Bob Seger Songs

TheBigA said:

Actually he does. He did a show at Madison Square Garden last month, and it was right in the middle of his set. And when he sang the first few words, people exploded like it was his biggest hit. He probably made more money because of that one song than he did from Fire Lake, thanks mainly to Chevy Trucks.

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I personally like the song myself, but he said in an interview a few years back that he was dropping the song from his shows, and regretted licensing it for use by Chevy trucks. Maybe he has reconsidered that. Of course, that commercial has now been OFF the air (about 15 years now) longer than it was ever ON the air (about 10 years). He must have brought it back after "resting" it for a few years.

firepoint525 said:

I personally like the song myself, but he said in an interview a few years back that he was dropping the song from his shows, and regretted licensing it for use by Chevy trucks. Maybe he has reconsidered that. Of course, that commercial has now been OFF the air (about 15 years now) longer than it was ever ON the air (about 10 years). He must have brought it back after "resting" it for a few years.

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Well, either way, I'll bet Seger does perform 'Fire Lake" (huge 1980 song). How many Seger concerts has Big A been too? One, none?

oldies76 said:

Well, either way, I'll bet Seger does perform 'Fire Lake" (huge 1980 song). How many Seger concerts has Big A been too? One, none?

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How many have you attended?

And have you put in your application yet to be Seger's song picker, so as to be able to "advise" him on all of the "lost hits" in his repertoire that he hasn't been singing?

Get over your own sense of self-importance, please. It's not very attractive. You are no more the god of all music that is playable than am I.

oldies76 said:

Well, either way, I'll bet Seger does perform 'Fire Lake" (huge 1980 song). How many Seger concerts has Big A been too? One, none?

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His fans track the songs he does, and he hasn't done it since 1986.

Specifically Montreal October 24, 1986.

TheBigA said:

oldies76 said:

Well, either way, I'll bet Seger does perform 'Fire Lake" (huge 1980 song). How many Seger concerts has Big A been too? One, none?

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His fans track the songs he does, and he hasn't done it since 1986.

Specifically Montreal October 24, 1986.

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Damn. We should have taken him up on the bet, with him agreeing to leave if he lost.

I'm glad to hear Tom Kent play "Katmandu" every blue moon. Another missed hit of Bob Seger I'd like to hear on the radio is "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You".....love it when he intros it by saying "here's an old Memphis song."

He doesn't do Katmandu a lot either. He didn't do in NYC last month. But he had been doing it on last year's tour. He does it as often as he does "Trying To Live My Life Without You." He did that one in NY.

I get that artists don't want to "sell out" my having their art become something used on a commercial. But there are so many songs I probably wouldn't even like without that exposure.

I see Feel Like A Number and Hollywood Nights come up all the time on Classic Rock or Classic Hits formats.

I have a promo 45 that chops Tryin' To Live My Life Without You even further down than the commercial 45 version. Must admit, haven't heard that song on the radio in over 30 years. Probably didn't last much longer than a recurrent.

GregWilliamsLighthouse said:

Another missed hit of Bob Seger I'd like to hear on the radio is "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You".....love it when he intros it by saying "here's an old Memphis song."

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Being from Memphis (originally), I love that, too!

eriedj said:

I see Feel Like A Number and Hollywood Nights come up all the time on Classic Rock or Classic Hits formats.

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I believe "Feel Like a Number" in its live version was a followup single to "Tryin'," but since it had already been a b-side in its studio version (from Stranger in Town), that was probably a factor in it not really becoming a hit. (The station in the small town in west TN where I grew up, after leaving Memphis, played a chopped-up version of "Hollywood Nights." It is the same version that you can hear in retro AT40 countdowns from 1978. Never understood why they played that, when I could just change the dial and hear the full version!)

I have a promo 45 that chops Tryin' To Live My Life Without You even further down than the commercial 45 version. Must admit, haven't heard that song on the radio in over 30 years. Probably didn't last much longer than a recurrent.

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I'm sure that his "handlers" probably opposed him singing that one in concert. But at the same time, he had to have something "new" to release as a single, so it worked for him for that reason. (His "new" song from the first greatest hits album was a great cover of Chuck Berry's "C'est La Vie," and it became a minor hit for him.)

It is indeed a nice surprise when you find out that the commercial 45 is not cut down as much as the promo version that you might hear on the radio. I remember hearing an especially short version of John Lennon's "#9 Dream" on youtube. An entire verse was cut out of it!

firepoint525 said:

(His "new" song from the first greatest hits album was a great cover of Chuck Berry's "C'est La Vie," and it became a minor hit for him.)

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The actual title of that song, as Chuck Berry wrote it, is "You Never Can Tell". John Travolta and Uma Thurman danced the Twist to it in Pulp Fiction.

IMHO, the greatest Bob Seger song is Even Now. It has a beginning that will knock your socks off even if you are wearing sandals.

My favorite Bob Seger song is from the same album: "House Behind a House." Probably the closest (if not that close) to heavy metal he ever got.

Actually heard 1980's "Fire Lake" on our local classic hits station KWRP. Love that song!!

I'm starting to hear "Fire Lake" in my area more too. Must be testing well in the research.

eriedj said:

I'm starting to hear "Fire Lake" in my area more too. Must be testing well in the research.

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I figured that song would catch on eventually. "Against the Wind" & "Night Moves" are also good, but they are played far more often. Now if only that west coast station would ever play "Fire Lake".....wishful thinking on my part, I know.

Hmm, no love for "Turn the Page"? I like that and many others in Seger's repertoire. I recall a fondness for "American Storm" (on the Like a Rock album) - the version he sang on the video had a more raw sound than on the record.
Working overnights at WJAD in the '80s, I played "Fire Lake" one night, and got a call from a listener wanting to know why we were playing "that country sh**."

Oh, and when I was in NC, I met Bob's brother George... acted with him in a play.

rnigma1 said:

Working overnights at WJAD in the '80s, I played "Fire Lake" one night, and got a call from a listener wanting to know why we were playing "that country sh**."

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A crossover, but not pure country.

oldies76 said:

A crossover, but not pure country.

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"Against the Wind" sounds more country than "Fire Lake." I don't recall hearing either on even the most format-liberal country stations when they were hits, though.

CTListener said:

"Against the Wind" sounds more country than "Fire Lake." I don't recall hearing either on even the most format-liberal country stations when they were hits, though.

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I recall "Against the Wind" (the full, five-minute version) being on a compilation CD that my then-country station had. We were NOT forbidden from playing it, and it even came up in the rotation every once in a while.