This month, all my A to Z Challenge posts will feature a song that is on my personal list of “deep cuts.” These are songs that my husband often razzes me about, that there’s no one else who has ever heard of them or is listening to them, or they’re songs that possibly are just not that mainstream. If we are of the same era or run in the same musical taste circles, none of these may seem that off the beaten path, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t fun songs! Enjoy!

Bob Seger, in his heyday, was a powerhouse. He had a musical style and voice that were unique and distinctive, and he became a mega star after “Old Time Rock & Roll” was featured so prominently in the movie Risky Business. One likely can’t hear that song without picturing Tom Cruise dancing around in his underwear! But that’s not my favorite Seger song.

My favorite is the last track on the album Stranger in Town called “The Famous Final Scene.” The first time I heard this song was when I was in high school. My best friend Jennifer and I would cruise around in her mom’s red Camaro. That car had an 8-track player and one of the 8-track tapes in the car was that album. “The Famous Final Scene” isn’t a rock out song — it’s a ballad that’s an extended metaphor for a breakup. In fact, that extended metaphor is what made me fall in lover with the song.

Seger uses multiple metaphors to explain to us, the listeners, and the woman he is in the relationship with, that the relationship has ended. There are so many powerful lines in this song. The metaphor builds to multiple references to the end of a play or a movie, representing the end of the relationship.

“Now the stage has all been set
And the nights are growing cold
Soon the winter will be here
And there’s no one warm to hold
Now the lines have all been read
And you knew them all by heart
Now you move toward the door
Here it comes, the hardest part
Try the handle of the road
Feeling different, feeling strange
This can never be arranged
As the light fades from the screen
From the famous final scene”

To me, when I hear this song, I picture all of these things happening — the stage being set, people finish reading their lines, the heartbeat before the play is done and the audience recognizes it, and the lights fade and it’s over. I thought the metaphor was so vivid that when I taught high school, I used this song as an example of extended metaphor when I taught poetry.

If you like “We’ve Got Tonight,” chances are you’ll like this song because it has the same, sad feel to it. This song is just a hidden gem. Hope you love it as much as I do!