Battling Bobs (Seger) Top Ten: Nutbush City Limits (#10)

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It’s time for a new countdown! Two, actually, dealing with two great performers. Both are named Bob, and both are Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. I hope your head doesn’t spin too much. Let’s start this with 2004 inductee Bob Seger. #10: Nutbush City Limits Nutbush, Tennessee is unincorporated. It doesn’t even have its own post office or ZIP code. And, technically, as it is unincorporated, it doesn’t have city limits. That’s okay. Tina Turner put ‘em there. Turner, born in Nutbush (about 60 miles from Memphis), wrote this dynamite song about her hometown and a thousand other small towns (“25 was the speed limit”) in the south (“people keep the city clean....go to church on Sunday”). Now, we all know that when Tina sang a song, it was sung, even if she didn’t write it (see CCR’s “Proud Mary”). Bob Seger didn’t try to mimic the funk in Tina’s rendition, making it a driving rocker. Seger didn’t try to “compete” with Turner, he just turned it into a Bob Seger tune. Either version is great, of course. This opens Live Bullet, letting you know you’re in for a great night of rock. Nutbush City Limits Written by Tina Turner From Beautiful Loser, 1975 Also from Live Bullet, 1976 On US 19: