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A Seger File Special Feature
The Seger File is an unofficial web site about the music of Bob Seger. This section of the Seger File last updated October 18, 2005. For the most current updates, click here. Written and Edited by Scott Sparling sparling@spiritone.com
Seger File Contents
- The Full Contents
- Search the Seger File
- The 2011 Tour Page
- FACE THE PROMISE
- 2010 Updates
- 2009 Updates
- 2008 Updates
- 2007 Updates (Jan -July)
- 2006 Updates (Jan-Sept)
- 2006 Updates (Oct-Dec.)
- 2005 Updates
- 2004 Updates
- 2003 Updates (July-Dec)
- 2003 Updates (Jan-June)
- 2002 Updates
- 2001 Updates
- 1998-2000 Updates
- Nine Years Online
- The Seger File's Birthday Party
- Unreleased Tracks
- Vault V
- 10 more unreleased tracks
- Vault 4
- 16 more unreleased tracks
- Forward Into the Vault --
- 26 more unreleased tracks
- Return to the Vault -- 18 More Unreleased Tracks
- The Vault --31 Unreleased Tracks
- Recorded but Unreleased --Unreleased Seger from A-Z
- Photos
- Photos 1
Photos 2
- Photos 3
- Hall of Fame Photos
- Settle Annex
- A collection of great Seger photos
- Misc.
- Dylan's "Denver"
- The Albums
- Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
- Noah
- Mongrel
- Brand New Morning
- Smokin' O.P.'s
- Back in '72
- Seven
- Beautiful Loser
- Live Bullet
- Night Moves
- Stranger in Town
- Against the Wind
- Nine Tonight
- The Distance
- Like A Rock
- The Fire Inside
- Bob Seger's Greatest Hits
- It's A Mystery
- Greatest Hits 2
- Face the Promise
- Other Albums
- The Promised Live Album
- The Promised Studio Album
- Seger on the Edge
- The Bob Seger Collection --(Australian Greatest Hits)
- Seger Classics
- A Very Special Christmas,1987
- Other Album Appearances
- The Seger Tribute Album
- Sing Your Own Seger
- Perfect Albums?
- Selected Singles
- Check the Label
- Who Picks the Singles?
- Early Singles
- The Lonely One
- TGIF/First Girl
- Ballad of the Yellow Beret
- East Side Story
- Persecution Smith
- Sock It To Me, Santa
- Vagrant Winter/Very Few
- Heavy Music
- 2+2=?/Death Row
- Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
- Looking Back
- If I Were A Carpenter
- Bombs Away
- Understanding
- Chances Are
- My Take on Chances Are
- Reaching Number One
- Other Seger Tracks
- Released on Singles, But Not on Albums
- Covered by Others
- Written By Seger, Recorded by Others
- Videos
- Night Moves (SNL)
- Making Thunderbirds
- Old Time Rock and Roll
- American Storm
- Like a Rock
- Shakedown
- Real Love
- Fire Inside
- Night Moves (New)
- Turn the Page
- It's A Mystery
- Chances Are
- Ten for Two
- The Cobo Hall Tapes
- The Palace Tapes
- Influences/Other Bands
- Soundtracks
- TV Appearances
- Like a Truck
- Who Does the Song Belong To?
- Ancient History Dept.
- How Seger Sees Rock/Truck
- Singer or Salesman?
- Gatsby, Seger and Victory
- The Mystery Man
- How the Song Became An Ad
- Good Song, Great Ad?
- Bad Press, Bad Precedent
- Through the Lean Years
- Bob's View
- Insults and Dead Horses
- Fix Or Repair Daily
- The Early Years
- Early Days
- Motor City's Burning
- Places He Played
- Jackson
- More Dues-Paying Years
- Career, Misc.
- Lead Singer Vs. Guitar Player
- The Slow Road to Success
- The Requisites of Greatness
- Theories: Why It Took So Long
- "You Are Now Leaving Seger Territory"
- Punch
- Breaking Out
- What Is Success?
