Tag Archives: Bob Seger

♫ Bob Seger Week Grand Finale ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Well, friends, this is the final day of Bob Seger Week … I’ve had fun with it, and I hope you have too!  As usually happens when I do a weeklong focus on a single artist or band, I have several left over that I wanted to play, so I’m compiling them all into this final post … for the sake of brevity, I won’t be posting lyrics, and only a short snippet of background info on each song.

Like A Rock

Bob Seger always seemed more like a regular guy than a Rock Star, and this moving song about pride and consistency struck a chord with working class Americans who could relate to him. Seger grew up in Michigan, paid his dues with constant touring, and stayed true to his roots.

Seger was 40 years old when this song was released, and there was a wisdom to his words that appealed to his audience. In a 1986 interview with Creem magazine, he said: “It’s a matter of growing up. From the time I was 20 until I was 30, I didn’t sell a whole lot of records, but I was doing a lot of rock ‘n’ roll. That’s the way I felt at the time. Maybe during the period when I was 30 to 40, I was getting more mature, writing about older themes. I’m sure ‘Like A Rock’ doesn’t mean much to someone who’s 20, but I gotta write what I know about.”

Little Drummer Boy

As I keep telling my family, Christmas is OVER!  But … Clive suggested this one anyway, and I must admit it is a great version of the song, and by next December I will have forgotten, so I’m including it in this roundup anyway!  🎄

Bob Seger’s version of The Little Drummer Boy gained widespread popularity when it was included on the 1987 album A Very Special Christmas. The album featured various artists performing holiday classics, and Seger’s heartfelt rendition struck a chord with listeners.

Throughout the song, Seger’s soulful delivery and the haunting melody convey a deep sense of longing and humility. The drummer boy, a humble character from a humble background, represents the importance of pouring one’s heart and soul into whatever gifts we have to offer. This message resonates with listeners across generations, reminding us that even the smallest acts of kindness and love can have a profound impact.

Roll Me Away

According to Seger the song was inspired by a motorcycle trip he took to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Says Seger …

“I wanted to do that for a long time. It was fascinating being out. The first night it was 42 degrees in northern Minnesota; the second it was 106 in South Dakota and all I had on was my shorts, and my feet were up on the handlebars to keep them from boiling on the engine. It was just silence and feeling nature.”

Rolling Stone critic Dave Marsh described it as an “anthemic” song and considers it Seger’s best single. Marsh interprets the song as being about “leaving a shattered home for a life that has to be better, though it never quite is.” Marsh elaborates that the narrator of the song has lost his love and so goes off on a cold and lonely journey while he “lets his frustrations and confusion congeal into one sad cry that dissolves his fate into what has happened to the whole crazy mess of a world in which he lives. He sings that he plans to straighten things out for as long as he is searching but at the end he admits that only next time will they be able to get it right.”

Classic Rock History critic Janey Roberts rated it as Seger’s all-time best song, noting some influence from Bruce Springsteen.

Shame on the Moon

This is one of the few that Bob Seger did not write himself.  It was written by Rodney Crowell, who recorded it on his 1981 self-titled album.  Some Eagles are part of this story. Don Henley is the one who turned Seger on to Crowell. When Seger bought Crowell’s album, he loved Shame On The Moon and played it for his band. His producer, Jimmy Iovine, wasn’t sold, but when Seger recorded harmony vocals with his good friend Glenn Frey, he knew they had something special. Seger co-wrote the Eagles song Heartache Tonight with Frey a few years earlier.

In Your Time

I can find absolutely no background information or trivia about this one at all, so just sit back and enjoy the music.

And as they say in the movies …

♫ Hollywood Nights ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Next to the last day of Bob Seger Week, and I still have several I want to play, so I guess that means that Sunday’s will be a compilation of those ‘several’!  But for today, I am playing one that was specifically requested by David, for he rarely actually makes a request.  I had never heard this one before, and likely never will again, but I hope you all like it!

