"Katmandu"
Single by Bob Seger
from the album Beautiful Loser
B-side"Nutbush City Limits"
Released1975
GenreRock
Length6:09
3:16 (single edit)
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)Bob Seger
Producer(s)Bob Seger and Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Bob Seger singles chronology
"Beautiful Loser"
(1975) 		"Katmandu"
(1975) 		"Nutbush City Limits"
(1976)

"Katmandu" is a song written and recorded by American rock artist Bob Seger. It was initially released on his 1975 studio album Beautiful Loser, which became the first of ten consecutive platinum albums for Seger.[1] The song was later featured on his live album Live Bullet. The single edit reached number 43 on the US Top 40, becoming Seger's most successful single since "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man".[2] The song was featured in the soundtracks of the 1985 film Mask, the 16th episode of Freaks and Geeks, the tenth episode of the eighth season of Supernatural, and in the 2009 documentary Journey to Everest.

Content

The song refers to the city Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, although there is no evidence that Seger visited Kathmandu prior to 1991.[3] After the Nepali earthquake of 2015, Seger said his "heart went out" to the city.

Seger said of the song:

That’s kind of like "Turn the Page." It’s an exasperated song. It’s like: “I’m never gonna make it, I’m just gonna go to Katmandu”. I’d always loved the group Little Feat. They were on Warner Brothers, and that’s why I wanted to be on that label. I was on the label for two years. Since then I’ve bought the catalogue back from them. Talk about getting lost in the woods. They had so many acts on the label that you just got lost in the shuffle. I felt like a number. Katmandu was written at the end of that nine-year or 10-year period where I was going nowhere fast. Glenn [Frey] and Don [Henley] told me that the Beautiful Loser album was the first little step in the right direction for me. Then the next step after that was Live Bullet, which was a huge step. And the next step was Night Moves, which was an even huger step. By 1980 both records were at six million, and they kept selling continuously. Beautiful Loser was a transitional album, and in the song "Katmandu" I still had some of that defeatist mentality and you can hear it in there.[4]

Reception

Cash Box called it "fine, tight, rock and roll," saying the song "is punctuated with classic Chuck Berry-style guitar, down-home rockin' piano and fine vocal stylizing by Bob."[5]

Classic Rock History critic Janey Roberts rated it as Seger's 9th best song.[6]

Chart performance

Chart (1975) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Top Singles[7] 57
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 43

References

  1. ^ "Bob Seger Highlights". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Inc. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Pop Songs: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 218.
  3. ^ "Singer Gets 'Outta Here,' Visits Katmandu". Desert News. June 4, 1991. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  4. ^ Sharp, Ken (September 10, 2018). "How Bob Seger changed the face of American Music". Classic Rock. Louder Sound. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  5. ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. July 26, 1975. p. 23. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  6. ^ Roberts, Janey (17 June 2022). "Top 20 Bob Seger songs". Classic Rock History. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
  7. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - October 25, 1975" (PDF).
Categories