“I awoke 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.”
– Lyric from “Night Moves” by Bob Seger
One night in about 1983, a group of us sat down at Too Tall’s in Kirksville, MO to identify the “12 Greatest Songs of All Time.” Technically, we didn’t actually sit down with the intention to identify the 12 Greatest Songs of All Time, but since we were sitting there, in a group, and other alternatives all involved leaving Too Tall’s and studying, we decided to identify the aforementioned 12 Greatest Songs.
Turns out there were 23 of them.
So, from time-to-time, I hear one of the 23 Twelve Greatest Songs of All-Time, and “Night Moves” is one of them. (Editors Note: No, we didn’t write them down. Doing so would have required effort, paper and pencil, none of which was in strong supply that night at Too Tall’s…but when we hear them, we know them…)
The opening guitar progression — acoustic and simple — just nails me right between the eyes, even all these years later. So does the lyric.
When we wake to the sound of thunder, is it an invitation to sit and wonder? As we advance in years and experience (and this is true for younger DD readers, too) does the “night move” differently than it did before we gleaned the experience and years?
“When we just don’t seem to have as much to lose,” is it easier to make a difference?
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