According to SongFacts …

Bob Seger was never the LA type: Born and raised in Michigan, he remained rooted in the Detroit area and built a reputations as a blue collar rock star with a Midwest sensibility. When he got off the road and hunkered down to record, he often did so at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, which is even more distant (physically and culturally) than Los Angeles. For the Stranger In Town album, he worked in Detroit and in Alabama, but went to LA to finish the album. When he was there, he rented a house in the Hollywood Hills, where he could see the bright lights of the big city.

The “Hollywood nights, Hollywood hills” idea came to him when he was driving in the area; when he got back to his rented house, he saw a copy of Time magazine (March 6, 1978), with the model Cheryl Tiegs on the cover. She fit the LA archetype: blond, skinny, huge smile. Her headline read: The All-American Model.

Using the chorus he came up with in the car, Seger started crafting a story about a guy from the Midwest who comes to Hollywood and meets his dream girl. They go on whirlwind adventures, but it comes to a sudden end one morning when he wakes up alone. He’s left looking over the Hollywood Hills, wondering if he can ever go back home.

To create the insistent percussion on this track, Seger’s drummer, David Teegarden, recorded one pass, then overdubbed a different pattern on top of it, so it sounds like there are two drummers playing on it.

Billy Payne of Little Feat played the piano and organ on this track. Backing vocals were done by the Waters family: Julia, Luther, Maxine and Oren. Recording in LA gave Seger access to this talent; the Waters’ backed some of the biggest names in music, including Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand.

This charted at #12 in the U.S. and #42 in the UK, and if it charted elsewhere in the world, I cannot find any evidence of it.

Hollywood Nights

Bob Seger

She stood there bright as the sun on that California coast
He was a Midwestern boy on his own
She looked at him with those soft eyes, so innocent and blue
He knew right then he was too far from home

He was too far from home

She took his hand, and she led him along that golden beach
They watched the waves tumble over the sand
They drove for miles and miles up those twisting turning roads
Higher and higher and higher they climbed

And those Hollywood nights
In those Hollywood hills
She was looking so right
In her diamonds and frills
All those big city nights
In those high rolling hills
Above all the lights
She had all of the skills

He’d headed west ’cause he felt that a change would do him good
See some old friends, good for the soul
She had been born with a face that would let her get her way
He saw that face and he lost all control

He had lost all control

Night after night, day after day, it went on and on
Then came that morning, he woke up alone
He spent all night staring down at the lights of L.A.
Wondering if he could ever go home

That was Hollywood nights
In those Hollywood hills
It was looking so right
It was giving him chills
In those big city nights
In those high rolling hills
Above all the lights
With a passion that kills

In those Hollywood nights
In those Hollywood hills
She was looking so right
In her diamonds and frills
All those big city lights
In those high rolling hills
Above all the lights
She had all of the skills

Hollywood nights
Hollywood hills
Above all the lights
Hollywood nights
Hollywood nights
Hollywood hills
Above all the lights
Hollywood nights

Hollywood nights
Hollywood hills
Above all the lights
Hollywood nights
Hollywood nights
Hollywood hills
Above all the lights
Hollywood nights

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bob Seger

Hollywood Nights lyrics © Gear Publishing Company Inc, Gear Publishing Co. Inc.

♫ We’ve Got Tonite ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

The irony is in that I posted this song in another weeklong tribute series … one to the late Kenny Rogers shortly after his death in 2020!  I loved the way Kenny and Sheena Easton did this one, though I did note at that time that I preferred the Bob Seger version.  And now, it is Bob Seger week and I get a good excuse to play it again, only this time featuring Bob Seger!  I think this and Against The Wind are my two favourite Seger songs.

Seger wrote this and first recorded it on his 1978 album Stranger in Town. Seger wrote the song after seeing the movie The Sting, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman. In the film, there’s scene where Redford puts the moves on a waitress, who says, “I don’t even know you.” He replies: “You know me. I’m the same as you. It’s two in the morning and I don’t know nobody.”  According to Seger …

“That just hit me real hard. The next day I wrote ‘We’ve Got Tonight,’ this song about two people who say ‘I’m tired. It’s late at night. I know you don’t really dig me, and I don’t really dig you, but this is all we’ve got, so let’s do it.’ The sexual revolution was still going strong then.”

