AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Bob seger night moves song list1/17/2024 ![]() Horny teenagers out in the country? Check. ![]() Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy ![]() She was a black-haired beauty with big dark eyesĪnd points all her own sitting way up highįrom there, Seger goes on to hit all the notes of classic heartland rock pop: He introduces himself as a scrawny teenager involved with an attractive girl, and even ends first stanza with a relatively crude joke about the girl’s breasts, luxuriating in the memory of past sexual conquests: The First Partįrom the start, Seger seems to be setting up a song that plays straight into the most standard (and puerile) tropes of country-rock. You can find a full (mostly-accurate) version of the lyrics here. To understand “Night Moves”, you have to realize that it is cleanly divided into two parts: the last stanza and literally everything else. What’s more, I’d say “Night Moves” goes beyond simply evoking the feeling in Western audiences, and actually preserves many Japanese literary devices that surround the concept, making it the most perfect translation of the broader concept to Western ears. Well, I would argue that out of every song, poem, and movie I’ve come across, Bob Seger’s “Night Moves” is the closest I’ve ever seen anyone get to Yasujirō Ozu’s ability to portray the concept. So how does Bob Seger fit into any of this? The transience of these things can evoke a sort of wistfulness and sadness, but at the same time heighten your appreciation of them. Or imagine having the last of your children leave home to find their place in the world, knowing–and accepting–that your family can never quite go back to the way it was before. Imagine seeing the old elementary school you made so many memories in being torn down for modern expansions, knowing that although it will better serve the community, the halls you knew so well will be lost forever. I should mention that I myself am not Japanese, nor am I a scholar on Japanese literature, but the feeling of mono no aware is something that I believe most people can connect to. Mono no aware is also often linked to the contemplation of the beauty of cherry blossoms, which only bloom for a few weeks before falling. Setsuko Hara as Noriko and Chishū Ryū as Shukichi in Yasujirō Ozu's Late Spring. Some of the most quintessential instances are said to be captured in Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu’s movies, such as a loyal daughter being married off in the film Late Spring. Although Wikipedia probably sums it up the best, mono no aware roughly corresponds to an empathy and gentle sadness for the life’s ephemeralities. The most contact Westerners have with the term “mono no aware” is probably through the internet, where it draws its fame from being a particularly hard phrase to translate. Bob Seger had always been one of the nameless voices on the radio growing up with the oldies, so I guess it isn’t surprising that I never really listened to the lyrics.īy the time I finally got around to it, I was old enough to appreciate it, and knowledgable enough about art to connect it with something else I had heard about. ![]() Like many children, my musical preferences traced an accelerated version of my parents’ own development–I was plunked down first into the music of the ’60s, and it took me 18 years to finally catch up to modern pop. I can’t remember the first time I heard “Night Moves”. Of course, I’m talking about the mono no aware (物の哀れ) in his hit song, “Night Moves”. What’s even weirder is that he can do this in a song about how he was constantly horny as a kid. It makes it weird, then, that his music so perfectly captures a uniquely Japanese aesthetic, one infamously difficult to translate. ![]() I’m not sure he’s ever even been to Japan. What does a quintessential heartland rock song have to do with a traditional Japanese aesthetic?Īmerican rock roll legend Bob Seger isn’t Japanese. Bob Seger and the 'Ah-ness' of Being: Why 'Night Moves' is the Most Poetic Rock Song Ever. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |