:''For the song by
Bobby Valentino, see
Turn the Page (Bobby Valentino song).''
'"Turn the Page"' is a song written and recorded by
Bob Seger.
The song was originally released by Seger in 1973 on his ''
Back in '72'' album. Seger's original version never made the charts, but an evocative live performance on his 1975 ''
Live Bullet'' album became a mainstay of
album-oriented rock radio stations, and still gets significant airplay to this day on
classic rock stations. He revealed at his concert in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin during his 2006 tour that he had written the song in a hotel room in
Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
"Turn the Page" is about the emotional and social ups and downs of a rock musician's life on the road, against a slow tempo and a mournful
saxophone part. It is generally considered one of the best of many such songs, on a par with
Jackson Browne's "
Load Out/
Stay" and
Journey's "
Faithfully".
Covers
★
Waylon Jennings covered the single (though not released) "Turn the Page" on the album of the same name (''Turn the Page'') in
1985, the first in which Jennings was drug-free in twenty years.
★ The song was later covered by
Metallica, as the first single from their 1998 ''
Garage Inc.'' album; drummer
Lars Ulrich had heard the original song while driving across the
Golden Gate Bridge.
[1] 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 and
James Hetfield played a guitar solo before the last run through the chorus. Metallica's
music video for the song, directed by
Jonas Ã…kerlund, is about the life of a stripper who prostitutes herself while she is trying to raise a child; the prostitute/stripper is played by
Ginger Lynn Allen.
[2].
★ The song was also covered by Australian rock singer
Jon English, the Dutch rock group
Golden Earring and the singer Sally Anthony.
★ Kid Rock covered the song as a 1995 demo as part of his White Room Studios Sessions but it was left off of 'Early Mornin Stoned Pimp'. Kid Rock's version includes the original version overdubbed. He has covered it with Metallica on the 2000 Summer Sanitarium Tour.
★
Sage Francis covered the song on his 2001 album
Personal Journals, with slightly altered lyrics. The chorus lyric and song title were changed to "My Name Is Strange".
Unrelated songs
Several songs with the same name have been recorded over the years, though they are unrelated. The artists performing them include:
★
Blind Guardian, a German metal band, on their 2006 album ''
A Twist in the Myth''
★
Rush, on their 1987 album ''
Hold Your Fire''
★
Bobby Valentino, on his 2006 album ''
Special Occasion''
★
The Streets, on his 2002 album ''
Original Pirate Material''
External links
★
"Reason to Rock" review