- Bands
- Early Bands
- The Decibels
- The Town Criers
- The Omens
- Democracy Rocks
- Later Bands
- Bob Seger and the Last Heard
- The Bob Seger System
- STK
- Julia/My Band/Borneo Band
- Muscle Shoals band
- The Silver Bullet Band
- Back-up Systems
- Shaun Murphy
- Karen Newman
- Related Bands
- Detroit All-Stars
- Alto Reed
- Blue Highway (Drew Abbott)
- Bio, Part 1
- Detroit? Ann Arbor?
- We Even Sang the Parts the Instruments Were Playing
- A Father Leaves
- Fire and the Memory of Love
- All the Wild, Wild Good Times
- Personality
- Interests and Hobbies
- Predicting the Future, Then and Now
- Bio, Part 2
- On Growing Older
- Politics
- The Seger Work Ethic
- You Can't Miss That Driving Rain
- Friends and Family
- Let's Dig Up Something Really Nasty
- Katmandu
- I'm Gonna Tell My Tale, C'mon
- Of Caves and Barbed Wire
- Misc.
- Songwriting
- Early Tours and Shows
- The Oakland Mall
- Jackson
- The Primo, R&R Farm, Suds Factory and Chances Are
- The Agora
- On the Road
- Jackson County Fair
- Pontiac, the Michigan Jam and Other Victories
- Seger in the Arena
- The 1983 Tour
- The 1986-87 Tour
- The Last Tour?
- They'll Never Be in The Arena, But They Get to Write the Reviews
- Savannah
- Charlotte
- Philadelphia
- Oakland
- Miami
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Houston
- New York
- Los Angeles
- Vancouver (Canada)
- Greensboro
- The 1996 Tour
- The Set List Discussed
- The Set List Presented
- The Set List Analyzed
- Bringing the Family
- Tour Notes
- Thirsty for Seger
- A Review of the Reviews
- Charleston
- Nashville
- Palace of Auburn Hills
- Washington
- L.A.
- The 2006-07 Tour Pages
- Readin' O.P.'s
- A compilation of e-mail messages. Some favorite are:
- -- Hope to see you tonight
- -- Motor City Rock
- -- The FargoDome
- -- The 7-Eleven and the Winter Olympics
- -- He gave me a strange look
- -- Now that we're older
- Brand New Email
- More great letters.
- -- Seger, Sinatra, Cobain
- -- My Dad, Bob and Charlie Martin
- -- I work for General Motors
- -- Seger and Mohammad Ali
- -- The last thing I hear from Bob Seger
- -- Road trip to Ann Arbor
- -- I never spoke to Bob, but he always spoke to me
- Brand New Email Pt. II
- -- Bob at the Roseland Inn
- -- Seger interview
- -- Backstage with a bad pass
- -- Put the car in park
- -- Starry August nights
- -- Cool me down
- -- The bridge from Motown
- -- The Seger-starved masses plead for tour news
- -- The Kiss File?
- Seger Stories and Misc. Email
- --The best thing you could say
- --Blue and Julia
- --Rockin' with Fidel
- --Early days of baseball and Bob
- --Follow your heart
- --Waving with the lighter
- Email '05
- --About Drew Abbott
- --On 2+2
- --On "The Lonely One"
- --About Tom Neme
- --About Charlie Martin
- --Shows
- --The Toledo Jam
- --About Pep Perrine
- --About Jim Bruzzese
- --Early days
- --Fans
- --Early songs
- Falsehoods
- Seger Inks SimTour Deal, Gets Ready to Rock
- Capitol Releases "Dee-Pah!
- The Seger Cam is back online
- The Michigan Jam 2
- The Seger versus. Springsteen
- The Medicated Top 20
- Misc.
- Reese: Money for Music
- Get Back to Work
- A guide to surfing The Seger File at work.