Rather reminds me of Sinatra’s Strangers in the Night.

In 1983, Kenny Rogers recorded the song as a duet with Scottish pop star Sheena Easton, and made it the title track of his album We’ve Got Tonight.  Said Rogers …

“I liked the idea of recording with Sheena: I thought the contrast in styles – I’m so throaty and she’s so trained and pure – would really work well.”

Easton’s contribution to the track would prove a bone of critical contention: whereas Rolling Stone critic Christopher Connelly would dismiss the Easton/Rogers duet of We’ve Got Tonight as “shrieking [and] insensitive”, and Jerseyite critic Jim Bohen would lament how Rogers “who usually sounds good duetting with women” was defeated by “Easton’s nails-across-the-blackboard voice”, Dennis Hunt (Los Angeles Times) would prefer the Rogers/Easton take to the Seger original due to a “very appealing blend of sharply contrasting voices, his deep and hers very high” adding that “Rogers, never known for his vocal power, stretches to match Easton, [attaining] his finest vocal performance”, and AllMusic critic Joe Viglione would opine that Easton’s “splendid voice reaching the high registers over Kenny’s familiar monotone…really makes [the track] special.”

Bob Seger’s version that I’m playing tonight hit #9 in Canada, #13 in the U.S., and of all the Seger songs I’ve played I think this is the first to actually chart in the UK, albeit in different years:  #41 in 1979, #60 in 1982, and finally #22 in 1995.

We’ve Got Tonight

Bob Seger

I know it’s late, I know you’re weary
I know your plans don’t include me
Still here we are, both of us lonely
Longing for shelter from all that we see
Why should we worry, no one will care girl
Look at the stars so far away
We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow?
We’ve got tonight babe
Why don’t you stay?

Deep in my soul I’ve been so lonely
All of my hopes fading away
I’ve longed for love like everyone else does
I know I’ll keep searching even after today
So there it is girl, I’ve said it all now
And here we are babe, what do you say?
We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow?
We’ve got tonight babe
Why don’t you stay?

I know it’s late, I know you’re weary
I know your plans don’t include me
Still here we are, both of us lonely
Both of us lonely

We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow?
Let’s make it last, let’s find a way
Turn out the light, come take my hand now
We’ve got tonight babe
Why don’t you stay?
Why don’t you stay?

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Bob Seger
We’ve Got Tonight lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

♫ Mainstreet ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Heck, I can’t believe we’re already halfway through Bob Seger Week!  Thanks go to Clive for suggesting this week … I’m having fun with it and I hope you are, too!  Today’s song is one I hadn’t heard until I listened to it last night.

Mainstreet is a slower, more nostalgic song than much of Seger’s other works. Seger recorded this song at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Alabama. The studio was owned by four of the guys who played on the track: David Hood (bass), Jimmy Johnson (rhythm guitar), Roger Hawkins (drums) and Barry Beckett (keyboards). The lead guitarist on the session was Pete Carr.

According to Wikipedia …

Seger has stated that the street he was singing about is Ann Street, just off Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he grew up. There was a pool hall there where they had girls dancing in the window and R&B bands playing on the weekends. He said, “Again, that’s going back to the ‘Night Moves’ situation where I was writing about my high school years in Ann Arbor and what it was like — the discovery, the total naivete and fresh–faced openness that I went through. It was sort of an entire awakening of my life; before that I was kind of a quiet, lonesome kid.”

Seger later expanded on the origins of the song:

Just like “Night Moves,” that song rings true. What do they tell you about writing? They say you have to write about what you know. I grew up near that street corner. My older brother was a lot of trouble and I was not. My parents always called me “the good one” and they said: “You’re the one we can trust.” So at age 10, 11, 12 I was able to walk through Ann Arbor until midnight if I felt like it.

There was a club, and this blues band from Chicago named Washboard Willie was playing there. In the window of this club there were people dancing, and occasionally there would be a beautiful girl dancing in the window. And at my age you were starting to wake up to girls. I would sit out there and watch through the window and listen to this great R&B. I’m looking and I’m listening and thinking this is what I wanna do with my life.

