Somebody’s Knockin’

SOMEBODY’S KNOCKIN’
 
 
“Somebody’s Knockin’”  is the debut single of American country music singer Terri Gibbs.  It was released in late 1980 from her debut album, Somebody’s Knockin’.  It was co-written by Jerry Gillespie and Ed Penney.  Penney was a record company executive who liked Gibbs’s voice when he first heard her audition tape, but felt she needed stronger material.  Penney was a former Boston disc jockey who had promoted records and written a number of songs before moving to Nashville.  He was the producer of “Somebody’s Knockin’” and became Terri Gibbs’s manager.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

Terri Gibbs had a major crossover hit with her debut 1981 single, “Somebody’s Knockin’” which reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Adult Contemporary charts.  Although not overtly Christian, her gospel roots show through clearly on this number – in the guise of a woman being tempted for “one heavenly night” with “the devil . . . in blue eyes and blue jeans”, she quips:  “My fever’s burning, so he ought to be right at home”.  

 

“Somebody’s Knockin’” earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song, and the accompanying album, Somebody’s Knockin’ won the Academy of Country Music Award for Best New Country Artist and the inaugural Horizon Award (for an artist gaining new recognition) from the Country Music Association Awards.  

 

(July 2014)