The one musician Jane Fonda has “always loved”
It’s a scientific fact that if you drive a car anywhere for longer than two minutes with the radio on while in the United States, you will hear a song by Bob Seger.
Despite most people in the world not having a clue what he even looks like, the man is a national treasure over there, as American as Big Macs, eagles, fighter jets and a lack of proper, affordable healthcare. Just ask Jane Fonda for one, she absolutely loves him.
Fonda was a divisive figure when Seger was at the height of his popularity between about 1975 and 1985, especially for her anti-Vietnam War stance and the photo op on a tank that saw her dubbed ‘Hanoi Jane’. Seger, on the other hand, was the rock and roll, good ol’ boy whose music republican Americans loved to blast from their pickups. But that clash didn’t dissuade the two from a mutual love-in at the start of the ‘80s.
Fonda said, “You gotta understand, I’ve always loved Bob Seger. When I hear ‘Night Moves’, or ‘Against the Wind’, or ‘Horizontal Bop’ among the many others, I am transported to specific times, exciting times, romantic, sensual times, and it makes me so happy.”
Seger, for his part, very much returned the favour when he wrote the song ‘Her Strut’, which served as a B-side, and he said was directly inspired by Fonda and her political activism. He spoke at the time of how he was proud of the actor for forming the Campaign for Economic Democracies, which was a Californian committee intended to fight issues such as rising rent costs and environmental damage.
Fonda was evidently flattered, saying: “My partiality for him pre-existed my discovery, during a radio interview he did in 1981, that his song, ‘Her Strut’, was motivated by moi!!!! He confirmed it last night (at a show in LA). I am flattered, to say the least, and you’ll know why when you hear the lyrics. Bob sang it last night and did a shout-out to me in front of a packed stadium.”
It’s hard to properly convey just how big Seger and his Silver Bullet Band were 40 years ago. They sold more than 50 million albums, 12 platinum albums, and when the Greatest Hits was released at the start of the 21st century, it broke records as the number one album of its kind for the entire decade. He also co-wrote number one songs with the Eagles and won two Grammys for his 1980 album Against the Wind.
While Seger was in his pomp, Fonda had already been a global name for a long time, a double Oscar winner by 1978 and a Broadway star as far back as 1960. Over the next 60-plus years, she won Tony awards and Emmy awards, right up to the comedy series Grace and Frankie in 2022. Most recently, she has spoken at 87 about how hard the last year has been after the passing of her good friends Robert Redford and Diane Keaton.
Seger, who is now 80, did a farewell tour which finished in 2019 and has been retired ever since. He did make a one-off appearance, however, at the 2023 induction of country music star Patty Loveless to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
