Thursday, October 23, 2014

Buick Electra 225 and Bob Seger's Creative License



It appears Bob Seger don't know much about Buick Electra 225 history.

Ron Fonger of The Flint Journal reports:
In the lyrics of "Detroit Made," Seger sings about the Electra's big-block engine, leather bucket seats, and "chrome that takes the moonlight on." 
The song credits the Buick with winning the attention of "girls (that) walked right by me, didn't even say good luck," while the singer drove "an old farm truck," but who "all wanna be my friend ... now I ride my 225." 
The chorus of the song, lines repeated a dozen times, are, "She's a Detroit made; deuce and a quarter, babe."
The problem, as Fonger points out, is that 225s were made in Flint and a few other places, but never Detroit. Just the kind of songwriting mistake you'd expect from an Ann Arbor guy like Seger.


5 comments:

  1. fonger doesn't know much about the music biz.john hiatt wrote the song not bob seger.

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    1. Try actually reading the link before you comment. Fonger credits Hiatt with writing the lyrics.

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  2. Pontiac Trail Begins And Ends NowhereOctober 24, 2014 at 7:29 AM

    Perhaps Mark Farner should straighten out Bob Seger about Buick at a tete a tete at one of Stafford's fine food establishments near Petoskey. BTW, Stafford Smith has a Flint connection. As I recall, his wife is from the Flint Area. But you are correct, Ann Arbor has a big problem and a lot of deliberate ignorance about the American Auto Industry and its History, and that extends deep into the Ann Arbor Public Schools that Bob Seger attended.

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  3. No leather seats in Buick's and I've yet to see the vin # that would actually show where it was built.

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  4. Bob Seger DID NOT write 'Detroit Made' you owe Seger a ton of apologies for your rather snotty comments. That tune was written by John Hiatt and performed by Seger on the LP "Ride Out". Truth aficionados will be waiting for those apologies....

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.