(The
Seger File receives no income
from sales. Links are posted as a
convenience only, and because I
like the CDs and
book.)
Seger's
Unsung Lyrical Genius
I guess it's
not quite true that Seger's ability as a
lyricist is unsung. After all, he's been singing
his lyrics since the 1960s. But on the other
hand, I don't think he gets anywhere near the
credit he deserves for his songwriting skills.
It's like when
you look at the sky on a sunny day. The stars
are there in all their glory, of course, but sun
is so bright, you can't see them. Similarly, the
power of Seger's live performance and the
amazing instrument that is Seger's voice tend to
get all the attention. But if you look past
that, you'll see one of the best songwriters of
his generation.
A little while
ago, The Portland Mercury gave me the
opportunity to share my views on this subject.
The resulting essay, The
Joyous, Lonely Soul of Bob
Seger,
went on to get more than 500 shares on Facebook.
In fact,
The Portland Mercury ended up doing an
entire Seger issue (never say Portland doesn't
know how to welcome Bob Seger). I'm extremely
grateful to the Mercury and especially to music
editor Ned Lannamann for the opportunity. And to
all Seger fans online who helped make the piece
a success, many thanks!
To
my eyes and ears, Saturday night's show
at the Rose Garden in Portland was one
of Seger's best. And I wasn't the only
one who thought so. Heading home after
the show, I ran into a gesticulating
figure at the light rail station who
seemed to be in the throes of a
practically rabid delight.
At
first I kept my distance, not certain
how crazed this loner might be. Imagine
my surprise when it turned out to be
non other than uber critic Greil
Marcus, America's most cerebral rock
reviewer. After I helped him wipe the
foam off his mouth, Mr. Marcus agreed
to write a guest review for the
Segerfile! I couldn't be more
honored.
So
here it is -- Greil Marcus' review of
Saturday's show:
Seger
and the Garden of
Glory
by
Greil Marcus
Seger
excelled early and often at
Portland's Rose Garden Saturday
night, delivering a roundhouse punch
of vocal and moral clarity, a
whirling and rope-a-dope thrill-ride
from the merely mortal to the
eternal. The Seger chops were
particularly evident in his
demonstrable love for rhythm and
blues, showcased in his
indestructible version of "Come to
Poppa." Going up against the old
meaning of the tune, or simply
determined to beat out James Brown,
Seger delivered with an honest
refusal of doubt and fatalism,
making the world real by degrees and
displaying an inner veracity in
which we were all invited to
partake.
During
"Old Time Rock and Roll," the Silver
Bullet Band negotiated a masterful
transition from the mundane to the
contemplation of incorporeal
elements, with black plum and juicy
black-currant flavors abstracting
the soul from the sensibles. There
was a strong sense of minerality in
"All of the Roads," as well, giving
Seger's performance a signature
richness with a beautiful nose of
black cherries and red plums plus a
smooth velvety texture, perfect for
barbecue.
Moving
into "Traveling Man/Beautiful
Loser," Chris Campbell and Jim Moose
Brown quickly established a
correspondence between the vertices
of two congruent songs, taking the
form of m > a) = mx < D) with
layers of pear and citrus and a
train leaving Baltimore at 10 a.m.
traveling 52 miles per hour. The
soaring engine of the song was
evermore enhanced by Don Brewer's
hi-hat eighth notes and swaggering
paradiddles that expanded the
vocabulary of competent rock
drumming.
"Nutbush,"
"Turn the Page," and "Hollywood
Nights" added similar delights, the
former featuring John Rutherford and
a sizzling complement of hot horns,
in accordance with the ancient
prophecies. On "Roll Me Away," Seger
called a double reverse, sending
Craig Frost off left tackle as Shaun
Murphy led a diamond toward dummy's
Queen and East's Jack, delivering us
down a westbound road with dulcet
tones and a tambourine. When trump
came around, Rob McNelley led
brilliantly. After Laura Creamer and
Barb Payton stuck the landing, it
was all up to Mr. Seger to
decide.
And
decide he did. At its apex, the show
challenged and then solved the
problematic interval for octave
inversion, turning the perfect 5th
into a perfect 4th with an
invertible counterpoint reliant on
thirds and sixths, emphasizing a
stepwise descent on the downbeat of
each measure. To which the crowd
screamed, "Huzzah!"
Clearly,
aging has smoothed Mr. Seger's
palate, which makes it feel dense
and fully mature in matters both
Exoteric and Esoteric, inviting
listeners on the mystery train to
Motown, while the indomitable
saxophone of Alto Reed intuits
truths inherent in the funky R&B
in a manner unsurpassed.
