Bob Seger has long been one of my favorite singers; with a smooth voice, catchy riffs, and lyrics that everyone can relate to (supposing you are sexually active), Bob Seger writes jams that you can sit out on a porch and listen to as you watch the sun go down. They are as hypnotic as they are soothing and Night Moves is no exception, yet it has always been my favorite. This summer I went on a big kick of looking up songs I love and doing close readings on the lyrics; Night Moves was on the top of my list. In many ways, I have found it to be his most complicated song, not in its musical presentation, but rather its message. When doing a close read of music it is important to also listen to the song as the words themselves aren’t the only part of the narrative which carry the weight and, in fact, the physical tone is quite important. Listen to the song here once before continuing with my analysis/close reading.

When I first heard the song it appeared, to me, to be about two kids exploring each other (and themselves) sexually, which is largely true, as is true of almost all of Bob’s songs. I was lucky enough to have heard this song before puberty, and so the first time I heard the lyrics they went right over my head (a funny anecdote, the first time I heard the song I thought it was “Lookin for the Night Moose” [Not quite]) and it was later as I transitioned from my teens into my twenties that I began to really understand what the song was about.

I was a little too tall
Could've used a few pounds
Tight pants points hardly reknown
She was a black haired beauty with big dark eyes
And points all her own sitting way up high
Way up firm and high

(The first part is setting the scene, a description of both players. He describes himself as a small young man, not in height, but in weight which tends to lead one to think young i.e. not mature, or naive. She is described as having black hair and dark eyes, which invokes an image of maturity with sexual undercurrent as well as a, not sinister but, corrupting nature. The repetition of up high, way up firm and high seems, in my opinion, to be foreshadowing for the actual message of the piece, however, it can not be discerned from the lyrics themselves, rather, the way they are spoken. The second to last line is delivered mater-of-fact, whereas the last line has more personality to it, seeming like a man who is savoring something sweet.)

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

(He personifies the woods with their physical actions [which is neat and well thought out] and in the third line confirms what I said above about his naivety as well as speaking to hers to some degree, even though his description of her is anything but, which goes to show his internal thought process on her. He saw her as this life-changing girl, when in reality she was just like him discovering herself equally as she discovering him.)

We weren't in love oh no far from it
We weren't searching 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

(The nature of their relation is spelled out here: it was lust and not love. There was little to no emotional connection, and if their was it was so negligible as to not be worthy of discussing. Their purposes with each other was purely sexual, but no one was hurt, like the fine print of some sexual contract it was known that nothing would come of this and both parties were in agreeance. We were getting our share.)

Workin' on our night moves
Trying to lose the awkward teenage blues
Workin' on our night moves
In the summertime
And oh the wonder
Felt the lightning
And we waited on the thunder
Waited on the thunder

(Here is where the narrative begins to shift, primarily in the last three lines. Felt the lightening [physical sensation/stimulation] And we waited on the thunder [the non-physical or emotional factor of this equation] with his tone elevating at the repetition of this thought, an emphasis on emotion in this emotional thought.)

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

(And here it is, the most complex part of the story. Unlike the rest of this song, where the focus was physical pleasure with nothing behind it and the frame of mind to accept this, here—years later—he awakens to the sound of thunder [a dream of her] where he finally feels something, as opposed to strictly sexual sensation here he sees that—in some very real way—he was in love with her; as much as he was sure there was nothing there he had been lying to himself or was caught so intensely in the feeling of newly found sexual conquest that he could not distinguish love from lust. He then uses the phrase he had been repeating through the entire song to describe their sexual escapades in another sense: to describe the twilight of life, which makes it ironic. To describe some of the most incredible times of his life, to define it to those moments and those actions, then to repurpose the phrase for actual night and the loneliness of a void created by a gone/lost love. The near spoken quality of these words as compared to the melodic tempo of the rest of the song seep the words with emotion and sincerity, along with fear at the thought of autumn closing in. However, he ends the piece with the repetition of Night Moves; though he now knows what the score was, rather than be sullen at what was he will remember fondly what had been and cherish the moments they spent together.)

This will forever be one of my favorite songs; the complexity of the narratives in such a short span is impressive with a message that many people argue the legitimacy of: it being better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. It’s about taking it in stride and losing with grace, its all in how the night moves.