The club was very lively, and to a 12, 13-year-old that was pretty cool. I loved the groove because it’s Chicago blues, and the women are dancing and you’re starting to think the women are looking pretty good. So all that stuff ended up becoming the elements for the song “Mainstreet.”

VH1’s Mike McPadden selected Mainstreet as one of Seger’s 10 most essential songs, describing it as “sad, sweet, soulful, and even spooky” for how it evokes the emotions of a hopeful but frustrated young man watching a woman he is too scared to approach.

This one charted at #1 in Canada and #24 in the U.S., not at all in the UK.

Mainstreet

Bob Seger

I remember standin’ on the corner at midnight
Tryin’ to get my courage up
There was this long lovely dancer in a little club downtown
Loved to watch her do her stuff

Through the long lonely nights
She filled my sleep
Her body softly swayin’
To that smokey beat
Down on mainstreet
Down on mainstreet

And the poolhalls, the hustlers, and the losers
Used to watch ’em through the glass
Well I’d stand outside at closin’ time
Just to watch her walk on past

Unlike all the other ladies
She looked so young and sweet
As she made her alone down that empty street
Down on mainstreet
Down on mainstreet
Ooh

Sometimes even now
When I’m feelin’ lonely and beat
I drift back in time and I find my feet
Down on mainstreet
Down on mainstreet

Down on mainstreet
Down on mainstreet
Down on mainstreet
Down on mainstreet

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bob Seger

Mainstreet lyrics © Gear Publishing Company Inc, Gear Publishing Co. Inc.

♫ Still The Same ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Bob Seger certainly had a wide range of music, didn’t he?  I spent some time tonight listening to some that I hadn’t heard before … one almost broke my bloomin’ eardrums!  I was looking for ones I liked, but hadn’t played yet here on Filosofa’s Word, and I came across this one that I’ve long liked, but didn’t realize it was Bob Seger!  Yes, I am culturally illiterate – I admit it!

There isn’t much background information that I could find about the song, but according to SongFacts …

This song is about a slick gambler who always seems a step ahead. At first, Seger seems to be talking this guy up, enamored with his winning ways and how he’s still the same. But at the end of the song, we learn this isn’t the case: Seger turns and walks away from him because he hasn’t changed, and there’s nothing left to say. It’s like reconnecting with an old friend, only to be reminded of why you stayed apart.

Seger says it’s not about a specific person, but a composite of “Type A, overachieving” people he’s encountered, particularly in Hollywood, where he lived for a few months while recording the Stranger In Town album. There aren’t as many of these types in Michigan, where Seger is from.

Seger told Bob Costas about the type of person in this song: “They’re just very charismatic, but they have tremendous faults, but part of the appeal is the charisma. You overlook everything because of the charisma. That’s a gift and a curse.”

This is one of four songs on the Stranger In Town album that Seger recorded with his Silver Bullet Band, which included bass player Chris Campbell and drummer David Teegarden. The other songs he recorded in Alabama using the musicians at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

The song charted at #4 in both the U.S. and Canada, but as far as I can tell did not chart in the UK.

Still The Same

Bob Seger

You always won every time you placed a bet
You’re still damn good
No one’s gotten to you yet
Every time they were sure they had you caught
You were quicker than they thought
You’d just turn your back and walk

You always said the cards would never do you wrong
The trick, you said, was never play the game too long
A gambler’s share, the only risk that you would take
The only loss you could forsake
The only bluff you couldn’t fake

And you’re still the same
I caught up with you yesterday (still the same, still the same)
Moving game to game
No one standing in your way
Turning on the charm
Long enough to get you by (still the same, still the same)
You’re still the same
You still aim high

Still the same, still the same

Still the same, still the same

There you stood, everybody watched you play
I just turned and walked away
I had nothing left to say

‘Cause you’re still the same
Still the same, baby, baby, you’re still the same
You’re still the same
Still the same, baby, baby, you’re still the same
Moving game to game
Still the same, baby, baby, you’re still the same

Some things never change
Still the same, baby, baby, you’re still the same
You’re still the same
Still the same, baby, baby, you’re still the same
Still the same
Still the same, baby, baby, you’re still the same

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bob Seger

Still The Same lyrics © Gear Publishing Company Inc, Gear Publishing Co., Inc.

