As much of Seger's Silver Bullet Band had returned home by this point, the song was recorded with several local session musicians.

"Night Moves" has roots in Seger's adolescence; he wrote the song to capture the "freedom and looseness" he experienced during that period.

[2] The song's contents are largely autobiographical; for example, the group of friends would often hold parties they called "grassers", which involved going to a farmer's field outside Ann Arbor to dance.

[3] The use of descriptive imagery was inspired by Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" (1969), a song that Seger loved and which motivated him as he was developing his writing style.

The catalyst for writing "Night Moves" came after Seger saw the 1973 film American Graffiti: "I came out of the theater thinking, 'Hey, I've got a story to tell, too!

[3] A 1996 article in The Detroit News claims that Seger wrote portions of the song while at an A&W drive-in restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

He had been "waiting on the right moment" to record "Night Moves", as he feared a saxophone, performed by Alto Reed, would not complement it, and that lead guitarist Drew Abbott's playing would not be satisfactory.

At the same time, Sharon Lee Williams, Rhonda Silver, and Laurel Ward and Tracy Richardson sang the song's trademark backing vocals.

[2] The song was completed in fewer than ten takes, with the session dispersing momentarily to record the bridge section that consisted solely of Seger and a guitar.

[2] Paul Cotton of Poco was brought in to record a guitar solo that was later edited out, though the last notes of it are faintly audible preceding the last verse.

[2] A few months later, when Richardson was talking to a Capitol A&R executive, he asked about the Seger sessions and was told that "both tracks" were potential B-sides.

[3] An intense summertime teenaged love affair is described as knowingly more sexual than romantic, with short instrumental lines breaking the evocative imagery, sometimes in mid-sentence.

Piano, backing vocals, electric guitar, and organ are added as the song's emotional nostalgia builds momentum.

[10] To a quiet acoustic guitar, the narrator, awakened by a clap of thunder and unable to fall back asleep, ponders a different sense of the title phrase.

Seger said this passage was inspired by late-night self-analysis and "the uncertainty night represents": "I was thinking about the whole aura of nighttime, the four o'clock in the morning moment when you assess yourself, check your weaknesses.

'"[5][12] To Rolling Stone critic Dave Marsh, the coda after the false ending takes the song beyond the realm of nostalgia to turn it into a complete story covering both the past and the present.

Timothy White of Crawdaddy felt "the genius of the song [...] is the way Seger changes the meaning of the phrase 'night moves,' from a reference to making out, to a comment on the passage of time.

[24] Cash Box said that the song is "based on standard, emotive rock 'n' roll chords played on acoustic guitar, dressed up with keyboards, a soulful backing chorus and of course Seger's throaty voice.

"[25] Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn said that "this Van Morrison-influenced slice back-seat sensuality" may be the song to return Seger to the Top 10 after an 8 year absence.

"[27] Paul Evans, in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, writes: "[It] is not only Seger's best song, but one of rock's most moving exercises in elegy.

"[28] For his part, Seger has claimed that "Night Moves" is his favorite song he ever wrote, and he continued to try and replicate it years afterward.

[29] "Night Moves" was named by Rolling Stone as Best Single of the Year for 1977 and was included in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at No.