.” Osa denied the accusations, and he hung up. She then called the Medical Center of North Hollywood and asked if her son had been there. The nurse told her that Jim was admitted that day, had been drinking, and when he asked for the antipsychotic drug Thorazine, become agitated that the doctor wasn’t in; so he left. His mother then called the police, but they told her that there nothing they could do, and suggested that she leave the lights on in her house, while also wishing her luck. His mother called her other son, John, but no-one was home.

Gordon called her again, at 11:40 pm, with an essential repeat of the previous conversation. Afterwards, she decided against calling John, because it was too late in the night. The next day, she called the city attorney’s office about a restraining her, but the process was unsuccessful.

The next day, Gordon appeared at her apartment.

Jim hadn’t ever raised a hand to her before, and none of the doctors ever warned her that he would either.

Neighbors heard screaming, and called the police.

Law enforcement went to Jim’s apartment the next morning to inform him of his mother’s death, to find him face down on the living room floor sobbing. He wasn't on any drugs when he killed his mother, then afterwards went to a bar and consumed a large amount of different types of alcohol after.

Gordon stated that he had no interest in killing her, but her voice wanted him to do so. “Good riddance to her” he stated. He attacked her with a hammer, hitting her in the head. Then he stabbed her with a butcher knife in the chest three times. Jim’s mother, Osa Marie Gordon, was 72 years old at the time of her murder.

Recent Picture of him

In 1984, he was sentenced to 16 years to life, and is still incarcerated. As of 2016, he is serving his sentence at the California Medical Facility, in Vacaville, CA. He has been denied parole every time, most recently in 2018, for 3 years. In March of 2019, there was an administrative review to advance the his parole hearing date. On April 16^th, and July 16^th, the parole suitabilities were postponed until November 14^th, 2019. On November 14^th, 2019, Gordon was to have his latest parole hearing, but waived the right to a hearing for 3 years. His next hearing was postponed, won’t be until November of 2022.

Osa Marie Gordon is buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery, in California.