This just occured to me (your sentence about autumn closing in)
HUSKER DU'S CELEBRATED SUMMER = HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS OF 80S PUNK!!!!
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Sunday, 23 May 2004 14:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 17:28 (nineteen years ago) link
Then that backward-looking section at the end is just knife-twistingly real: it's clear that he has romantic feelings about the past, while at the same time acknowledging how unromantic the coupling was.
Because nostalgia often has little to do with the quality of the experiences, and a lot to do with our own shifts in feeling about ourselves. This is actually a pretty feckin wise point, and one that I don't think was ever made in song before "Night Moves."
I have similar love for "Main Street." Not "Hollywood Nights," though, for some reason. Too frenetic, with its fast tempo and hooting backup singers.
― The Mad Puffin, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 19:06 (nineteen years ago) link
...which is basically an "it's tough to be a rockstar" song, I figured out years later. "Deadlines and commitments/What to leave in/What to leave out." I didn't understand that line at the time. Now I wonder how choosing a final track listing for an album is really worst than, "Makin' Thunderbirds" or the other Midwest labor jobs he sang about.
But too true about "Night Moves" and "nostalgia for an age yet to come" in so many Seger songs. And 1962 seemed like the distant past, when it was really only 15 years earlier. It would be like "hummin' a song from 1990" now.
― mike a, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 19:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 21:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 21:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 22:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 23:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 23:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 00:03 (nineteen years ago) link
'Fire Lake' isn't bad. (And 'Makin' Thunderbirds' on *the Distance*. though I haven't heard it in years, might well be better.) But either way, *Stranger in Town* is his last great album, not *Night Moves.*
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 01:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 01:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 02:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Mad Puffin, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 14:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 14:34 (nineteen years ago) link
We weren’t in love, oh no, far from itWe weren’t searchin’ for some pie in the sky summitWe were just young and restless and boredLivin’ by the swordAnd we’d steal away every chance we couldTo the backroom, to the alley or the trusty woodsI used her, she used meBut neither one caredWe were gettin’ our share
The chorus still annoys me. I don't like the phrase "Night Moves" -- it just sounds dumb. But I think maybe I'm hitting the age when I start to really like mid 70s super-steady-beat medium-light rock.
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 12 January 2006 22:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 12 January 2006 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link
this is pretty much adult life summed up in a line.
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 12 January 2006 22:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 12 January 2006 22:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― brettino's bounce (Da ve Segal), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:31 (eighteen years ago) link
uh, quite the opposite actually. as one who fits that description .. it makes it easy to LOVE it. Because we already knew how great Bob's early stuff wuz. tho it is fun to laugh at Soofjam lovin pitchdorks who discover Bob's early stuff and make an about-face.
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― yvette yreka (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:43 (eighteen years ago) link
Hmm... the scenario I describe also applies to a lot of Motown--some of which I still love, and a lot of which I can't stand anymore--or to which I've become numb--due to overexposure. And some Seger just hasn't aged that well ("Old Time Rock & Roll" I avoid for fear I will go on a killing spree if it comes within earshot). Anyway, YMMV, etc.
― brettino's bounce (Da ve Segal), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:44 (eighteen years ago) link
Bob Seeger is the king of songs that I hear on the radio but don't know who they're by and think they're pretty good.
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― js (honestengine), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:45 (eighteen years ago) link
it was deeply resonant for me for the opposite reason -- it represented what i wished being a teenager was going to be like but which i knew it could never be, not for me anyway. it was kind of like reading the letters to penthouse.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:56 (eighteen years ago) link
that use of "one" always bothered me, and still does. it's a really awkward line.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 13 January 2006 05:57 (eighteen years ago) link
i just think, you know, Seger was a real good craftsman -- wudn't no genius, his inspirations were fairly obvious. but the songs are great. And his vocals are great. and there are tons of great little moments throughout his catalog .. from "k-k-k-k-katmadu" to the high-hats on "Hollywood Nights". And "Travellin Man"/"Beautiful Loser" from the live album is such an awesome performance. I just hate all the fucking hedged-bets when people bring him up. There are many great songs.
but you know, this year Prog is Not a Four Letter Word, five years from now, Mellencamp is Not a Ten letter Word...
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 13 January 2006 06:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 13 January 2006 06:14 (eighteen years ago) link
(Were there any great punk/'70s bands from Indiana? Detroit and Ohio had their share, and Chicago obviously had a scene, but I can't think of a damn thing from Indiana outside of John Cougar.)
― js (honestengine), Friday, 13 January 2006 06:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 13 January 2006 06:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Friday, 13 January 2006 10:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Thursday, 2 February 2006 01:17 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.pentaclerecords.net/covenstead/bob_seger_live_bullet.jpg
― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 2 February 2006 03:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― brettino's bounce (Da ve Segal), Sunday, 8 October 2006 02:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― Bassment Jacks (Bimble...), Sunday, 8 October 2006 11:35 (seventeen years ago) link
okay, so when we were all desperately hungover last week, my friends and i drove around listening to 'Night Moves' at full blast, and it kinda made me feel incredibly good.
but what is the song from 1962?