♫ Old Time Rock & Roll ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Continuing Bob Seger Week …

I’m not sure I can say this is my absolute favourite Bob Seger tune, but it’s gotta be close.  This one not only gets the toes tapping, but it gets the whole foot stomping in rhythm with the music, makes me wanna get up and dance … but, I’d probably land on my posterior with a broken hip or some such.

According to SongFacts …

This is one of the few songs Seger recorded that he didn’t write. It was written by the songwriters George Jackson and Thomas Jones – they worked for Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, where the song was recorded. Although Seger worked on the lyrics, he didn’t take any songwriting credit. This means that Seger doesn’t own the publishing rights to the song, and Jackson and Jones control when it is used in movies and commercials.

According to Seger, he was feeling generous that day, and says not seeking composer credit was “the dumbest thing I ever did.” Seger claims he changed all the original lyrics except for the “old time rock and roll” part. He made sure to take a dig at disco music, which was fading in popularity.

Seger recorded this with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, a famous group of studio musicians who owned their own recording studio in Alabama. Other singers they had worked with include Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, and Rod Stewart. They gave many songs a feeling of authenticity, which was important to Seger because his previous album, Night Moves, was very successful and he didn’t want to be perceived as selling out to pop radio.

The lead guitar player on “Old Time Rock And Roll” was not a Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section player. It was Forrest McDonald, a young man just passing through who happened to stop in the studio that day. When Songfacts spoke with David Hood, he told the story: “He happened to come in the parking lot in his mother and daddy’s car with them, and Jimmy was out on the back porch. I believe his first name was Howie, but he probably goes by another name. But anyway, that’s very true. He came into the parking lot one afternoon and Jimmy was out on the back porch. And he says, ‘Well, I’m a guitar player and I’m wanting to learn how to play on recording sessions. And I think I’m good.’ He says, ‘Well, got your guitar with you?’ He says, ‘Yeah.’ Jimmy says, ‘Well, come on in.’ And they put him on the track. His mother and daddy never even got out of the car. They sat in the car in the parking lot with the air conditioning running. And they put him on the track playing guitar and it’s on the record, it stayed on there. It was a good enough part that they kept it on there.”

McDonald wasn’t credited for his part on the song, but he did get paid.

According to McDonald, he lived in Hollywood but was in Alabama to visit his father when they decided to go to Muscle Shoals. He hadn’t been on any major recordings, but he was a professional musician who played the Sunset Strip and performed with Van Halen.

McDonald went on to be a successful musician in his own right. He released dozens of blues albums, won some awards, and performed extensively in shows and festivals, mostly in the Southeastern United States. He sang backup vocals on several tracks for the soundtrack to the 2001 Sean Penn film I Am Sam.

This wasn’t one of Seger’s highest charting songs, only reaching #28 in the U.S., #31 in Canada, and didn’t chart in the UK, though it did earn Silver Certification there (I’m not sure how that works … perhaps Clive can enlighten us).

Old Time Rock & Roll

Bob Seger

Just take those old records off the shelf
I’ll sit and listen to ’em by myself
Today’s music ain’t got the same soul
I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
Don’t try to take me to a disco
You’ll never even get me out on the floor
In ten minutes I’ll be late for the door
I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll (oh)

Won’t go to hear ’em play a tango
I’d rather hear some blues or funky old soul
There’s only one sure way to get me to go
Start playing old time rock ‘n’ roll
Call me a relic, call me what you will
Say I’m old-fashioned, say I’m over the hill
Today’s music ain’t got the same soul
I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll (oh)

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll (hey)

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
I reminisce about the days of old
With that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: George Henry Jackson / Thomas Earl Jones III

Old Time Rock & Roll lyrics © Peermusic Publishing

♫ Night Moves ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

It’s been a few weeks since we had a week dedicated to a single artist (or group) and per a suggestion by Clive, I thought this would be a good week to start a new one … so get your headphones on, crank the volume up, and get ready for some … {drumroll} … Bob Seger!  Yep, this is officially Bob Seger Week on Filosofa’s Word … I have a few planned that I like or that Clive mentioned, but please weigh in with your favourites and I’ll try to fit them all in!  And now …

I asked Google what Seger’s most iconic song was, and it said Night Moves.  Lucky for me, it’s one that I like, so it’s the perfect choice to lead off Bob Seger Week!