The
result was music of staggering
power, stoked by the Silver Bullet
Band, the Motor City Horns and the
pure delight of the shared
Midwestern soul. With his head full
of brains and his shoes full of
feet, Seger is too smart to go down
any not-so-good street, charging the
performance instead with a humble
humanity that exceeds normal limits,
all flowing over a spicy base
leading to a lingering finishing
with medium tannins. In short, the
performance was a triumph, powerful
stuff, howlingly good, and never to
be forgot.
Overall,
three out of five stars.
Man,
Greil Marcus is stingy with the stars.
If you run into him at the transit
station, maybe the best thing is to
just keep on going.
The
Top Ten List, Seger
Style
A
personal note: the next time you go to
a Seger show, check to see if I'm
sitting in front of you. If I am, don't
bother bellowing "ROCK AND ROLL!!!"
three times during every song. Seger
is rocking-and-rolling. You're
not encouraging him, because he's
already doing it. (Except when he's
playing "Come to Poppa" or "Nutbush" or
"Sunspot Baby." Then you really should
be hollering "RHYTHM AND BLUES!!!" to
be accurate.)
But
really, you'd be better off yelling at
someone who should be rocking and
rolling, but isn't. The Supreme Court,
for example, or your parole officer.
Maybe your therapist, if you have one,
which you should. Or if you can't
afford that, just go out in traffic and
yell. Be careful not to spill your
beer. I'll save your seat. Actually I
won't. But go. Please.
There
are other things I don't like hearing
at Seger shows too. If you're like me,
and I don't think you are, you might
have a whole list of them. But in case
you don't, here's mine:
The Top Ten
Things You DON'T Want to Hear at a
Seger Concert:
10.
Your attention please: In tonight's
performance, the role of Bob Seger will
be played by Kenny Rogers.
9.
Help, I was doing the Horizontal Bop
and I can't get up!
8.
Will the owner of a 50-pound, humongous
saxophone please report to security?
Your instrument is scaring the
children.
7.
Kid Rock's not here, so Punch is gonna
rap with me.
6.
Please welcome to the stage, Mr. Bob
Saget!
WTF??
I was certain the tickets said
Seger.
5.
Betty Lou has wandered off from the
home again tonight. Please be on the
lookout.
4.
I'd like to dedicate this next song to
Scott Sparling, creator of the
Segerfile and author of Wire to
Wire. My apologies -- that's
something you would like to
hear. Wouldn't you? Sure you
would.
3.
Bob Seger couldn't make it tonight --
he's got a fire down
below.
2.
Come to Grampa
And
the Number One Thing You DON'T want to
hear at a Seger concert:
1.
You can come back, baby, rock and roll
doesn't…uh…rock and roll
isn't…wait…I had it a minute
ago…dammit…line
please!
Seger
Reflects on Career
Mistakes
You
don't last nearly half a century in the
music business without making a few
missteps. For example, Seger famously
didn't take a writing credit on "Old
Time Rock and Roll," despite rewriting
the verses. The song later became the
Number 1 jukebox hit of all time,
earning its original writers
bazillions.
After
Seger's blistering, heartfelt show in
Portland, we went backstage and asked
Bob to share some of the other wrong
turns he took along the way.
"Gosh,
how to start," Seger said. "We did so
many things by trial and error in the
early days. That's how most young bands
learn, and we were no exception. Still,
looking back, there are a few mistakes
that stand out."
Woodstock
Miscue
"Woodstock
was a big missed opportunity for us.
They invited me to play, but the
festival was billed as 'Three Days of
Peace, Love and Music.' My manager
thought they wanted me to play
continuously for three days. Back in
those days, I had enough material for
48 hours, but not 72, so we had to turn
them down. After we passed on the
festival, they reached out to Jimi
Hendrix instead."
Woulda,
coulda,
shoulda.
Oprah's
Bad Example
"Remember
that show where everyone in Oprah's
audience got a new car? GM got a ton of
great publicity out of that, so they
asked me if I'd do the same thing. We
happened to be playing Madison Square
Garden, and I told the crowd that
everyone was going to get a brand new
Silverado. The place went nuts. Thing
is, there was only one Silverado.
Somehow people had the idea they were
each getting their own truck.
When they discovered they each owned
1/20,000th of a single Silverado, a
riot broke out. The lawsuits set us
back years. It turns out people in New
York don't like to share."
One
Silverado, 20,000 fans: Like A
Riot
Live
Bullet Aftermath
"At
one point during the Live Bullet shows,
I yelled out, 'Let's hear Dee-troit
Michigan make some noise!' Big mistake.
That set off a thunderous caterwauling
inside Cobo Hall. The acoustics were
such that it created a sonic ripple.
