← Behind The Song: Classic Rock Chronicles
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Janda
97.1Fm the drive presents the behind the Song podcast, taking you deeper into classic rock's most timeless tunes. Here's your host, Janda It's a song that finds a center in growing older by an artist who wrote many of his best songs from a nostalgic viewpoint, looking back over his own life and youth. In fact, the very title of against the Wind by Bob Seger is came from his high school days running track and cross country, a runner's phrase that stuck with Seger and perfectly described how he saw his own life as a road worn musician maturing out on the road. The title track of his 11th studio album, it's one of the best examples of how Seger used his own life's journey to get to certain personal truths, finding words that he could sing with conviction, which he has said has always been his true goal as a songwriter. Along with the title track to his Night Moves album and brave strangers from Stranger in Town, it's part of what he's called a trilogy of songs on that theme, let's look back into against the Wind in this episode of the behind the Song podcast, and if you like it, give it a thumbs up and hit. Subscribe and let us know in the comments. The against the Wind album is the follow up to Seger's Stranger in Town. Linked by subject matter, Stranger in Town is an accounting of someone always on the move, someone whose personal relationships suffer while being on the road. Against the Wind carries on with that rock and roll as a blue collar job theme, but the songs are more subdued, more mature and more thoughtful. Seger's life from his teenage years onward were linked to his music career. He cut his first record when he was just 16 and his first album was released when he was in his early 20s, but he was in his early 30s before he had his first top 10 album with Night Moves. So in 1980, when the against the Wind album was released, he was fully 20 years into a career that had only recently really popped, giving him quite a lot to reflect back on. It was in those early years in the mid-60s in Detroit that Seger first became close with fellow Michigander the late Glenn Frey when he produced a recording session for local record label Hideout Records featuring Frey on lead vocals. The label, by the way, was an add on to the Hideout teen club in Detroit that was operated by Punch Andrews, who went on to produce several of Seger's albums and who ended up managing Seger's entire career. Frey and Seger kept in touch as Seger got his career going and Frey joined the Eagles. Frey Sang backups on Seger's Ramblin Gamblin man back in 1969, and in the late 70s, the two worked together on two remarkable benchmarks in their careers. Seger co wrote The Eagles number one hit heartache tonight in 1979, and when it came time to record his against the Wind album the following year, he brought longtime Eagles producer Bill Simczic on board. Frey, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmidt all contributed vocals to the album, and it's Frey's voice you hear supplying the harmony vocals on the song against the Wind. As an aside, when Frey passed away in 2016, Seger performed Heartache Tonight at his memorial service. Three years older than Frey, Seeger was something of an early mentor to him in their teenage days, and in turn, Seeger told the Detroit Free Press that Frey was his cheerleader throughout his career too. By the way, Seger was in his early 40s before he scored his only number one Billboard Hot 100 single with Shakedown from the Beverly Hills Cop 2 soundtrack in 1987. Glenn Frey sort of played a part in this too, having just had a hit of his own on the previous Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack with the Heat is On. Frey passed on recording Shakedown because he had laryngitis, and frankly, he wasn't that in love with the lyrics. But when it went to number one, he called Seger to congratulate him, saying at least we kept the money in Michigan. But back to against the Wind, the song weighs the choices made between having a career on the road and sacrificing a home life for that career, wondering if those choices were all worth it in a mature evaluation of life up to that point. And there's a love story in against the Wind when Seger name checks his girlfriend at the time, Jan Dinsdale, or Janie, as she appears in the song. The lyrics go like this seems like yesterday but it was long ago Janie was lovely she was the queen of my nights There in the darkness with the radio playing low and the secrets that we shared the mountains that we moved Caught like a wildfire out of control Till there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove Janie Dinsdale and Bob Seger were together for 11 years, from 1972 until 1983. They never married, but Janie was with him during his most potent songwriting years, through the rocky period before the mid-70s when he had his breakthrough and after and the song goes on I remember what she said to me how she swore that it would Never end I remember how she held me oh, so tight Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then now those last lines Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then really bothered Seger. From a grammatical standpoint, he reportedly kept asking everyone if it seemed right to them to sing it that way. Both Glenn Frey and Don Henley, whose songwriting he could certainly trust, told him that those were the best lines in the song, and he slowly came around to it and kept it in grammar be damned. And the song goes on with the chorus. Against the wind we were running against the wind we were young and strong we were running against the wind it's such a great way to contemplate getting older, using a runner's reference about pushing forward even when the wind isn't at your back, how when you're young, you don't feel it or even care too much. But that changes over time. The song goes on. And the years rolled slowly past and I found myself alone Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends I found myself further and further from my home and I guess I lost my way There were oh so many roads I was living to run and running to live Never worried about paying or even how much I owed now what is being paid for here could be actual money, but it could also be the psychic toll taken on a person whose choices require dealing with unknown people for unknown outcomes all along the way. And I love this next line. Moving 8 miles a minute for months at a time Breaking all of the rules that would bend I began to find myself searching Searching for shelter Again and again Life goes by in a blur when you're focused on getting to the next chapter. 8 miles a minute for months at a time as the song says, years working toward a goal fueled by the energy of being young until you begin to realize that you aren't as young as you used to be anymore. You don't have to be a rock star on the road to relate to what he's talking about there. It's the same for everyone, a midlife accounting of where you've been and where you're going. Back to the chorus and the incredible last verse of the song. Against the wind Little something Against the wind I found myself seeking shelter against the wind well, those drifters days are past me now. I've got so much more to think about. Deadlines and commitments what to leave in, what to leave out. Against the wind I'm still running against the wind I'm older now but still running against the wind. When Seeger sings what to leave in what to leave out in this song, you feel it. There's something about how he questions those two things that give you the space to reflect on similar questions you may have yourself as you reflect on your own life. A masterful stroke by a great songwriter intended to strike a chord sung with conviction in hypnotic harmony with his old pal Glenn Frey. When Rolling Stone magazine interviewed Seger about Against the Wind, he said that he came to the realization about what matters in relationships because his then girlfriend Janie Dinsdale told him that he let people take advantage of him too much. Seger said that knowing the difference between when people are using you and when people truly care about you is what against the Wind is all about. The people in the song have weathered the storm and it's made them better that they've been able to do it. Unfortunately, Seger and Janie didn't make it to the finish line as a couple and after they split, Seger remarried twice, finally settling down with his wife Juanita in 1993. Against the Wind peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the album went to number one on the Billboard album chart, knocking Pink Floyd's The Wall off of the top spot and staying there for six weeks. It remains his only album to ever go to number one. What's impressive about how Bob Seger takes looking back on his own life and putting it into song is that he doesn't fall into a self indulgent trap imagining the past as being better than it really was. When you listen to against the Wind, you aren't hearing a glossed over story, but a deeply meaningful remembrance of how there were indeed ups and downs along the way. Finally getting to a point in life when the things that really matter are pushed to the forefront. Security and who to trust an honest song about growing up and older. Running as always against the wind as we all do. Timeless words that dignified days gone by and days to come. So what other songs lean into growing older while looking back? Something to think about until next time. I'm Janda and this has been behind the song. If you liked this episode, give it a like and subscribe to the channel and check it out on TikTok too. Special thanks as always to Christian Lane for the music you hear on these podcast episodes. You can find me on the air at 97.1fm the drive in Chicago and at wdrv.com on the way. Much more Classic rock and roll.