From Wikipedia …

“Night Moves” has roots in Seger’s adolescence; he wrote the song in an attempt to capture the “freedom and looseness” he experienced during that period of his life. At a certain point, he began socializing with a rougher crowd, who thought he was cool because he played music. The song’s contents are largely autobiographical; for example, the group of friends would often hold parties they called “grassers”, which involved going to a farmer’s field outside Ann Arbor to dance. Through these, he met a woman—credited as Rene Andretti in the Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings—whose boyfriend was in the military and was away. “It’s about this dark haired Italian girl that I went out with when I was 19, she was one year older than me,” he later recalled. Seger promptly pursued a romance with the girl, but eventually her boyfriend returned and they married, leaving Seger broken-hearted. Seger later told journalist Timothy White that many of his early songs were written to impress the girl.

The song took Seger over six months to complete writing. He had recently purchased a house due to the success of his first live album, Live Bullet, and he and the band would write and practice in its large basement. The ending lyrics were written first. The use of descriptive imagery was inspired by Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee” (1969), a song that Seger loved and which motivated him as he was developing his writing style. The catalyst for writing “Night Moves” came after Seger saw the 1973 film American Graffiti: “I came out of the theater thinking, ‘Hey, I’ve got a story to tell, too! Nobody has ever told about how it was to grow up in my neck of the woods.'” Seger was inspired by the film’s depictions of early 1960s car culture, of which he was a part.

SongFacts also has quite a bit of background info on the song, if you’re interested.  This charted in 1976 at #4 in the U.S. and #5 in Canada, and almost 20 years later, in 1995, it finally charted in the UK, although only at #45.

Night Moves

Bob Seger

I was a little too tall, could’ve used a few pounds
Tight pants points, hardly renowned
She was a black-haired beauty with big dark eyes
And points of her own, sittin’ way up high

Way up firm and high
Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy
Out in the back seat of my ’60 Chevy
Workin’ on mysteries without any clues

Workin’ on our night moves
Tryin’ to make some front page drive-in news
Workin’ on our night moves
In the summertime
Umm, in the sweet summertime

We weren’t in love, oh no, far from it
We weren’t searchin’ for some pie in the sky summit
We were just young and restless and bored
Livin’ by the sword

And we’d steal away every chance we could
To the backroom, to the alley or the trusty woods
I used her, she used me but neither one cared
We were gettin’ our share

Workin’ on our night moves
Tryin’ to lose the awkward teenage blues
Workin’ on our night moves
Mmm, and it was summertime
Mmm, sweet, summertime, summertime

Oh, wonderin’
Felt the lightning, yeah
And I waited on the thunder
Waited on the thunder

I woke last night to the sound of thunder
How far off I sat and wondered?
Started hummin’ a song from 1962
Ain’t it funny how the night moves?

When you just don’t seem to have as much to lose
Strange how the night moves
With autumn closin’ in

Mmm, night moves, mmm
(Night moves) night moves
(Night moves) yeah
(Night moves) I remember
(Night moves) ah, I sure remember the night moves
(Night moves) ain’t it funny how you remember?
(Night moves) funny how you remember
(Night moves) I remember, I remember, I remember, I remember
(Night moves) oh, oh, oh

we were workin’, workin’ and practicin’
(Night moves) workin’ and practicin’
(Night moves) oh, on the night moves, night moves
(Night moves) oh
(Night moves) I remember, yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember
(Night moves) ooh
(Night moves) I remember, Lord I remember, Lord I remember
(Night moves) ha, ha, ooh-hoo
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah
Uh huh, uh huh
I remember, I remember

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Bob Seger

Night Moves lyrics © Gear Publishing Company Inc, Gear Publishing Co. Inc.