Scientists are still measuring it
today. Ultimately, the roar of the
crowd caused so much structural damage
that the whole place had to be rebuilt,
and half of Detroit emptied out. I feel
terrible about that."
Sonic
reverberations from the Live Bullet
shows levelled half of Detroit.
Oops.
Super
Bowl Fiasco
"Being
invited to play the Super Bowl halftime
show is a huge honor. When I got the
call, I decided the only way I'd do it
would be with complete artistic
integrity. So I agreed to do the show,
but I vowed not to sell out or pander
to the crowd. I'm still proud of that.
On the other hand, I see now that
performing an acoustic set of Brand New
Morning wasn't the best choice for that
venue."
There's
a time for artistic integrity and a
time for pandering.
Guess
which approach works best for the
Super Bowl.
Revenge
Is Best Served Cold
"Everyone
knows I love Tom Waits. But a few years
back I made the mistake of telling Rod
Stewart that I'd just recorded
'Downtown Train.' Next thing you know,
that thieving rooster slinks off to the
studio, croaks out his own version of
the song and releases it before I can
release mine. Asshat. So I waited ten
years, then sent Kid Rock to slap the
taste out of his mouth. In retrospect,
that was a mistake. I shouldn't have
asked Kid Rock to do that. I should
have done it myself. It would have been
more satisfying."
Nike
Deal
"Like
the song says, it's all about what to
leave in and what to leave out. You got
to know when to hold them and when
to…uh, wait, strike that. What I
mean is, I've turned down a few deals
that I should have said yes to. The
biggest missed opportunity: Nike brand
Bob Seger headbands. 'For the times
when the sweat pours out your body like
the games that you playTM.'
Coulda made millions off that."
Rolling
Stone Misprint
"Years
ago I was reading in Rolling Stone
magazine where they said Detroit
audiences are the best rock and roll
audiences in the world. I thought to
myself, shit, really? I didn't know
that. But if Rolling Stone says so, I
guess it must be true. I mean, they
wouldn't print it otherwise, right?
Long story short, I ended up playing a
whole lot of Detroit shows over the
years. But after tonight's show in
Portland, Oregon -- all I can say is,
damn, you guys blow the roof off
compared to anywhere else. If only I'd
known!! Next time I see Dave Fricke I'm
gonna give him hell."
Good
news and bad news: After Seger's
show here Saturday, a puff of white
smoke appeared from the Rose Garden,
signalling that Seger had been
chosen as "The Pontiff of All That
Rocks." His new duties are unclear,
but Seger's management said that
care and cleaning of the robe alone
will set
On opening
night in Toledo, Seger kicked off the 2013 Tour
with three new songs in the setlist -- two
covers and a new original, "All The Roads." Also
in the set list for the first time since 1996
was "Like A Rock."
Gary Graff
writes:
Seger,
clad in all black (including his headband),
also tossed in a melodic, midtempo original
called "All the Roads" that he wrote in
September and is "kinda about the career," as
well as a genuinely surprising and stellar
rendition of "California Stars," whose Woody
Guthrie-written lyrics were turned into a
song by Wilco and Billy Bragg for their 1998
album "Mermaid Avenue." "I heard this on the
radio once and said, 'I have to record this,'
" noted Seger, who added a rich arrangement
by the Motor City Horns to his version.
More
here.
Rolling
Stone's Andy Greene says:
The
24-song set featured all the expected hits
("Night Moves," "Turn the Page," "Against the
Wind), but Seger also sprinkled in many gems
unheard on recent outings. The show opened up
a cover of John Hiatt's "Detroit Made" and
then went directly into his cover of Otis
Clay's "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You."
More
here.
Videos from
the show -- like this one -- are widely
available on YouTube.
Blue pins
for upcoming shows, pink pins for past
shows.
Hitching
A Ride With Bob Seger
You put your
thumb out, a van pulls over, and it's Bob Seger
inside. For Ted Simmons, who went on to a
21-year Major League Baseball career, it's a
true story.
Scott Miller
of CBS Sports writes:
Simmons
was attempting to travel home to family for
the weekend from the University of Michigan
with his then-girlfriend (now wife) Maryanne,
and the young couple did something that was
completely natural at the time.
They
hitchhiked.…
"I get in,
all the seats had been removed, and there was
a full drum set in the back," says Simmons,
now a senior adviser to Mariners general
manager Jack Zdurencik after a long pro
career as a player.
…Simmons
mentioned the drum set and wondered if his
ride was a musician.
