Still The Same

personally i think it's about an ex girlfriend and she gambles her love. She's a player or she's too afraid to get close or both.

You always won everytime you placed a bet You're still damn good No one's gotten to you yet Everytime they were sure they had you caught You were quicker than they thought You'd just turn your back and walk

---Pretty much every time she wanted someone she could get them. If they wanted her she would just walk away so she didn't get attached.---

You always said The cards would never do you wrong The trick you said Was never play the game too long A gambler's share The only risk that you would take The only loss you could forsake The only bluff you couldn't fake

--- Playing the field cards was perfect bec she'd never have to settle down. The trick was to never stay with someone too long never play the game too long and she wouldnt take the risk to stay with someone or fall in love. and i think maybe she fell in love with him... and wouldn't admit it (lied to herself and him)

And you're still the same I caught up with you yesterday Moving game to game No one standing in your way Turning on the charm Long enough to get you by You're still the same You still aim high

---she's still looking for the perfect guy still aim high and she moves from man to man game to game turning on the charm. She leaves before she gets too attached and stays long enough for her to get something out of it long enough to get you by

There you stood Everybody watched you play I just turned and walked away I had nothing left to say 'Cause you're still the same You're still the same Moving game to game Some things never change You're still the same ---all her friends watched her go from man to man. He couldn't stand it anymore so he walked away and he's given up on her because she's still the same... She's still a player... and he doesn't think she'll ever change. He's given up on her

This song has such a soulful, wistful potency that it is hard to believe that it can be about anything less than an ex-lover, whom the singer is addressing. Maybe she was someone that he loved from the safe distance of "friendship," as he watched her play the field. That's always sure to get you singing the blues. LOL!

Great songs can rarely be understood by looking at the lyrics in isolation from the music. This piece is a great example - the music creates the tone for the lyrics. The lyrics on their own might be said by someone who is resentful, or just laughing at someone who is a fool. But the music is so very sad that the lyrics take on a sense of wistfulness, and unresolved feelings of what must be love.

Just heard this song on my way home, and realized why I must've always thought he was speaking of a woman. The chorus (not shown above) has the line, "Baby, babe you're sill the same". I doubt he would be saying that to a buddy =)

For me definitely about a woman, although carefully worded to avoid gender, and not about literal gambling and cards but about the deck life gives you and the gambles we have to take in life. It's about someone who keeps everyone at a distance. He can see the sadness of this and has tried to make this person see it but has said it all before and has nothing else to say. It's sad and he doesn't want to watch what this person is doing.

This songs seems to be about a man who runs into an old girlfriend, someone he loved very much. But she wasn't ready to settle down and it seems will never be. He talks about catching up with her and realizing she'll never change. He still has feelings for her, but she hurt him and he keeps telling himself she'll always play the field.

This is a very underrated and beautiful song from Bob Seger.

I think this is a little story about the narrator catching up with an old friend of his. He's using poker as a metaphor for his friends' life. Back in the day, he was pretty cool and a lucky dude. I somewhat take this as his friend's luck with the ladies. 'The trick you said is to never play the game too long' maybe means he goes from girl to girl. He had his own way of doing things, and the narrator could've quite possibly idolized him. Now several years later, he ends up catching up to this old friend of his. The narrator has grown up and matured quite a bit. he's changed his ways and he sees his friend, who has still remained the same. This also somewhat makes the narrator sad, because the friend of his is still living his so-called charmed life. And all that the narrator could do was walk away, cuz nothing was left to say to him.

The tone of the song seems to be a sad tone, like feeling sorry for the guy....

But that's what I get out of it

I totally agree with Saabio and 4Lanie (I'm a man). In my eyes there's never been any doubt that he's referring to a girl, either one he's had or wanted and is bitter at how it all ended. The card games in question, of course, are relationships. She goes from one to another, always getting out before she gets too close and has to show who she truly is and before her vulnerability starts to show.
"A gambler's share The only risk that you would take The only loss you could forsake The only bluff you couldn't fake," There are probably a few realationships that she would have liked to continue a little longer, or even start, but circumstances decided otherwise. Those would be the gambler's share.
He catches up with her several years later, and see's that he still doesn't have a chanche and that she's still after the perfect man. He just can't come to terms with this and walks away in frustration.

I never associated this song literally with gambling. The narrator is both impressed by the friends ability to "deal" people, never allowing anyone to get "in" or too close, but saddened that after the years have passed, the friend never moved into being more substantial. We all know people like that. A great song.

This is a very compelling song, musically, and I think Seger did a clever thing: he employed a consistent and extended metaphor about a WOMAN with whom he may have had a close relationship.

The song is written ambiguously, so that the gender of the subject is unknown, but I think the key is a sort of bittersweet wistfulness and regret that comes out in the mood established.

Reinforcing the idea that it's a woman, is he marked use of the term "baby, baby" in the final chorus.

If we accept this, then gambling is a metaphor for how she lives her life--she is a confident individual who seems always to come out to the better, and is able to remain above the emotions of her many affairs.

In a sense, it's a song a lot like Tangerine, or Girl From Ipanema, where the female subject is held up as near goddess-like.

Understanding, not appreciation, was my goal.

On a superficial level, yes, this song is about the "casino-style" gambling of a friend. Just as on a superficial level, "Against the Wind" is about running.

After some mild digging, we realize this song is about the friend himself. The singer sounds like he's praising the friend.

But if we dig further into the words chosen, if we look harder at the tonal changes in context, it's all but clear that the singer's praise is satirical and pitying.

Bob Seger doesn't deliver a single wasted word in this song. "Still The Same" is ambiguous only to the extent that it is too rich for -everyone- to take the time to break it apart. People are free to enjoy "Still The Same" at whatever level they choose. When I was younger, I just enjoyed the simple combination of piano & drums.

The purpose of this site, however, is to analyze each song and to develop its -full- meaning. A visitor to this site implicitly accepts that his song interpretation may be only part of that full meaning.

If you want to add to that full meaning by imparting how the song affects you, I'm not stopping you. Part of any song's meaning is the subjective reaction of each listener. Your subjective meaning is not wrong.

Nevertheless, A song's inherent meaning is only that which can be derived from the music itself. The inherent meaning will explain every single word and tone of the song. The "song is about gambling" interpretation doesn't explain the character exposition. The "comfort" interpretation doesn't explain the odd "still aim high" tonal change, or why the friend walked away.

The song's -inherent- meaning extends to a certain point and then stops. The point at which that inherent meaning stops may be short of a visitor's subjective meaning, or may go beyond the visitor's subjective meaning.

Here, the song's inherent extends past gambling. It extends past praise or comfort. It extends past those areas into the realm of satire, pity, and resignation--and then stops.

Nowadays, when I hear this song, I think of an old girlfriend of mine. But that's my subjective meaning that I -add- to the song. It's not what the song really means, it's just what it means to me.

It's inherent meaning is, pardon the pun, still the same.