"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" is a song by the American rock band the Bob Seger System, and written by its leader

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throu ...

. The song was originally released as a single in October 1968, then as a track on the album '' Ramblin' Gamblin' Man'' in April 1969. The single fared well, reaching No. 17 on the national charts. The original studio version, released in mono, had been unavailable to the public until it was included on Seger's compilation album '' Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets'' (2011). It was Bob Seger's first top 20 hit.

Production

The song follows a I-♭VII-IV-I progression, a typical 1960s chord progression. The melody plays over a basic rock drum beat and an unmistakable organ riff that carry throughout the song. Seger's friend

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American musician. He was a founding member of the rock band Eagles, for whom he was the co-lead singer and frontman, roles he came to share with fellow member Don Henley, with ...

, who later co-founded

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles, six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in ...

, played acoustic guitar and sang back-up vocals. Eagles drummer

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician who is a founding member of the rock band the Eagles, for whom he is the drummer and co-lead vocalist, as well as its sole continuous member. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles ...

said of it "It’s not really all that great a song, but your voice makes it sound like a great song." ''Classic Rock History'' critic Janey Roberts rated it as Seger's 8th best song, saying that "it was the song that introduced the world to the iconic voice that would eventually become a rock and roll legend."

Live

The Bob Seger System synched to this song on a 1960s television show called ''Happenin, hosted by

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, ...

. Seger continued playing the song in concert with many various bands long after the Bob Seger System disbanded. A live version of the song from an Orlando concert on May 13, 1973 exists o
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This version features Seger's (apparently unreliable) "Borneo Band", with prominent female vocalist

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murp ...

(then known as Stoney). Another live version appeared on the

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

'' Live Bullet'' (1976), this time with the Silver Bullet Band backing Seger. The song finally dropped off of Seger's

set list A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance. A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...

in 1983, but returned 23 years later during Seger's 2006-07 ''Face The Promise'' tour.

Other versions

Recorded by Black Oak Arkansas for their album ''Balls of Fire'' (1976) and by

Sammy Hagar Sam Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose before launching a ...

for his album '' Sammy Hagar & Friends'' (2013), "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" has also been performed in concert by such acts as

Gov't Mule Gov't Mule (pronounced "Government Mule") is an American Southern rock jam band, formed in 1994 by guitarist Warren Haynes, bassist Allen Woody (both of The Allman Brothers Band at the time) and drummer Matt Abts (whom Haynes had worked with in ...

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and

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

In popular culture

The song was used in the adventure comedy ''

Joe Dirt ''Joe Dirt'' is a 2001 American adventure comedy film, directed by Dennie Gordon (in her feature film directorial debut), starring David Spade, Dennis Miller, Christopher Walken, Adam Beach, Brian Thompson, Brittany Daniel, Jaime Pressly ...

'' (2001), Quentin Tarantino's movie and

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for ''

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ''Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Bona Film Group, Heyday Films, and Visiona Romantica, and distributed by Sony Pict ...

'' (2019) and in episode 3 of season 4 of the series The Grand Tour. Also as the opening for season 7, episode 10 - ICED - of TV series “COLD CASE”, 1st air date Dec 13, 2009.

Chart performance

References

{{Bob Seger 1968 singles Bob Seger songs Songs written by Bob Seger 1968 songs Capitol Records singles