You've certainly made your mark on the world when your name becomes an idiom, synonymous with charm, charisma and roguish good looks. And when songwriters want a short-cut metaphor for all of the above... Robert Redford is an obvious name-drop.
You're just a Coca Cola cowboy
You got an Eastwood smile and a Robert Redford hair
But you walked across my heart like it was Texas
You taught me how to say I just don't care
I don't mean to criticize the girls at all
'Cause I'm no Robert Redford even overhauled
But we all picture in our minds a girl that looks just right
Now ain't it funny, ain't it strange the way a man's opinions change
When he starts to face that lonely night
I could get myself a nose job, I could diet for a year
But I'll never be Robert Redford 'cause I'm much to fond of beer
Please don't misunderstand me, it's not love I'm trying to buy
It's just I got all this here money and I'm a pretty ordinary guy
Now Lord knows you ain't a saint, and Robert Redford you ain't
But you got a heart of gold through and through
And when it comes to lovin', that old, ooh, kissin' and a-huggin'
Ain't nobody else ever gonna do
That's all right but I wish they'd confuse me
With somebody like Burt Reynolds or Robert Redford,
All them guys that really look like me
Jean-Paul Belmondo?
Alain Delon? No!
Clint Eastwood? J'ai dit no!
Paul Newman?
Robert Redford? J'ai dit no!
Frank Sinatra and a Rolls Royce
A great set of wheels and a golden voice
Robert Redford is the shiniest star on the silver screen
And don't forget about Michelangelo and New York
The biggest apple and the greatest art
They're the very best I've ever seen
I get no pleasure when I'm going through the motions of my mediocre day-to-day
I'm just an actor, just like Robert fucking Redford
When I say those stupid words that they expect me to say
She likes me for me
Not because I look like Tyson Beckford
With the charm of Robert Redford
Oozing out my ears
But what she sees
Are my faults and indecisions
My insecure conditions
And the tears upon the pillow that I shed
You think that love's
What's on that silver screen
Raquel and Redford are the tops
You've been misled
By all those movies you've seen
I'm Redford, you're Newman on the take
You're a 7.6 earthquake
None of those really compare with the greatest ever lyrical reference to Bobby Redford, courtesy of... Lee Majors?!?
I might fall from a tall building
I might roll a brand-new car
'Cause I'm the unknown stuntman
That made Redford such a star
Strangely though, that wasn't the first song which popped into my mind when I heard about the passing of Robert Redford. Although some might argue this is more of a Paul Newman song... still, for me it marks a sunset for Sundance...