- The Primo Photo
- The Rolling Stone Letter
- The Imaginary Interview
- Why the Seger File Is Here -- Getting Over Bob Seger
Vault 4
- Let the Rivers Run
- Adelaide
- Seems Like A Long Time
- -- Lyrics Only --
- Black Linen, White Lace
- Patient
Time"Time" is a strong blues shuffle. Da DAH da dum. If you've listened to any George Thorogood, you've heard a riff like this. Strong beat, lots of guitar. Seger's vocals are loud and take complete control. From 2004.
You might think "Wreck This Heart" was a sorrowful kind of song. But the music and the vocals are as boisterous and upbeat as anything Seger's done in recent memory. Dark clouds or not, "Wreck This Heart," from 2004, is an arena shaker that Tim McGraw would love to get his hands on. Think "Lock and Load" but uptempo, with a lot more voltage and a lot more fun.
Think you've heard enough Seger mediums? Think again. "Wait For Me," completed in 2004, is so dead-center perfect that Ears 2 and I instantly fell under its sway. This has got to be the next single. It's infectious, earnest, upbeat, real, full of yearning…all those things that make a great Seger song.
Soul-searching, quiet and dark. One of those great "it's 3 a.m. and what's it all about" songs. Somber and emotional -- Seger's voice makes it work. Also from 2004
Clanging guitars, big drums and a sharp-edged beat in another song from 2004. Seger delivers strong, confident vocals in a song about materialism and values.
This track is piano-driven, uptempo, with lots of forward motion. But there's a dark-edged feel to it, in keeping with the fatalistic theme -- i.e., the way life with all its joy and pain keeps coming at us, no matter what. I even thought there was a reference to Iraq, but I could be wrong. E2 thought you could drop this in the middle of a Broadway show, and he's probably right. The one thing you can't do is get it out of your head after a few listens. Also from 2004.
A slower song about needing someone to make things right. Something in the rhythm of the lyrics reminded me faintly of "Dear Prudence" -- but only faintly. From 2004.
The perfect last song on an album, or a quiet encore under a single spotlight. Take a look into the darkness from a spot in life slightly past the midpoint, and what you might see is mortality, acceptance and love. Seger's voice is perfect for this powerful ballad. From 2004.
"Adelaide" was recorded in the early 1990s. In this song, Seger once again show us the world of a woman whose life has not worked out as she planned. Imagine Jody Girl well into life, her kids now raised and gone. In the lyrics, Seger offers reassurance. The man left ("he was just a man without a clue") and you raised your kids alone...but look at how strong they are, look at how far you've come. As with "Restless Heart," I hear hints of John Lennon's solo work. Given Seger's history, it's easy to imagine that he might have been writing about his own mother -- although it's certainly a common story in our culture.
On first hearing, I thought the piano in the beginning sounded a bit like "Let It Be." Later I decided it was "Still the Same" at half tempo, whereas E2 went with "We've Got Tonight."
Another track from the early 1990s. E2 called this one "a walking song." Indeed, there is an easygoing, taking-a-stroll feel to it. In that sense, it bears some relation to "Satisfied." But lyrically, it's quite different. Seger throws a lot of syllables in every line and at places simply talks instead of sings.
The lyrics wander around a little bit too, in a good way. There are references to searching for truth, and going on your fateful way, but they're delivered with the calm perspective of someone looking back.
One of the lines I admire asks "Who are these wily sycophants, who clap on one and cannot dance?" He pronounces "sycophants" correctly, which few people do, but more than that I love the reference to clapping on one. He means, of course, that they're not clapping on the beat, which in rock and roll is on two and four. But he doesn't explain it, or dumb the lyric down for us, which is a mark of a confidant and great writer.
"Seems Like A Long Time" is easygoing and infectious and sounds completely finished. It definitely should have been released.
The Box of Lyrics
This trip to The Vault revealed a new treat -- a box of handwritten lyrics and sheet music from some very early songs. Not being able to read music, I can't tell you much about the tunes. And there wasn't time to go through them all. But here's a sample of some undiscovered Seger songs.
