Bob Seger - Night Moves/Ship Of Fools 7"

I recently got into a Bob Seger mood. I don't know what really brought it on, but I did. I have a few of his LP's and I have a greatest hits CD. I put everything I had on the ole ipod and listened through everything on a business trip. So I had a whole plane trip and some walking about the streets of New York sort of rediscovering all the great songs Bob Seger wrote. I couldn't believe how many great songs he wrote. I mean the guy really was a true craftsman. I don't think he gets enough recognition for the quantity and quality of tunage he put out.

So I digitized this 45 so I'd have an excuse to tell everyone to go and rediscover Bob Seger if you haven't done so recently. Start with these two songs. "Night Moves" is simply a perfect song. This is the single version and is almost two minutes shorter than the album version. In fact this version cuts out the best part of the song. About 3 minutes in there is a chord hit and everything goes real quiet. On this 45 that chord is hit and after a beat the guitar strumming starts right back up. The song builds to the finish. What is missing is the amazingly dramatic part where is gets real quiet and then with just the odd guitar strum here and there Bob sings, "Woke last night to the sound of thunder. How far off I sat and wondered. Started humming a song from 1962. Ain't it funny how the night moves. You just don't seem to have as much to lose. Strange how the night moves. With autumn closing in." Then after a beat or two of complete silence, the guitar strum comes in and the song builds back to it's celebratory self. If you actually stop what you are doing and just listen to that bit with some head phones I think you'll get chills. How could they cut that from the single? Crazy. In fact while we're taking stock here, there's actually a little bridge leading into this big dramatic moment with some other lyrics about the thunder that are missing from this single. I guess they figured they'd just cut the whole thunder storyline.

Another line I love is "Working on mysteries without any clues". That just sums up the sort of wonder of being young and discovering the world, when you really start to ask this big questions. Who am I? What is love? What should I do with my life? That line is so simple and beautiful.

Enjoy!

01 Night Moves.m4a
02 Ship Of Fools.m4a