Tom Barnard on
KQRS in the Twin Cities tells some great Seger
stories, going back to when Bernard worked for
Capitol Records. Because they're old friends,
the interviews are more like casual
conversations. In a previous interview, Seger
accidentally gave out Kid Rock's home address.
This time around, they talk about the tour and
share some more good stories, including how Bob
would disguise himself in the
mid-1980s.
The
Detroit Tigers were in town to play the Twins
and Bob snuck over wearing a baseball cap and
sunglasses, your hair tucked up under the hat
and no one knew it was you.
Two of the
promised Seger/Kid Rock shows have now been
added to the tour schedule. The two joint events
are in Minneapolis/St. Paul on March 15 and
Fargo, N.D., the next night, March 16.
This will be
the second Mpls/St. Paul stop for Seger in less
than two years. The 2011 Tour stopped there on
May 12, 2011. Seger hasn't played the Fargodome
since...wait, has he ever played the Fargodome?
Not this century, anyway, according to my
records.
Interestingly,
Kid Rock's current tour schedule has an empty
gap from March 2 to March 14. Seger has a couple
shows already scheduled during that period,
including Grand Rapids. So more joint concerts
could theoretically be added. We'll have to wait
and see.
January 19,
2013
New
Seger Tour Gets Ready to Roll
There's a
nonstop train coming, two miles out: After
barely a year off the road, Seger's hitting the
long and lonesome highway again, starting in
February. Eleven tour dates were announced last
week, covering a lot of the territory that he
missed in his 52-show tour in 2011.
Hints were
dropped from time to time last year that Seger
might tour in fall 2012, or even that he was
considering shows in Australia. But the year
ended with no word. A teaser appeared on Seger's
FB page about ten days ago, and then the details
came: The new tour begins in Toledo and Grand
Rapids, which has been the pattern lately, and
continues through Canada (for five of the 11
shows) and then on to the Pacific Northwest.
Info on ticket sales is here.
No Detroit
dates have been announced yet, but Seger's
people have hinted that Detroit shows are being
planned. They're calling this the "first leg" of
his tour. So will the second leg take him back
to the some of the cities he hit in 2011? Or
Down Under, where Seger is reportedly very
popular? No clues yet, but more dates will be
announced soon, apparently.
Longtime
Detroit rock journalist Gary Graff wrote
recently that Seger planned to "rock into the
spring, including some rumored shows with Kid
Rock," who is also on tour. No cities on Seger's
itinerary overlap with KR's at this point. The
last two shows currently listed on Kid Rock's
tour page put him in Saginaw in early April,
raising some interesting possibilities.
As for Seger's
set list, there's no new album to support, and
they're calling it the Rock and Roll Never
Forgets 2013 Tour (as opposed to the 2011 Tour,
which was called the 2011 Tour). So…a
greatest hits show, then? Maybe, if we're lucky,
it will be spiced with some of the six new songs
Seger reportedly has done for his upcoming album
(tentatively titled "Ride Out" the last time
Seger spoke of it).
The map below
shows the first and second legs of the 2011
Tour, which left out the Pacific Northwest and a
whole bunch of Canada. The new tour takes care
of that right away. Where else it will go, who
knows. Here's hoping it stops in your town
soon.
Here's what we
know about the upcoming album from past news
reports. The track list includes:
"All
the Roads," currently on the live setlist
and on video here.
"The
Price," a break-up ballad.
"You
Take Me In," a ballad.
"Hey
Gypsy," an upbeat number inspired by
Stevie Ray Vaughan.
"Wonderland,"
inspired by the world of science and the
discovery of water on Mars.
"Hannah,"
a song to his daughter with Sheryl Crow
and Kid Rock.
"I'll
Remember You"
"Ride
Out," perhaps the title track, about
heading out and escaping it all.
Some past
descriptions:
"Ride
Out"
"That covers
an awful lot of territory," he says, "and that
might be the title song. There's an awful lot of
lyrics in it pinched into a small area and goes
from line to line of different subjects. It's
pretty bizarre, and I really like it.
Deborah
Evans-Price, Spinner, November 30, 2011,
"Bob
Seger Working on New Album, Admits 'It Might Be
Time to Go Away Fairly
Soon'"
"A muscular
message song about escaping the overload of
modern life." Brian
McCollum. USA TODAY. September 12, 2011.
"Bob
Seger's down on Main Street
again."
"It's a
father-to-daughter song. It's not a hit or
anything, but it's a pretty song. . . . Kid Rock
and Sheryl Crow did a wonderful job. I recorded
it on a Friday night in Nashville. Kid Rock just
happened to be playing in town. He texted me and
said, 'Come to the show.' I texted him back and
said, 'I can't -- I'm recording at 8 o'clock.
