Tag: Beautiful Loser

Bob Seger – Katmandu

This song is rocking and raw…it reminds me a little of his song Ramblin’, Gamblin’, Man because of his voice and sound. I remember this song vividly from the 1985 movie Mask with Eric Stoltz, Cher, and Sam Elliott.

In the 1960s Kathmandu (the correct spelling) was a place where people traveled to find themselves and to get enlightenment from life…or just to go where no one could find or bother them. It’s the capital of Nepal and a remote location. Seger used an alternate spelling of the song (Katmandu) so it would be easier for people to recognize. Cat Stevens wrote a song with the same name years before and used this spelling. 

This song was more popular in Michigan (Seger’s home state) than the rest of the country but it did chart at #43 on the Billboard 100 and #57 in Canada. Now it’s one of those songs that live on with classic radio. The album Beautiful Loser peaked at #131 but it sold two million copies since it was released. Three songs charted off of the album…Beautiful Loser, Nutbush City Limits, and Katmandu. 

On his albums, he would record sometimes half with The Silver Bullet Band and half with the Muscle Shoals musicians. This song came off of the Beautiful Loser album which was his breakthrough album. It set him up for his next album that made him a household name…Night Moves. 

On this album, he recorded 7 out of 9 tracks in Muscle Shoals including this song. The owners of the studio were also the musicians: Jimmy Johnson (guitar), Barry Beckett (keyboards), David Hood (bass), and Roger Hawkins (drums), and were much more affordable than big studios plus you got that Muscle Shoals sound. 

Katmandu

I think I’m going to Katmandu
That’s really, really where I’m going to
If I ever get out of here
That’s what I’m gonna do
K-k-k-k-k-k Katmandu
I think that’s really where I’m going to
If I ever get out of here
I’m going to Katmandu

I got no kick against the west coast
Warner brothers are such good hosts
I raise my whiskey glass and give them a toast
I’m sure they know it’s true
I got no rap against the southern states
Every time I’ve been there it’s been great
But now I’m leaving and I can’t be late
And to myself be true

That’s why I’m going to Katmandu
Up to the mountain’s where I’m going to
And if I ever get out of here
That’s what I’m gonna do
Aw, k-k-k-k-k-k Katmandu
Really, really where I’m going to
If I ever get out of here
I’m going to Katmandu

Oh
Take it away
I ain’t got nothin’ ‘gainst the east coast
You want some people where they got the most
And New York City’s like a friendly ghost
You seem to pass right through
I know I’m gonna miss the USA
I guess I’ll miss it every single day
But no one loves me here anyway
I know my plane is due

The one that’s going to Katmandu
Up to the mountain’s where I’m going to
If I ever get out of here
That’s what I’m gonna do
K-k-k-k-k-k Katmandu
Really, really, really, going to
If I ever get out of here
If I ever get out of here
If I ever get out of here
I’m going to Katmandu, oh
Ooh huh huh
Ooh huh huh ooh yeah

Katmandu
Katmandu
Katmandu
Katmandu
Katmandu
Katmandu
Katmandu
Katmandu
Katmandu
Katmandu

Bob Seger – Beautiful Loser

No matter how many times I’ve heard this song it sounds great.

Seger worked hard for his success. He spent years touring and in 1968 with Capitol Records he scored a hit with Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man. After that he didn’t have much success until his second stint with Capitol records.

He first left the label to record for Palladium, a Warner Bros. subsidiary run by his manager, Edward Andrews. Seger released three albums on Palladium, but when he delivered Beautiful Loser, Warner Bros. rejected it and Seger went back to Capitol. The album sold about as well as Seger’s previous releases, maybe 50,000 copies, mostly in Michigan. But his next release was the live album Live Bullet, recorded at two Detroit shows in 1975 and released in April 1976. With “Beautiful Loser” one of the standout tracks, the album proved a winner and had sold well over 100,000 by the time Seger released his next one, the breakthrough Night Moves. His sudden success stoked interest in his back catalog; Beautiful Loser ended up selling over 2 million.

Radio stations usually play the live version of “Beautiful Loser” together with “Traveling Man” off the 1976 Live Bullet album. The two songs are separate cuts but flow together perfectly.

Bob Seger: “I’ve never written the lyrics and tried to build the music around that. It’s usually a feel or a verse or a chorus, and the lyrics will come after I’ve decided that a certain pattern or groove or rhythm is cool. Then I’ll start singing gibberish over that and just find a lyrical idea that fits the ideas that I started out with.

Other times I’ll just sit down and say, ‘I wanna write a song called this.’ That’s how ‘Beautiful Loser’ happened. I just loved the title, which I got from a book of poetry from Leonard Cohen called Beautiful Losers, with an ‘s,’ and I thought it was a really cool title.

From Songfacts

This song is about people who set their goals so low, they never achieve anything. It is not about Seger personally. He told Creem magazine in a 1986 interview: “A lot of people think I wrote ‘Beautiful Loser’ about myself. I got the idea for that song from a book of Leonard Cohen poetry by the same name. The song was about underachievers in general. I very rarely write about myself that much. I draw on my own experiences like anyone else, but I’m not what you’d call auteuristic. I’m not like my songs at all. I’m a lot more up person than what I write.”

Cohen’s book that Seger refers to is called Beautiful Losers.

Seger took almost a year to write this. He played around with many different arrangements of the song until he got it right. In a 1994 interview with Music Connection, he explained: 

Actually, I wrote three or four songs called ‘Beautiful Loser’ until I came up with the one that worked. But that’s a pretty rare thing.”

Glenn Frey, a member of the Eagles and a friend of Seger’s, was one of the first people Seger played this for. Frey loved it and helped Seger tweak it before it was released.

Seger spent a lot of time on the road, and he didn’t like to work on songs when he was touring. When it came time to make an album, he would work with his Silver Bullet Band, but also repair to Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, where he a cadre of very talented musicians served as his backing band.

“Beautiful Loser” was one of the tracks he recorded at Muscle Shoals, which had two standout keyboard players in their ranks: Barry Beckett and Spooner Oldham.

Beautiful Loser

He wants to dream like a young man
With the wisdom of an old man
He wants his home and security
He wants to live like a sailor at sea

Beautiful loser
Where you gonna fall?
When you realize
You just can’t have it all

He’s your oldest and your best friend
If you need him, he’ll be there again
He’s always willing to be second-best
A perfect lodger, a perfect guest

Beautiful loser
Read it on the wall
And realize
You just can’t have it all
You just can’t have it all

You just can’t have it all
Ohh, ohh, can’t have it all
You can try, you can try, but you can’t have it all
Oh yeah

He’ll never make any enemies, enemies, no
He won’t complain if he’s caught in a freeze
He’ll always ask, he’ll always say please

Beautiful loser
Never take it all
‘Cause it’s easier
And faster when you fall

You just don’t need it all
You just don’t need it all
You just don’t need it all
Just don’t need it all

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