♫ Against The Wind ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

I was looking for some ‘new’ old music to post tonight, something I haven’t already played here before, but nothing I listened to quite filled the bill.  It got late … 3:15 a.m. right now … and I got tired, but this one kept coming back into my head for some reason, so … why not?  It’s a good tune, I like it, and I haven’t played it for more than two years!

I used to drive a little tiny 2-seater Subaru hatchback that I named “Little Silver Bullet” because at the time I drank Coors Light beer (yes, I name my cars … and my vacuum cleaners … what of it?).  When the company I worked for hired a sign painter to paint our logo on the new trucks, he offered to paint “Little Silver Bullet” on the back of my car, free of charge.  Of course I took him up on his offer, and thereafter I was known among CB enthusiasts and truckers as the Little Silver Bullet, or sometimes just Li’l Bullet for short.  Ahhh … the good ol’ days!  “10-4 good buddy — I got your six.”  Back in those days, the CB radio was to me what the internet is today!  Another era, a different lifetime.

This song by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band was released in 1980, the second single from the album of the same name.  Glenn Frey and Don Henley of the Eagles sang background vocals on this song.  Seger said of this song:

“My old friend Glenn Frey of the Eagles had an idea that our guitarist Drew Abbott should play along with the piano solo. He and I then went out and did the background vocals together. The line ‘Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then’ bothered me for the longest time, but everyone I knew loved it so I left it in. It has since appeared in several hits by other artists, so I guess it’s OK.  

The only thing that bothered me about that phrase was the grammar. It sounded grammatically funny to me. I kept asking myself, ‘Is that correct grammar?’ I liked the line, and everybody I played it for – like Glenn and Don (Henley) – were saying, ‘That’s the best line in the song,’ but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t right. But I slowly came around. You have to understand that songwriters can’t punctuate anything they write. I work in such a narrow medium that I tend to second-guess things like that. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen that line in a few other songs since I came up with it, so I guess it was okay after all.”

Against the Wind charted at #5  in the U.S., #6 in Canada, and never quite found its way onto the UK charts.

Against the Wind
Bob Seger

Seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Janey was lovely she was the queen of my nights
There in darkness with the radio playin low
And the secrets that we shared, mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
Til there was nothin left to burn and nothin left to prove

And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then

Against the wind
We were runnin against the wind
We were young and strong we were runnin against the wind

And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
Found myself further and further from my home and I
Guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was livin to run and runnin to live
Never worried about payin or even how much I owe

Movin’ eight miles a minute and for months at a time
Breakin all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searchin
Searchin for shelter again and again

Against the wind
Little somethin against the wind
I found myself seekin shelter against the wind

Well those drifters days are past me now
I’ve got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out

Against the wind
I’m still runnin against the wind
I’m older now but still runnin against the wind

Well I’m older now but still runnin against the wind
Against the wind
Against the wind
Still runnin
Against the wind
Against the wind
Against the wind…

Songwriters: SEGER ROBERT CLARK
Against the Wind lyrics © Gear Publishing, Gear Publishing Company Inc, GEAR PUBLISHING CO., INC., HIDEOUT RECORDS/DISTRIBTRS INC (GEAR PUBLISHING DI, HIDEOUT RECORDS DIST. INC.

♫ We’ve Got Tonight ♫ (Redux+Plus)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

Well, this was going to be a ________________ Week, as I mentioned yesterday, but since I didn’t get it kick-started on Monday, I’ve decided to wait ’til next week for that.  Which … gives me the opportunity to play this one that I last played a few years ago … March 2020 … as part of my Kenny Rogers tribute week!  It’s just what I was in the mood for tonight, so … just listen and smile and be happy, ‘k?  I have added the Bob Seger version (hence the title “Redux+ Plus”), since I played only the Kenny Rogers/Sheena Easton version last time and several readers said they preferred Seger’s … I aim to please, y’know!

