Seger has stated that the street he was singing about is Ann Street, just off Main Street in
Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he grew up. There was a
pool hall there where they had girls dancing in the window and
R&B bands playing on the weekends. He said, "Again, that's going back to the '
Night Moves' situation where I was writing about my high school years in Ann Arbor and what it was like — the discovery, the total naivete and fresh–faced openness that I went through. It was sort of an entire awakening of my life; before that I was kind of a quiet, lonesome kid." Seger later expanded on the origins of the song:
Ultimate Classic Rock critic Jed Gottlieb cites "Mainstreet" as an example of Seger's love for "beautiful losers".
Billboard felt that the imagery used by the singer to remember his love for the bar dancer was reminiscent of
Van Morrison.
Billboard also found the organ
counterpoint to be "clever".
Record World said that it focuses on "Seger's mellower, more introspective side."
Classic Rock History critic Janey Roberts rated it as Seger's 7th best song, calling it "an ode to the romantic backstreets of hope and despair found on
Springsteen's classic 1975 work [
Born to Run]." It is in the
key of E♭. During live performances, the iconic
Pete Carr guitar intro was replaced with a sax intro. ==Personnel==