In 1973, Bob Seger Penned A Song That Would Become One Of Kenny Rogers' Biggest Ballads

While Kenny Rogers was the king of soft rock for boomers, one of his most beloved ballads, "We've Got Tonite," was written by classic rock icon Bob Seger. The leader of the Silver Bullet Band, Seger broke through commercially in 1976 with the LP "Night Moves," and in 1978, he showed off his less-hard-rocking side with the lonely and understated song "We've Got Tonite." The song wasn't remotely new, rather a five-year-old remake of an even older Seger composition, "This Old House," which he was inspired to rework after seeing the 1973 con man movie "The Sting." 

Speaking of that film, Seger told the Detroit Free Press, "... there's a line in it that struck me, when he said to the waitress, 'It's four in the morning, and I don't know anybody.' That just hit me real hard." Seger kept the chords intact, changed the melody a little, and added new lyrics to create "We've Got Tonite," or what he called a "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.'"

"We've Got Tonite" was a decent-sized hit for Seger, peaking at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1979. A little over four years later, Rogers reinterpreted and retitled the Seger song, and "We've Got Tonight" became an even bigger smash.

After recordings by country stars Conway Twitty and Dottie West proved that "We've Got Tonight" could work in that genre, Liberty Records boss Jim Mazza suggested in 1982 that his label's prominent act, Kenny Rogers, ought to give the song a try. When they struck upon the idea of doing it as a male-female duet of romantic desperation, the counterpart vocalist they pursued was Sheena Easton, a now largely forgotten '80s artist, who was coming off of big hits like "Morning Train (Nine to Five)" and "For Your Eyes Only."

The title track on Rogers' 1983 album, "We've Got Tonight" brought in not just a second primary voice, but also lots of synthesizers and melodrama. All those elements helped the song make 1983 a banner year for Rogers collaborations. In addition to his topping the charts alongside Dolly Parton with "Islands in the Stream," a Bee Gees-penned song that was Rogers' defining duet, "We've Got Tonight" placed highly on multiple Billboard charts. The Rogers-Easton version of the '70s Bob Seger song reached No. 6 on the pop chart, No. 2 on the adult contemporary list, and No. 1 on the country chart for a week.