This is next on the list of requests for Kenny Rogers’ tribute week, and as I listened to it, I noticed that something about it bothered me.  I listened again, checked out a couple of other versions, but something still didn’t sound quite right.  And then, I figured it out.  Now, you all know I love Kenny Rogers, he is in my top ten favourites (Stevie Wonder is in the #1 slot), but for this song, I prefer the original done by Bob Seger.  However … this is a week-long tribute to the late Kenny Rogers, not the still-living Seger, so …

Seger wrote this and first recorded it on his 1978 album Stranger in Town. Seger wrote the song after seeing the movie The Sting, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman. In the film, there’s scene where Redford puts the moves on a waitress, who says, “I don’t even know you.” He replies: “You know me. I’m the same as you. It’s two in the morning and I don’t know nobody.”  According to Seger …

“That just hit me real hard. The next day I wrote ‘We’ve Got Tonight,’ this song about two people who say ‘I’m tired. It’s late at night. I know you don’t really dig me, and I don’t really dig you, but this is all we’ve got, so let’s do it.’ The sexual revolution was still going strong then.”

In 1983, Kenny Rogers recorded the song as a duet with Scottish pop star Sheena Easton, and made it the title track of his album We’ve Got Tonight.  Said Rogers …

“I liked the idea of recording with Sheena: I thought the contrast in styles – I’m so throaty and she’s so trained and pure – would really work well.”

Easton’s contribution to the track would prove a bone of critical contention: whereas Rolling Stone critic Christopher Connelly would dismiss the Easton/Rogers duet of We’ve Got Tonight as “shrieking [and] insensitive”, and Jerseyite critic Jim Bohen would lament how Rogers “who usually sounds good duetting with women” was defeated by “Easton’s nails-across-the-blackboard voice”, Dennis Hunt (Los Angeles Times) would prefer the Rogers/Easton take to the Seger original due to a “very appealing blend of sharply contrasting voices, his deep and hers very high” adding that “Rogers, never known for his vocal power, stretches to match Easton, [attaining] his finest vocal performance”, and AllMusic critic Joe Viglione would opine that Easton’s “splendid voice reaching the high registers over Kenny’s familiar monotone…really makes [the track] special.”

This song (Seger’s version) charted at #9 in Canada, #13 in the U.S., and #41 in the UK.

We’ve Got Tonight
Bob Seger, Kenny Rogers/Sheena Easton

I know it’s late, I know you’re weary
I know your plans don’t include me
Still here we are, both of us lonely
Longing for shelter from all that we see
Why should we worry, no one will care girl
Look at the stars so far away
We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow?
We’ve got tonight babe
Why don’t you stay?

Deep in my soul I’ve been so lonely
All of my hopes fading away
I’ve longed for love like everyone else does
I know I’ll keep searching even after today
So there it is girl, I’ve said it all now
And here we are babe, what do you say?
We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow?
We’ve got tonight babe
Why don’t you stay?

I know it’s late, I know you’re weary
I know your plans don’t include me
Still here we are, both of us lonely
Both of us lonely

We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow?
Let’s make it last, let’s find a way
Turn out the light, come take my hand now
We’ve got tonight babe
Why don’t you stay?
Why don’t you stay?

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Bob Seger
We’ve Got Tonight lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Monster Mish-Mash

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, Re-blogs

Since I was not able to do a music post this morning, I am instead sharing our friend David’s Saturday music treats! He’s done a great mix today, one that will brighten your day and give you something to sing about! Thanks, David!

The BUTHIDARS

Or, where my mind takes me. And for a start it takes me back to an old favourite straight away. Let’s slip back to 1973.

Dobie Grey- Drift Away.

Back to 1968 now and a truly unusual record.

Sly and the family Stone – Everyday People

1985 next finds one of my favourite groups outside Motown in action.

Commodores- Nightshift

I’m getting almost modern now with a single from 1978. Bob Segar is a World Class writer and performer. Here he is with his Silver Bullet Band.

Bob Segar- Hollywood Nights

Finally, from 1985 I bring you a man whom some say the word conceited was written. Well, judging by some of his partners I’d say he has every right. But, and this is the important bit. He’s hugely talented and this single was what blew me away when I first heard it. Simply Red with Holding Back the Years…

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