Willing to admit that there were a couple of Michael Jackson's earlier songs that I thought were fun.
This is one of them.
Now beat it.
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This is one of them.
Now beat it.
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What are you listening to right now?
- Thread starter Rambler
- Start date
As he rolled from Night Moves' breakthrough success into the first single from his Stranger in Town album, Bob Seger seemed to have a bone to pick with... someone.
The lyrics to "Still the Same" are certainly pointed; using a gambler's motif, Seger sings in its two verses about someone who "always won, every time you placed a bet" and is adept at "turning on the charm / long enough to get you by." The song's sentiments clearly aren't intended as compliments, and there were, at least initially, all sorts of fan and critics theories about who Seger was actually addressing; an ex-girlfriend, a duplicitous friend/business partner and an actual card shark were the most-guessed subjects.
Seger, however, put the matter to rest in the liner notes of his 1994 Greatest Hits album; "People have asked me for years who it's about. It's an amalgamation of characters I met when I first went to Hollywood. All 'Type A' personalities; overachieving, driven." He elaborated during a 2008 appearance on In the Studio with Redbeard to commemorate Stranger in Town's 30th anniversary: "'Still the Same' is of course about someone who is probably a little egotistical, a little egocentric, a little aloof and a living-on-the-edge kind of person that is very charismatic. And we forgive that person because of the charisma. And I thought it was kind of a unique little story that we've all known people like that, people that we shouldn't really put up with their changes, but we do. And I thought that was a little more different lyrically."
Seger added in the latter interview that, "everybody said, 'Aw jeez, that'll never be a hit.'" But, boy, were they wrong.