The more I listen to this band’s non-hits…the more I like them. They have some great album tracks that didn’t make it as hits. This song was released as a single and it did make the top 40 but it’s not as well known as Born To Be Wild and Magic Carpet Ride. It was written by John Kay and Gabriel Mekler.
The song was on the Monster album which was released in 1969. The album was produced by Gabriel Mekler, who had produced their first four albums and really helped create their sound. The reason I mentioned him is because their early songs have a raw sound but are polished at the same time. That’s not always an easy thing to do.
John Kay’s voice still sounds great after all of these years. I’m happy I got to shake his hand at a chance meeting. I also saw him in the 80s fronting the 80s version of Steppenwolf. Not many singers take control of a stage like he does.
The song peaked at #31 on the Billboard 100 and #12 in Canada. The album peaked at #17 on the Billboard Album Charts and #11 in Canada in 1969.
By 1969, the U.S. was deep in the Vietnam War, and protests against the war were everywhere. The country was also experiencing unrest due to issues like civil rights, government corruption, and the assassinations of political figures, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Because of that, Steppenwolf started to get a little more political in their songs.
This era was probably their most successful period, their following albums didn’t have as much commercial success but they are remembered and do get played.
Move Over
Things look bad from over here
Too much confusion and no solution
Everyone here knows your fear
You’re out of touch and you try too much
Yesterday’s glory won’t help us today
You wanna retire?
Get out of the way
The country needs a father
Not an uncle or big brother
Someone to keep the peace at home
If we can’t get together
Look out for stormy weather
Don’t make me pay for your mistakes
I have to pay my own
Yesterday’s glory won’t help us today
You wanna retire?
Get out of the way
I ain’t got much time
The young ones close behind
I can’t wait in line
If we can not wake you
Then we’ll have to shake you
Though some say you’ll only understand a gun
Got to prove them wrong
Or you will lose the battle
Don’t you know we’ll start a war
Which will be won by none
Yesterday’s glory won’t help us today
You wanna retire?
Get out of the way
I ain’t got much time
The young ones close behind
I can’t wait in line
Move over
Come on, Move Over
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
Oh ya’ Max…I liked Steppenwolf & that mid 70’s pop/rock era music…I say yes to your article/blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you liked it Carl!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cool group and they are a lot better than the two hits that they were known for.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yes they are…I totally agree Jim.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, there was more to them than Born To Be Wild.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The more I listen to them the more I agree.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This ties in with the Rage take. When I was a kid Steppenwolf would be on repeat at any gathering with my buddies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
His voice is something…I’ve seen them live and he owned the stage…plus I briefly met him on a tour bus…tall guy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
He had that presence for sure. Always looked like he could handle himself and back then in that world it probably would come in handy. Like i said when I was younger listened to them a lot but lost touch.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Never heard this one before but it’s not bad. I like the organ in there and good lyrics… I really like the line ‘the country needs a father,not an uncle or big brother’
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yea I like them…they had some meaniful lyrics.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a line I zoned in on too Dave- more conveyed in those few short words than a long sentence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They certainly got a lot of airplay in Canada, thanks to CanCon. Not that they didn’t deserve it, some great tunes. I only know this song as I picked up that 20th Century Masters release some time back.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a band primarily known for those two songs..I’m glad some others got played. I have heard Suki Suki here a lot.
LikeLike
Sorry…Sookie Sookie
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heard that a lot on FM stations.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, more than the Big Two songs to them. At the club we went to the house band, when they grew bored with playing noodling covers of whatever was charting at the time and wanted to raise the roof (r)amped up ‘Sookie Sookie’ and made the walls tremble! And that led me on to listen to ‘Snowblind Friend’ ‘The Pusher’ and ‘Monster’ which I think of as their top number- it’s one angry howl of a song.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I love that song…they play Sookie Sookie here. I want to write up Monster but it’s a hard mountain to climb…I’m going to do it though.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It is pure rage, Kay’s vocals are boiling!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes it is! When I saw him…he commanded the stage…there was no doubt on who was in charge.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good song. I agree with all the other comments.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pretty decent song I hadn’t known. When it comes to Steppenwolf, my familiarity mostly comes down to “Born to Be Wild” and “Magic Carpet Ride.” I’ve also listened to “The Pusher” and “Sookie, Sookie” but needed to look up the song titles to refresh my memory. Ages ago when I was still living in Germany, I recall taping a live album on music cassette.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yea Kay is from Germany I believe…I think he claims Germany and Canada.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Interesting, I had no idea. The town, in which Kay was born, belonged to Germany at the time but became part of Russia after the end of the Second World War.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow…see I didn’t know that…I’ve just heard Germany…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well, I looked it up, so cannot take much credit myself here! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cool!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do remember it but not as much as I’d like. Had the Monster album on 8 track I think (again memory fails me as to what format it was.) His voice is strong and passionate and he knows how to rock it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do miss those once in a while… I had Hair of the Dog… I remember to this day where the CLICK was when it switched over
LikeLiked by 1 person
I always assumed Born to be Wild was a one-hit wonder. But this song’s pretty cool.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Magic Carpet Ride was pretty huge…they were more political than I ever thought.
LikeLike
I probably mentioned this before, but just in case not – one of my most bizarre home videos I ever made was John Kay doing Born To Be Wild one Disney Epcot afternoon 🙂 That song became a UK top 40 hit again shortly after that, around 1999-ish I think.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t imagine John Kay playing at Epcot! When I went there they had a Beatles sound alike band.
LikeLike