This song is a look back at a long ago wedding. Seger is looking at a wedding photo, perhaps found in an attic. "The picture is faded," but still shows the moment of truth. The title refers to how the husband and wife are dressed: "The glow of love is in her face / he in black linen, she in white lace." You have a sense that problems eventually haunted the marriage -- Seger sings of trouble and ghosts that you can't see in the photo. But at least when the photo was taken, times were good, the love was real. The lyrics were written in 1972.
I was especially interested in "Patient," because Seger has said that he and Punch and the band all thought it was the best melody of all the songs recorded for "Stranger in Town." In the end, he decided that the lyrics to "Still the Same" were better, so "Patience" went to the Vault, while "Still the Same" went to Number 4 on the charts.
I have no idea about the melody, (except that it's in C major in 2/4 time.) As for the lyrics, they didn't strike me as particularly good or bad. At least as reflected on the lyric sheet, they hint at a story without telling us a whole lot. The main thrust seems to be that "I've been trying too hard / researching all the wrong information," when really what he (the singer) needs to do is be patient.
What I'd really love to know about "Patient" is whether Seger re-used the melody in some subsequent song -- or whether it's just sitting in the Vault, waiting to be heard. Recorded in 1976.
"Show It," from 1971, is another song that's hard to get a handle on from lyrics alone. It looks like it might be about a break-up: "Is there something you need / I do declare, I know it / What is the reason you want to be free? / Why don't you come right out and show it?"
The title suggests a happy-go-lucky song, but the lyrics paint a gloomier picture. The lyrics speak of the waste of empty years. He's on his own, there's a bitter taste and no one cares. I took it for a post-breakup song -- someone who is free but doesn't want to be. Written in 1976.
You know the song. But unless you've seen the lyric sheet, you don't know the lyrics.
As soon as I saw the first line, I kicked myself for hearing it wrong all these years. The line is: "Been out of Northport / hung on her short shorts." I've been in and out of Northport, Michigan myself many times, yet somehow I always heard "Norfolk" and "short show." Maybe that's just me.
Also, on the lyric sheet, it's "crime between the sheets," not "cries between the sheets," though on the record, it's clearly "cries."
As for the killer third verse, here you go:
"Pessimistic, pseudo-intellectualAvant gardish pearls"
They're taking notes on the Holocaust, not the Holy Court, but surely you knew that. They're copying it down on their sleeves, not "endlessly," which you probably also knew. But "avant gardish pearls" ends a three-decade mystery for me.
This 1971 cut from Brand New Morning also has some hard-to-hear lyrics. On the lyric sheet, Louise has straight hair and bell bottoms and a "delta hypo gun." There's been discussion off an on at segernet.com as to what a delta hypo gun might be. In the next verse, her boyfriend digs "free on ballons" which surely is just a phonetic way of stretching "freon" over several notes. Unless my words are way off beam, as they are in the final verse.
The big question now is why oh why didn't I scoop down through the pile and see who was climbing that foul screen in "Railroad Days." Next time, for sure.
This song, from the early 1970s, is another favorite of mine, though I've never heard it. But my friend Jesse has. Once Jesse shouted it out between songs at an early show in some Michigan bar. The song was so rarely played that Seger seemed kind of stunned to think that anyone had heard it.
Of course, I still haven't heard it. But from the lyrics I get sort of a "Her Strut" feel. The Jet Set Woman has all the right, moves -- she's the kind of woman you'd walk 100 miles to see. She's got a limousine. And she's flying so high. In other, this is probably the kind of song you have to hear to appreciate.
A song about why Seger does what he does...not for the roses or the other rewards, sweet as they may be. "I do it for the passion and the thrill along the way." This song was written in 1976, but it reminded me of a lyric from "The Long Way Home," which was released 15 years later: "The best of them lead with their heart."
And that closes up the Vault for 2005. Thanks for coming along.
June 27, 2005 -- Revised 10/18/05
Best of the VaultThis marks the fourth year that Ears 2 and I have ventured into the Vault. For those of you new to the Segerfile, Ears 2 is a longtime Seger fan and a great friend, who has shared his love of music with me for more than 30 years. My iPod is full of tracks from his collection. So whenever I go to the Vault, I invite him along. It's true that Ears 2 is a retired Capital vice president, but more than that I cannot say. On this particular trip, we heard some of Seger's most recent unreleased material.
