‘We've Got Tonite’ is a song written by American rock music artist Bob Seger, from his album Stranger in Town (1978). The single record charted twice for Seger, and was developed from a prior song that he had written. This piano-based ballad is about two lonely people who are not right for each other, but will do for one night. Seger wrote the song after seeing the movie The Sting, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman. In the film, there's a scene where Redford puts the moves on a waitress, who says, "I don't even know you." He replies: "You know me. I'm the same as you. It's two in the morning and I don't know nobody."
"That just hit me real hard," Seger told the Detroit Free Press in 1994. "The next day I wrote 'We've Got Tonight,' this song about two people who say 'I'm tired. It's late at night. I know you don't really dig me, and I don't really dig you, but this is all we've got, so let's do it.' The sexual revolution was still going strong then."
‘We've Got Tonite’ was not recorded until the 1976 sessions for Seger's album Night Moves and was held off that album as Seger felt it was not a thematic fit. It was one of five Stranger... tracks recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and Venetta Fields, Clydie King, and Shirley Matthews provided the backing vocals.
The song served as the album's third single, reaching No. 13 on the US pop chart in 1978. It also played in the background of Melissa Sue Anderson's television film Survival of Dana (1979), in a scene where Anderson's character was in Los Angeles visiting the home of one of her new friends and was sitting in a room with co-star Robert Carradine's "Donny Davis" character, with whom she was falling in love. In the UK, the original version would chart twice, reaching No. 41 in 1979, then No. 22 as a 1995 re-release—as ‘We've Got Tonight’—to promote a Greatest Hits album. (In 1982, a live version—titled "We've Got Tonite"—from the in-concert album Nine Tonight reached No. 60 in the UK.)
Billboard described ‘We've Got Tonite’ as a "melodic ballad featuring Seger's smokey and tender vocal" and said that the structure of the melody was similar to Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night". Cash Box called it a "sensitive ballad" with "stark opening tambourine beat, strings and strong upward swell" and praised Seger's vocals as well as the "brightness" provided by the backing vocals. Record World said that "The drama builds beautifully and Seger's raspy vocals carry the message with ease."
Further versions of the song charted in 1983 for Kenny Rogers as a duet with Sheena Easton, and again in 2002 for Ronan Keating.
Label – Capitol
Songwriter – Bob Seger
Producers – Bob Seger, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]I know it's late
I know you're weary
I know your plans don't include me
Still here we are
Both of us lonely
Longing for shelter from all that we see
[Pre-Chorus]
Why should we worry?
No one will care girl
Look at the stars so far away
[Chorus]
We've got tonight
Who needs tomorrow?
We've got tonight babe
Why don't you stay?
[Verse 2]
Deep in my soul
I've been so lonely
All of my hopes fading away
I've longed for love
Like everyone else does
I know I'll keep searchin' even after today
[Pre-Chorus]
So there it is girl
I've said it all now
And here we are, babe
What do you say?
[Chorus]
We've got tonight
Who needs tomorrow?
We've got tonight babe
Why don't you stay?
[Bridge]
I know it's late
I know you're weary (Weary)
Oh, I know your plans don't include me
Still here we are
Both of us lonely (Lonely)
Both of us lonely (Lonely)
[Chorus]
We've got tonight (We've got tonight)
Who needs tomorrow?
Let's make it last
Let's find a way
Turn out the light (Turn out the light)
Come take my hand now
We've got tonight babe
Why don't you stay?
We've got tonight
Who needs tomorrow?
Let's make it last
Let's find a way
Turn out the light
Come take my hand now
We've got tonight babe
Why don't you stay?
Oh, we've got tonight (We've got tonight)
Who needs tomorrow?
Let's make it last
Let's find a way
Turn out the light (Turn out the light)
Come take my hand now
We've got tonight babe
Why don't you stay?
[Outro]
Oh, oh, oh
Why don't you stay?