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Seriously, Cleveland, How Are You?
via The Onion.
Hello again, Cleveland! It’s me, Bob Seger. You may recall me from the rock-and-roll concert last night. First off, let me say that it was such an amazing show—we played all the hits, blew the roof off the place, and you were a great crowd. But, honestly, I was a bit surprised when I inquired as to how you were doing, and you responded with a curt “Woo!” and just left it at that. You might have thought it was a mere pleasantry on my part, but I really meant it: How are you?
Just level with me, Cleveland: How are things actually going? I know it might feel weird opening up to a two-time Grammy Award–winning recording artist, but if you’ve got something you need to talk about, now is the time. Keeping it bottled up inside is just going to make things worse, believe me. Is anyone out there having trouble with their job or their relationship? Is it family? Family problems can be especially tough to open up about, but you can trust Bob Seger. (More …)
Mylephnt 12:26 am on February 8, 2008 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Seger and the Silver Bullet Band went to Toronto for three days to record a few tracks with The Guess Who’s producer Jack Richardson, whose Nimbus 9 Productions company was hot at the time. The band quickly recorded two Seger originals, one of which was “Long Long Gone”, and a cover of the Motown hit “My World Is Empty Without You”, but before Seger left on the third day, he composed a fourth song to record. Seger said that the song was influenced by Bruce Springsteen’s “Jungleland”. As the only members of the Silver Bullet Band still in Toronto were the bassist and drummer (plus Seger on acoustic guitar and piano), Richardson recruited local session musicians to play electric guitar and organ.
Richardson said that “the whole arrangement came together in the studio.” “Night Moves” is a mid-tempo number that starts quietly with acoustic guitar. Bass guitar and drums are introduced as the song’s setting is described: 1962, cornfields, ‘60 Chevy. An intense summertime teenage affair is described, knowingly more sexual than romantic, with short instrumental lines breaking the evocative imagery sometimes in mid-sentence. Piano, female backing vocals, electric guitar and organ are added as the song’s emotional nostalgia builds momentum. Then suddenly it stops, as the narrative flashes forward to some period in the future. To a quiet acoustic guitar, the narrator, awakened by a clap of thunder and unable to fall back asleep, ponders a different sense of the title phrase. Then the rest of the instruments fall back in, for an extended coda vamp of the chorus.
After the tracks were mixed by Richardson and engineer Brian Christian, Richardson said that he received a call from Seger’s manager/producer Punch Andrews expressing dissatisfaction with the tracks, and Andrews said that Capitol Records had been equally disappointed. A few months later, when Richardson was talking to a Capitol A&R executive, he asked about the Seger sessions and was told that “both tracks” were potential B-sides. It turned out that Seger and Punch Andrews had never given “Night Moves” to Capitol, so Richardson did — and, after hearing it, Capitol made it the title track of Seger’s next album, as well as the first single.
Seger remembers the sessions somewhat differently. He claims that it was his decision to use musicians other than his normal band, and that he saw the song as potentially the one that would define his career. However, that appears to be inconsistent with the fact that the song was not submitted to Capitol by Seger and Punch Andrews.
Music writer Samuel Delliance of The New York Post wrote in 1977, “‘Night Moves’ is supposed to take place in Michigan in the early 1960s, but it is timeless and placeless. You can be across the street from Kissena Park in Queens in the early evening with no one in sight and the song will suddenly flood your mind just as it did Seger’s.” In his 1979 volume Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island, famed rock critic Greil Marcus selected the single “Night Moves” for inclusion on same, writing simply: “The mystic chords of memory.”
“Night Moves” was named by Rolling Stone as Best Single of the Year for 1977. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named it one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll, Seger’s only such selection.
Within the lyrics of “Night Moves” is a reference to another song: “Started humming a song from 1962″. In a radio interview Seger identified the song from 1962 as “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes.
Seger recorded a special version of “Night Moves” for the 1981 animated film American Pop. This version, with Seger’s guitar replaced by a piano, has never been released on any album.
el duderino 9:47 am on February 8, 2008 Permalink | Log in to Reply
In case anybody was wondering…this was Chloe’s big break.