THE YEAR IS… 1978!
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This is one of the few songs Seger recorded that he didn’t write. It was written by the songwriters George Jackson and Thomas Jones – they worked for Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, where the song was recorded. Although Seger worked on the lyrics, he didn’t take any songwriting credit. This means that Seger doesn’t own the publishing rights to the song, and Jackson and Jones control when it is used in movies and commercials. According to Seger, he was feeling generous that day, and says not seeking composer credit was “the dumbest thing I ever did.” Seger claims he changed all the original lyrics except for the “old time rock and roll” part. He made sure to take a dig at disco music, which was fading in popularity.
- The lead guitar player on “Old Time Rock And Roll” was not a Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section player. It was Forrest McDonald, a young man just passing through who happened to stop in the studio that day. In an interview with David Hood, he told the story: “He happened to come in the parking lot in his mother and daddy’s car with them, and Jimmy was out on the back porch. I believe his first name was Howie, but he probably goes by another name. But anyway, that’s very true. He came into the parking lot one afternoon and Jimmy was out on the back porch. And he says, ‘Well, I’m a guitar player and I’m wanting to learn how to play on recording sessions. And I think I’m good.’ He says, ‘Well, got your guitar with you?’ He says, ‘Yeah.’ Jimmy says, ‘Well, come on in.’ And they put him on the track. His mother and daddy never even got out of the car. They sat in the car in the parking lot with the air conditioning running. And they put him on the track playing guitar and it’s on the record, it stayed on there. It was a good enough part that they kept it on there.”McDonald wasn’t credited for his part on the song, but he did get paid.
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He was on the verge of breaking the national charts in 1967 when the record company promoting his single went bankrupt.
- Bob Seger has stated that he thought his music career would be over by 30, at which point he would motorcycle across Europe and get a real job.
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