Turn the Page (Bob Seger song): Difference between revisions
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"Turn the Page" is about the emotional and social ups and downs of a rock musician's life on the road. Seger wrote it in 1972 while touring with [[Teegarden & Van Winkle]]. Drummer David Teegarden (of Teegarden & Van Winkle and later the Silver Bullet Band) recalls: <blockquote>We had been playing somewhere in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], or the northern reaches, on our way to North or South Dakota. [Guitarist] Mike Bruce was with us. We'd been traveling all night from the Detroit area to make this gig, driving in this blinding snowstorm. It was probably 3 in the morning. Mike decided it was time to get gas. He was slowing down to exit the interstate and spied a truck stop. We all had very long hair back then – it was the hippie era – but Skip, Mike and Bob had all stuffed their hair up in their hats. You had to be careful out on the road like that, because you'd get ostracized. When I walked in, there was this gauntlet of truckers making comments – "Is that a girl or man?" I was seething; those guys were laughing their asses off, a big funny joke. That next night, after we played our gig – I think it was Mitchell, S.D. – Seger says, "Hey, I've been working on this song for a bit, I've got this new line for it. He played it on acoustic guitar, and there was that line: "Oh, the same old cliches / 'Is that a woman or a man?' " It was "Turn the Page."<ref name=oral>{{cite web|url=http://www.freep.com/article/20070312/ENT04/103120103/|title=A definitive oral history of Seger's early years|author=Brian McCollum| work=Detroit Free Press|date=March 14, 2004}}</ref></blockquote> |
"Turn the Page" is about the emotional and social ups and downs of a rock musician's life on the road. Seger wrote it in 1972 while touring with [[Teegarden & Van Winkle]]. Drummer David Teegarden (of Teegarden & Van Winkle and later the Silver Bullet Band) recalls: <blockquote>We had been playing somewhere in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], or the northern reaches, on our way to North or South Dakota. [Guitarist] Mike Bruce was with us. We'd been traveling all night from the Detroit area to make this gig, driving in this blinding snowstorm. It was probably 3 in the morning. Mike decided it was time to get gas. He was slowing down to exit the interstate and spied a truck stop. We all had very long hair back then – it was the hippie era – but Skip, Mike and Bob had all stuffed their hair up in their hats. You had to be careful out on the road like that, because you'd get ostracized. When I walked in, there was this gauntlet of truckers making comments – "Is that a girl or man?" I was seething; those guys were laughing their asses off, a big funny joke. That next night, after we played our gig – I think it was Mitchell, S.D. – Seger says, "Hey, I've been working on this song for a bit, I've got this new line for it. He played it on acoustic guitar, and there was that line: "Oh, the same old cliches / 'Is that a woman or a man?' " It was "Turn the Page."<ref name=oral>{{cite web|url=http://www.freep.com/article/20070312/ENT04/103120103/|title=A definitive oral history of Seger's early years|author=Brian McCollum| work=Detroit Free Press|date=March 14, 2004}}</ref></blockquote> |
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Tom Weschler, then road manager for Seger, remembers the same incident: <blockquote>"Turn the Page," Bob's great road song, came along in '72, while we were driving home from a gig. I think we were in Dubuque, Iowa, in winter and stopped at a restaurant. We stood out when we entered a store or a gas station or a restaurant en masse. At this restaurant it was particularly bright inside, so there weren't any dark corners to hide in. All these local guys were looking at us like, "What are these guys? Is that a woman or a man?" – just like in the song. ... That was one incident, but there were so many others on the road that led Seger to write that song.<ref name=travelin>Weschler, Tom, and Gary Graff. Travelin Man: on the road and behind the scenes with Bob Seger. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 2009.</ref></blockquote> |
Tom Weschler, then road manager for Seger, remembers the same incident: <blockquote>"Turn the Page," Bob's great road song, came along in '72, while we were driving home from a gig. I think we were in Dubuque, Iowa, in winter and stopped at a restaurant. We stood out when we entered a store or a gas station or a restaurant en masse. At this restaurant it was particularly bright inside, so there weren't any dark corners to hide in. All these local guys were looking at us like, "What are these guys? Is that a woman or a man?" – just like in the song. ... That was one incident, but there were so many others on the road that led Seger to write that song.<ref name=travelin>Weschler, Tom, and Gary Graff. Travelin Man: on the road and behind the scenes with Bob Seger. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 2009.</ref></blockquote> |
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https://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2011/05/bob_seger_to_turn_the_page_in.html |
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Do you still identify with “Turn the Page” at all? |
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Yeah I do. I did 12 years as a longhair. I read the Keith Richards book, which was right in the same era, and they were out with long hair in the South, and there were a lot of unfriendly people. |
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That particular song is written about the north. Wisconsin was a lot more unfriendly than the South was. (Laughs) That’s where I wrote the song, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was about an actual event, in 1970. |
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We had these two really big roadies. We were traveling in this single truck that had sleepers over the cab. Everybody would take turns driving and sleeping. We pulled into a truckstop, and our two big roadies were sleeping at the time. (Seger and the musicians) wander in, and we’re all skinny little guys. These big traveling salesmen started calling us girls and longhairs and all that. That’s where the song came from. |
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The next night, we played Madison. While I was waiting to go over to the venue in my hotel room, I wrote the song. I literally wrote the whole thing and put it in a little tape recorder. |
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==Instrumentation== |
==Instrumentation== |
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Revision as of 19:54, 8 October 2018
| "Turn the Page" | |
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| Song |
"Turn the Page" is a song originally released by Bob Seger in 1973 on his Back in '72 album. Though never released as a single, Seger's live version of the song on the 1976 Live Bullet album became a mainstay of album-oriented rock radio stations, and still gets significant airplay to this day (2018) on classic rock stations.
