"2 + 2 = ?" (B. Seger) - The Bob Seger System; Capitol label, Did not chart nationally - 1968. Inducted in 2008.
Bob Seger was signed to Capitol Records in 1968 mainly because of his songwriting ability. His first single for the label, "2 + 2 = ?", demonstrated that skill in spades. Seger managed to perfectly articulate the feelings of young men facing the draft and the possibility of death in the jungles of Vietnam while fighting in what many of them felt was a corrupt and unjust war.
Released in April of 1968, "2 + 2 = ?" was the first and the greatest of the rock and roll anti-war songs. The record starts ominously with just Don Hornaker's bass and Seger's low vocal before putting the pedal to the metal and blasting into high gear.
The original version of the song had a dramatic five-second pause near the end. The 45 rpm single, however, inserted a guitar chord to cover it for AM radio stations intolerant of silence, no matter how dramatic it might be.