But if you want to come after the show and bring
Sheryl, I've got something for you to do."
John
Soeder, The Plain Dealer, April 3, 2011,
"Bob
Seger catches a 'Downtown Train' from
yesteryear."
This title
has been mentioned, but I've seen no info on
it. In 1986, Seger recorded the Dylan song,
"I Remember You," and told Musician Magazine
it would be the flip of "Like a Rock," but
the track has never been released. Since this
new track is "I'll Remember.." not
"I Remember..." it must be a different
track, unless the title is being
misreported.
Also
mentioned in the press:
Besides
"Downtown Train," Seger's next project also
could include covers of Fats Domino's "The
Fat Man" and "Blind Love," a Waits ballad
that Seger first reworked for his 1991 album
"The Fire Inside." He recently came across a
live version of the latter song that he likes
even better than the studio
version.
This is a
reprint from last year. I didn't write anything
for this year's 15th anniversary of the
Segerfile, but what I wrote below still stands.
And more so.
Fourteen years
ago -- on February 11, 1998 -- I launched the
Seger File. I didn't know it at the time, but it
was the beginning of one of the most fulfilling
things I've ever done, all because of the people
I've met and the friends I've made.
A few Seger
File facts:
When I
started, the site had very few graphics or
images. I figured the information
superhighway, as we called it back then, was
all about information, not pictures. Also, my
computer was way too slow to handle images
well.
The site
was launched on a dial-up Internet service --
almost everything was dial-up back then. I
built the site in Claris Home Page, doing
most of the coding in the cafeteria of
Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan. My mom
was in the hospital recovering from a stroke,
and I could only see her a few times a day
for short periods. In between visits, I'd go
back to the cafeteria and do more
coding.
The site
still runs on Claris Home Page, which only
works on Mac OS 9. I keep an old laptop
around to host the site. I do all the updates
on a MacBook Air, then transfer them to the
old laptop to upload.
On the day
after I launched the site, there were four
visitors. There was no Google at the time and
so no Google analytics. I've had several
different visit-counter/analytic programs
over the years, some of which are no longer
functional, so I don't really know how many
people have visited the site in all. In the
past five years, there have been 200,000
unique visitors.
Bob Seger,
America the Beautiful.
I started
the site because I was having trouble
finishing my novel, Wire
to Wire.
I thought doing the site would provide a good
little break, and then I'd go back to writing
my book. In fact, the site was so much fun to
work on, it probably slowed the novel down by
five years or more. (Shameless pitch: Don't
worry about buying the site a birthday
present. But feel free to buy
yourself a "smart, thrilling and darkly
funny" book
that's not really a crime novel, set in
Michigan.)
I was
tremendously fortunate to have started a site
about Seger at a time when he had pretty much
dropped out of sight. That meant that instead
of reporting news, I had to create essays.
Without a lot of information to rely on, I
had to give the site a personality. It made
me a better writer.
Want to
know what's up with Seger these days? Do a
Twitter search or set a Google alert. If you
wanted to know what was up with Seger in
1998, there weren't many places to go. I'd
hit the library, look through the microfiche
and the out-of-town newspapers. If I found
something, I'd make a photocopy, come home
and re-enter the information. There were no
other Seger sites back then, so for years the
Seger File was the only online
resource.
In 14
years, I can only remember four times when
people have asked me to take things down from
the site. One was a bad review of a video, a
couple were photos, and one was when I posted
some lyrics Seger hadn't released
yet.
There was
more sarcasm and humor in my writing during
the early years. When Seger got inducted into
the Hall of Fame and the Detroit Free
Press called me for an interview, I
realized a lot of people were reading the
site, and I became a little less gonzo and a
little more journalistic. When the BBC called
for an interview, I knew the site was making
an impact. And there's still plenty of
sarcasm on the annual April Fools
post.
I
initially named the site "The Segerfile."
Then I realized search engines weren't
listing it when people searched for "Seger."
So now I usually write "The Seger File." But
I still like Segerfile better.
And the best
thing about the site, by far -- all of you.
Thanks for all your encouragement and friendship
over the years. As Seger says in one of my
favorite lyrics, no one has to tell me I'm a
lucky man, and it's your friendship that makes
me feel that way.
The Wire to
Wire book tour gave me a chance to talk with
Seger fans around Michigan about the early days
of the Segerfile. A few weeks ago, the book
editor of The Oregonian newspaper joined
me in the treehouse where I write to about the
book, freights, and Seger.
You can check
it out, and get a glimpse of Segerfile world
headquarters, here.
There's even a
video here.
The actor who plays me does a pretty good job, I
think. Gotta wonder where they found
him.
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