So many songs contain powerful emotion and depth, yet often they are merely listened to just for their musical quality. Therefore, I am setting up this section of the page to pay special attention to some of the most powerful lyrics ever written. Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, and others will pop up soon, but I want to start out with one of my favorite songs by Bob Seger.

Though I love Seger's music, I do not normally think of him as a great lyricist. Besides having a keen ability to use the natural correlative (I'll discuss this in depth later), most of his songs are about youthful nights of passion and his longing for them as he grows older. Once again, I am not attacking that. "Roll Me Away," "Hollywood Nights," "Night Moves," "Against the Wind," and "Like a Rock" are some of the best anthems of Rock and Roll. However, the true meat of Seger can be seen in one song that never fails to move me when I hear it: "The Fire Inside." Here he sums up a futile and absurd life in a way that would make most men and women who are anthologized in modern literature very proud.

Since it is not one of his more well-known songs and some people of the younger generation might not even know who Bob Seger is, I am going to give the entire text of the lyrics and then attempt with my limited knowledge to explain why they are so powerful and meritorious.

"The Fire Inside"
Bob Seger, 1988
There's a hard moon rising on the steets tonight
There's a reckless feeling in your heart as you head out tonight
Through the concrete canyons to the midtown lights
Where the latest neon promises are burning bright

Past the open windows on the darker streets
Where unseen angry voices flash and children cry
Past the phony posters with their worn out lines
The tired new money dressed to the nines
The low life dealers with their bad designs
And the dilettantes with their open minds

You're out on the town, safe in the crowd
Ready to go for the ride
Searching the eyes, looking for clues
There's no way you can hide
The fire inside

Well you've been to the clubs and the discotheques
Where they deal one another from the bottom of the deck of promises
Where the cautious loners and emotional wrecks
Do an acting stretch to hide the obvious
And the lights go down and they dance real close
And for one brief instant they pretend they're safe and warm

Then the beat gets louder and the mood is gone
The darkness scatters as the lights flash on
They hold one another just a little too long
And they move apart and then move on

On to the streets, on to the next
Safe in the knowledge that they tried
Faking the smile, hiding the pain
Never satisfied
The fire inside

Now the hour is late and he thinks you're asleep
You listen to him dress and you listen to him leave like you knew he would
You hear his car pull away in the street
Then you move to the door and you lock it when he's gone for good

Then you walk to the window and stare at the moon
Riding high and lonesome through a starlit sky
And it comes to you how it all slips away
Youth and beauty are gone one day
No matter what you dream or feel or say
It ends in dust and disarray

Like wind on the plains, sand through the glass
Waves rolling in with the tide
Dreams die hard and we watch them erode
But we cannot be denied
The fire inside

Analysis Coming Soon!