― my bach penises and their contrapuntal technique (the table is the table), Friday, 23 October 2009 02:50 (fourteen years ago) link
(i feel like i just became a little straighter by admitting that)
Wondered about that song from '62 for a long time, too
"autumn closing in" is a great romantic line.
― Mark, Friday, 23 October 2009 03:08 (fourteen years ago) link
I really like this song, but I also can't hear it without laughing at it.
― _Rudipherous_, Friday, 23 October 2009 03:19 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah but it's that kind of laughter that is more laughing at the sentimentality because..well, it's kind of easy to identify with? it's like laughing at yourself for being a sentimental shit bag. i feel the same way when i hear Thunder Road, which i also know all the lyrics to.
anyway.
― my bach penises and their contrapuntal technique (the table is the table), Friday, 23 October 2009 03:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Who wants to wear those gypsy leathers????
― akm, Friday, 23 October 2009 04:23 (fourteen years ago) link
don't get me started...
― Race Against Rockism (Myonga Vön Bontee), Friday, 23 October 2009 04:26 (fourteen years ago) link
No love for "Big River" aka "The Original Night Moves"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hekBAk5L7k4
― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 24 October 2009 17:02 (fourteen years ago) link
this (along with more seger) is in permanent rotation in my father-in-law's truck
― chemical ali v. chemical frazier (m bison), Saturday, 24 October 2009 17:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Bob Seger’s Night Moves is an incredible song. It’s a Mid Western film noir RomCom in futile denial of the romance that it obviously ACHES for. Its proclaimed unsentimentality is ironically the source of its painful nostalgia. 10CC’s I’m Not In Love is its colder English Cousin.— Vernon Reid (@vurnt22) April 17, 2022
― mookieproof, Sunday, 17 April 2022 12:23 (two years ago) link
He's not wrong.
― earlnash, Sunday, 17 April 2022 12:26 (two years ago) link
otm
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 17 April 2022 14:54 (two years ago) link
otm. inversely it helps explain why "summer of '69" is so cloying, at least to my ear
― budo jeru, Sunday, 17 April 2022 19:28 (two years ago) link
― Ramones Leave the Capitol (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 17 April 2022 19:37 (two years ago) link
I heard “Fire Down Below” for the first time in ages the other day. Had to crank it! Does it not get played much on classic rock radio anymore? This album rules, fuiud.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 17 April 2022 23:55 (two years ago) link
Have to admit it took me a long while for this guy to grow on me and I still don’t really like (not on this album) “Old Time Rock & Roll.”
― Ramones Leave the Capitol (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 17 April 2022 23:59 (two years ago) link
Nostalgia for a web post yet to cOOOOOOOOooooooooommmmeee....
― Ramones Leave the Capitol (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 18 April 2022 00:01 (two years ago) link
OTR&R is actually a great song imo, it’s just been beaten into Mustang Sally levels of tedium.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 18 April 2022 00:03 (two years ago) link
i dunnoit’s not that great compared to ~so much~ of his catalog prior to thatalso my least favorite music subgenre is washed middleaged guys complaining about music
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 18 April 2022 00:14 (two years ago) link
The worst thing that happened to OTR&R was Risky Business.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 18 April 2022 00:23 (two years ago) link
he had so many damn top 40 hits I don't know
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 April 2022 00:33 (two years ago) link
“Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll” is Seger’s 1980s “Ballad Of The Yellow Berets.” The tragic difference is that there was no 1980s “2+2=?”
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 18 April 2022 00:46 (two years ago) link
Following up OTR&R by making "Fire Lake" the first single off your next album is a hell of a move.
― deep luminous trombone (Eazy), Monday, 18 April 2022 01:07 (two years ago) link
At least it was "Old Time Rock & Roll" that got played to death, not the vastly superior "Rock & Roll Never Forgets."
― Hideous Lump, Monday, 18 April 2022 01:16 (two years ago) link
Yes, that one is much better.
― Ramones Leave the Capitol (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 18 April 2022 01:25 (two years ago) link
all the seger -- particularly betty lou's getting out tonight -- reminds me of good burgers at the landmark inn
it was an absolute dive owned by my classmate's dad and always shady as fuck. classmate, last i heard, was in prison -- but his younger brother was flying blimps over sporting events
anyway seger rules
― mookieproof, Monday, 18 April 2022 01:32 (two years ago) link
my least favorite music subgenre is washed middleaged guys complaining about music
True, I need them to be filthy before they start their whining.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 18 April 2022 01:44 (two years ago) link
Mr. Seger if you're nasty
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 18 April 2022 01:56 (two years ago) link
nostalgia often has little to do with the quality of the experiences, and a lot to do with our own shifts in feeling about ourselves. This is actually a pretty feckin wise point, and one that I don't think was ever made in song before "Night Moves."
I'd say this is the point of "People Take Pictures of Each Other" by the Kinks, written eight years earlier.
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 18 April 2022 02:25 (two years ago) link
...and "Picture Book".
― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 18 April 2022 02:28 (two years ago) link
The worst thing that happened to OTR&R was Risky Business.― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 18 April 2022 00:23 (three hours ago) link
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 18 April 2022 00:23 (three hours ago) link
idk, if you've ever seen the Stone Mountain laser show...
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Monday, 18 April 2022 04:08 (two years ago) link