Inspiration
"Turn the Page" is about the emotional and social ups and downs of a rock musician's life on the road. Seger wrote it in 1972 while touring with Teegarden & Van Winkle. Drummer David Teegarden (of Teegarden & Van Winkle and later the Silver Bullet Band) recalls:
We had been playing somewhere in the Midwest, or the northern reaches, on our way to North or South Dakota. [Guitarist] Mike Bruce was with us. We'd been traveling all night from the Detroit area to make this gig, driving in this blinding snowstorm. It was probably 3 in the morning. Mike decided it was time to get gas. He was slowing down to exit the interstate and spied a truck stop. We all had very long hair back then – it was the hippie era – but Skip, Mike and Bob had all stuffed their hair up in their hats. You had to be careful out on the road like that, because you'd get ostracized. When I walked in, there was this gauntlet of truckers making comments – "Is that a girl or man?" I was seething; those guys were laughing their asses off, a big funny joke. That next night, after we played our gig – I think it was Mitchell, S.D. – Seger says, "Hey, I've been working on this song for a bit, I've got this new line for it. He played it on acoustic guitar, and there was that line: "Oh, the same old cliches / 'Is that a woman or a man?' " It was "Turn the Page."[1]
Tom Weschler, then road manager for Seger, remembers the same incident:
"Turn the Page," Bob's great road song, came along in '72, while we were driving home from a gig. I think we were in Dubuque, Iowa, in winter and stopped at a restaurant. We stood out when we entered a store or a gas station or a restaurant en masse. At this restaurant it was particularly bright inside, so there weren't any dark corners to hide in. All these local guys were looking at us like, "What are these guys? Is that a woman or a man?" – just like in the song. ... That was one incident, but there were so many others on the road that led Seger to write that song.[2]
Instrumentation
Both Seger's studio and live versions of "Turn the Page" feature a mellotron and a saxophone part played by founding Silver Bullet member Alto Reed. Tom Weschler allegedly helped inspire Reed to create the opening melody. During recording, Weschler told Reed: "Alto, think about it like this: You're in New York City, on the Bowery. It's 3 a.m. You're under a streetlamp. There's a light mist coming down. You're all by yourself. Show me what that sounds like." With that, Reed played the opening melody to "Turn the Page".[2]
Jon English cover
Australian singer Jon English released a version of the song in 1974 as the lead single from his second studio album, It's All a Game. The song peaked at number 20 on the Kent Music Report.[3]
Metallica cover
| "Turn the Page" | |
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| Song | |
| B-side | "Bleeding Me"/"Stone Cold Crazy"/"The Wait" |
Of the many cover versions that have been recorded, the most popular might be that of Metallica who released it as the first single from their 1998 Garage Inc. album, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 11 consecutive weeks, the highest number of weeks Metallica has ever spent at the top; drummer Lars Ulrich had heard the original song while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge and later commented that he thought it "had James Hetfield all over it".[4] Metallica's rendition is taken at much the same tempo as Seger's, but with a heavier feel; the saxophone part is replaced by a high slide guitar line from Kirk Hammett. The accompanying music video explores a day in the life not of musicians, but a mother (played by Ginger Lynn) who is a sex worker; that is, she works as a stripper by day, and a prostitute by night. MTV refused to air the video due to nudity and a scene depicting sexual assault between the mother and a client.[5] The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund.[6]
Influences
Jon Bon Jovi has claimed that the song was a big influence on him and Richie Sambora when they were writing their 1986 song "Wanted Dead or Alive."[7]
The 1995 Bruce Springsteen song "Youngstown" uses a very similar tune.[citation needed]
Awards
In 2014, Seger performed the song on CMT Crossroads with country singer Jason Aldean. The video of the performance won the CMT Music Award for Performance Video of the Year.[8]
References
- ^ Brian McCollum (March 14, 2004). "A definitive oral history of Seger's early years". Detroit Free Press.
- ^ a b Weschler, Tom, and Gary Graff. Travelin Man: on the road and behind the scenes with Bob Seger. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 2009.
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ http://www.encycmet.com/songs/sgtpage.shtml
- ^ "Ginger Lynn". IMDb.
- ^ Armstrong, Chuck. "Metallica, 'Turn the Page' – Official Music Video". Ultimate Metallica. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ^ Video: Jon Bon Jovi talks with Richie Sambora and the audience about Bob Seger on YouTube
- ^ "2015 CMT Music Awards: The Winners". CMT.com. June 11, 2015.
