Night Moves was in 1977 een grote hit voor Bob Seger en werd door Rolling Stone zelfs uitgeroepen tot ‘single van het jaar’. Even leek het dat Seger een serieuze concurrent zou worden voor Bruce Springsteen, maar zover is het niet écht gekomen. Althans niet artistiek, want qua plaatverkoop heeft Seger weinig te klagen.
De song is autobiografisch en moet volgens Seger vooral gezien worden als een nostalgische blik op zijn eigen tienertijd. De romance waar hij naar verwijst speelde zich af vlak nadat Seger de middelbare school verlaten had: “That romance actually took place after high school, and it actually was about a real person. Her boyfriend was in the service, and when he came back she married him. My first broken heart”.
I was a little too tall
Could’ve used a few pounds
Tight pants points hardly renown
She was a black haired beauty with big dark eyes
And points all her own, sitting way up high
[Chorus]
Way up firm and high
Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy
Out in the back seat of my ’60 Chevy
Workin’ on mysteries without any clues
Workin’ on our night moves
Trying’ to make some front page drive-in news
Workin’ on our night moves in the summertime
In the sweet summertime
We weren’t in love oh no far from it
We weren’t searchin’ for some pie in the sky summit
We were just young and restless and bored
Living by the sword
And we’d steal away every chance we could
To the backroom, the alley, the trusty woods
I used her she used me
But neither one cared
We were getting our share
Workin’ on our night moves
Trying to lose the awkward teenage blues
Workin’ on our night moves
And it was summertime
Mhm, sweet summer time, summer time
[Bridge]
And oh the wonder
Felt the lightning
And we waited on the thunder
Waited on the thunder
I 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
When you just don’t seem to have as much to lose
Strange how the night moves
With autumn closing in
[coda]
Night Moves
Night moves (night moves)
Night moves (night moves)
Yeah, Remember, night moves
Sure do remember those night moves (night moves)
Ain’t it funny how you remember (night moves)
Funny how you remember the night moves
I remember, I remember, I remember, I remember night whoa, whoa
It’s works, Working and practicing
Oh, on the night moves
Working and practicing….
Uitgelichte afbeelding: By American Talent International (management) – eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21032957