The trip also inspired us to make a couple lists. First, E2 put together his list of Vault Tracks That Ought to Be Released. That led me to make a suggested track list for Seger's upcoming CD.
E2's list is drawn from all 71 unreleased tracks we've heard over the four years. For my "Face the Promise" list, I drew from the 28 tracks we've heard that were recorded since 1996.
E2's All Time Best of the Vault List - Outland
- Kuwait
- Wait For Me
- Wreck This Heart
- Love Changes All the Time
- It All Goes On
- I Knew You When
- Kentucky Moonlight
- Days When the Rain Would Come
- Your Best Friend
- Northern Lights
- Sunset
- Can't Hit the Corners
My Suggested Track List for "Face the Promise" (in no particular order) - Wait for Me
- Time
- Wreck This Heart
- It All Goes On
- Blue Ridge *
- I Knew You When *
- Outland *
- All Brand New *
- The Hard One
- Answers In the Question
- Face the Promise
- Little Jane
- Are You
Trying to pick songs for the new CD made me realize what a hard task it is. There are several songs I hate leaving out, including At Sea, Let the Rivers Run, Forward Into the Past and Don't Ask. I wouldn't want to be the one who had to pick.
The four asterisks on my list indicate songs I think might not be released, but should be. They're great songs, but they're from the late '90s, and it wouldn't surprise me if Seger has moved on. We'll find out how close I came on November 8, when the new CD is due to be released.
E2 would probably make a few changes to my list. And I might make a few to his. Generally, E2 knows a great melody when he hears it, whereas I tend to go for the screaming guitar. So you'd see tracks like Hit the Road and Melting Pot and Crossfire and Wildfire on my version of the "All-Vault" list. But that's the fun of having two sets of ears
June 7, 2005
A guide to previous Vault trips.
- Vault 1
- Face the Promise
- Days When the Rain Would Come
- Little Jane
- Hit the Road
- Anniversary
- The Future's Now
- Media Whipped
- Like A Rock -- (unreleased version, extra verse)
- Kentucky Moonlight
- Hustled in Nashville
- Comin' Home -- (unreleased version, extra lyrics)
- Carfax Abbey
- You'll Accomp'ny Me -- (unreleased version)
- Shinin' Brightly -- (unreleased version)
- Long Twin Silver Line -- (unreleased version)
- Horizontal Bop -- (unreleased version)
- Fire Lake -- (unreleased version)
- Wounded Angel
- Red Eye to Memphis
- Hard Night for Sarah
- Sunset
- Elevator Button
- White Monkey
- Can't Hit the Corners
- Babe
- Stargazer
- Snow Today
- Star Tonight
- Nine Tonight -- (unreleased version)
- Wildfire
- The Ring -- (unreleased version)
- Answer's in the Question
- Vault 2
- Tomorrow
- Northern Lights
- Love Will Find A Way
- Melting Pot
- Runaway Train
- Satisfied
- Kuwait
- Cold Dark Night
- Let Me Try
- Got No Shadow
- Hollow Man
- Something More
- Finding Out
- Numbers Game
- Lioness Girl
- Vault 3
- Blue Ridge
- The Hard One
- The Reckoning
- Mr. Bottom
- Forward Into the Past
- Outland
- Before
- I Knew You When
- Crossfire
- Tonight
- Dreamin'
- It's Over
- At Sea
- You're My Girl
- Good Neighbor
- Love Changes All The Time
- Your Best Friend
- Hard to Make It Home
- Amazed
- More of You
- It Passes For Love
- Full Circle
- Hard Enough
- Maybe In A Minute
- Fly Away
- All Brand New
Return to News & Updates The trains that stopped for a hundred years, they just rumble through...a whole way of life is fading fast.... But occasionally I still answer my email:
