When I think of the 70s and early 80s Bob Seger always comes to mind. Here is a man who paid his dues and he deserved all the success he achieved. He is from Michigan and started in the early sixties and kept at it until he hit gold with the album Beautiful Loser in 1975. He did have a minor hit in 1968 with Rambling Gambling Man but failed to build on it.
The next album he did after Beautiful Loser was Night Moves which made him a star. That album was released in 1976. He formed the Silver Bullet Band in 1974 and he built on that.
Still The Same was on the album Stranger In Town and it was a huge hit. The album peaked at #4 on the Billboard Album Charts, (from what I’ve found) #5 in Canada, #4 in New Zealand, and #31 in the UK. Four singles came off of that album and all were top 40 hits. Still The Same, Hollywood Nights, We’ve Got Tonight, and Old Time Rock and Roll. I have to admit… he got the “Steve Miller” treatment by radio. Many of his hit songs were played to death especially Old Time Rock and Roll which I cannot listen to anymore.
He did something different with many of his albums including this one. He would record half the songs in Muscle Shoals using some of their musicians and the other half he would use the Silver Bullet Band in the Criteria studios in Miami Florida. It would give him a different sound and actually was a smart thing to do.
Still The Same was recorded with the Silver Bullet Band in Miami. The B side to this single was also a well-known song… Feel Like A Number. That song was featured in the 1981 movie Body Heat.
Bob Seger about the type of people the song is about: “They’re just very charismatic, but they have tremendous faults, but part of the appeal is the charisma. You overlook everything because of the charisma. That’s a gift and a curse.”
Bob Seger on Feel Like A Number: I got the idea for the song after watching a show about computer banks and how many names were in them. We’re all in computer banks. Lord knows how many data collections there are. Everybody is a number and in the record industry you’re also thought of a lot of times as a number — the amount you sell or whatever. Some of the humanity gets lost and the hype takes over. You have to watch out. That’s the whole idea of Stranger in Town as an album, actually. It’s about identity and trying to survive and keep your identity.
The B side Feel Like A Number
Still The Same
You always won every time you placed a bet
You’re still damn good, no one’s gotten to you yet
Every time they were sure they had you caught
You were quicker than they thought
You’d just turn your back and walk
You always said the cards would never do you wrong
The trick you said, was never play the game too long
A gambler’s share, the only risk that you would take
The only loss you could forsake
The only bluff you couldn’t fake
And you’re still the same
I caught up with you yesterday (still the same, still the same)
Moving game to game
No one standing in your way
Turning on the charm
Long enough to get you by (still the same, still the same)
You’re still the same
You still aim high
(Still the same, still the same)
(Still the same, still the same)
There you stood
Everybody watched you play
I just turned and walked away
I had nothing left to say
‘Cause you’re still the same (still the same, baby, baby, still the same)
You’re still the same (still the same, baby, baby, still the same)
Moving game to game (still the same, baby, baby, still the same)
Some things never change (still the same, baby, baby, still the same)
Oh, you’re still the same (still the same, baby, baby, still the same)
Still the same (still the same, baby, baby, still the same)
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Love this song, and his voice is just so smooth. Great catalogue of music too! Thanks Max.
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Thanks Eden!
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One of my favorite songs by him and not played into the ground unlike ‘Old Time R&R’
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I agree…you will not see me ever blog Old Time… unless it’s part of a theme…I didn’t like the song before the movie lol.
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same here! Even if it wasn’t a regular on oldies radio, it would still be low on my list of favorite Bob S songs
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Yea….it was never my favorite song by him. If soemone wants a rocking one by him…Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man would be at the top of my list.
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I usually listen to Feel Like A Number right before I light one up.
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That works!
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He had some great songs. 🙂
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Still The Same is a great track. What a catalog of hits Bob wrote over his career and he must be thanking Metallica for covering his Turn The Page tune…the royalties that one is pulling down for him is a nice retirement gift that keeps giving…
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Yea and that is an odd one for them to cover….to me…you would think they would have covered something harder…but it worked! He is a great writer…classic after classic.
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Yep, another succinct song that shows the flaws. Deeper than when only half knowing the lyrics and humming along to the tune. ‘Turn The Page’ was covered by an Aussie, Jon English, in the 70s so here and over there that version hit high rotation saturation levels, so that song, whoever sings it is my ‘Old Time.’
He was damned good.
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His lyrics get overlooked…but he had some good ones that people could relate to…because they were like the subject or knew the subject of the song.
Turn The Page here gets worn out by the Seger version. I just listened to English’s version…not bad at all.
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I always remember Feel Like a Number because it was in the film Body Heat.
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Wow…I saw that when I was 14 I believe in 81 or so…Kathleen Turner is who I think of when I think of the title.
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I generally dig Bob Seger. “Still the Same” is a solid tune but not necessarily among my favorites. The latter include “Katmandu”, “Turn the Page”, “Mainstreet” and “Fire Lake”. I actually also can still listen to “Old Time Rock & Roll.” I guess it wasn’t played as much to death on the radio back in Germany than in the U.S.
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Whew…Turn the Page and Old Time Rock and Roll…was just plastered here. I like the lyrics to this song a lot…..but yea I love those others also. Fire Lake probably being my favorite.
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I haven’t heard this for years. Never been a big Seger fan but like this one.
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I didn’t realize he didn’t really make it big until Beautiful Loser. His early songs got plenty of play here in KS; even Rambling Gambling Man. Yeah, I too stopped listening when Old Time Rock & Roll and those got played to death. Good description to call it the Steve Miller treatment. It turned me off from wanting to see him perform live, and that was probably a mistake because I’ve heard he does a great concert.
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I do regret not seeing him also. I remember he came to Nashville all of the time back then. I can’t stomach Turn The Page either.
One song he did release back in 72 that wasn’t a hit but it’s my favorite version of the song…If I Were A Carpenter…it is really good.
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That is a nice version of If I Were A Carpenter. As soon as you said it, I could almost hear him singing it, even though I don’t think I’ve heard it before.
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I’ve never done that one…I’ll write that one up. It’s one of the first songs I ever heard from him…some FM station here would play it.
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Bob Seger was King for awhile. I remember Hans talking about how long it took him to break through but I think he was big in Michigan before he hit it big nationally. I just listened to his cover of “Shame on the Moon” and love that song — and also learned it was written and originally performed by Rodney Crowell. I also love, “Come to Poppa.”
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He does have a lot of good songs. Bob Seger was huge down here like he was from here lol. His first hit Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man is great…but I think Fire Lake is probably my favorite if I had to pick one.
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Just stick my nose in Lisa, Crowell’s ‘Texas Drought, Part 1’ has fabulous lyrics.
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Thanks, Ob. I’m listening to it right now. He’s one helluva songwriter and I think largely unknown outside of country circles.
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Love Seger. Great song. Dude is a legend.
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Thanks for commenting…I totally agree!
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