This week our host of Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams, has given us the prompt of choosing a song that mentions a State, a Country, or a place suggested by Di of the blog Pensitivity101. My first choice is America by Simon and Garfunkel. The lyrics are nothing special but the sound and the harmonies of S & G more than make up for them.
I have also included a second song this week by one of my most favorite current artists, Alicia Keys. Hope you enjoy them both.
America
In this song, Paul Simon and his longtime girlfriend Kathy Chitty (from “Kathy’s Song”) are coming to America (moving from England). Paul is deeply confused and unsatisfied, but he doesn’t know why. He just knows that something is missing. It is also about the “American Dream” – the guarantee that you will make it if you stumble upon this country. That is why they are coming to America.
The song is a great example of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel singing in unison, which was a hallmark of their sound. Garfunkel is especially fond of the section where they sing, “And walked off to look for America.” To told Paul Zollo in 1993: “That has a real upright, earnest quality because we both have the identical soul at that moment. We come from the identical place in our attitude, and the spine that’s holding us up, we are the same person. Same college kid, striking out.”
There are no rhymes in this song, which is quite a feat of songwriting. In his Songfacts interview, Gerry Beckley of America (no relation) broke it down: “The entire song is prose. There’s not one line that rhymes and I will tell some of the best songwriters you’ve ever met that particular element and you can see them stop and go through it in their head. We’re oblivious to that being an ingredient because we’re so involved in the story. You’re not sitting there going, ‘That didn’t rhyme, wait a second.’ It’s not an issue.”
At their live show in Central Park, Simon & Garfunkel repeated the line “Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike” because the home crowd could relate to the image of massive traffic on New Jersey highways.
In the movie Almost Famous, the teenaged character Anita (Zooey Deschanel) plays this song to explain why she is leaving home to explore the country. The song is included on the soundtrack to the film.
The progressive rock band Yes recorded a vastly different version which they released as a single in 1972. Their rendition, with layered vocals and musical breakdowns, made #46 in the US. The single version ran 4:06, but a full 10:28 version was also released on a sampler album called The New Age of Atlantic later that year, and included on their 1996 Keys To Ascension album.
In our interview with Yes bass player Chris Squire, he explained: “When Yes first formed, Simon & Garfunkel were very prevalent hit makers at the time and both myself and Jon Anderson were big fans of them. That’s why we covered the song ‘America.’ But we did it differently than their way. We wanted to expand things, which is basically what we did. When Pop tunes were expected to be three minutes long, our mantra was, ‘Let’s make them 10 minutes long.’ So that was really what we did.”
Paul Simon gave Bernie Sanders permission to use this song in a campaign ad when Sanders was campaigning for the Democratic nomination against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Simon told Billboard magazine: “Look, here’s a guy, he comes from Brooklyn, he’s my age. He voted against the Iraq War. He’s totally against Citizens United, thinks it should be overturned. He thinks climate change is an imminent threat and should be dealt with. And I felt: Hats off to you! You can use my song.”
Lyrics – America
"Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together" "I've got some real estate here in my bag" So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies And we walked off to look for America
"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh "Michigan seems like a dream to me now" It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw I've gone to look for America
Laughing on the bus Playing games with the faces She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy I said, "Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera"
"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat" "We smoked the last one an hour ago" So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine And the moon rose over an open field
"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping I'm empty and aching and I don't know why Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America All come to look for America All come to look for America
Writer/s: Paul Simon Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
New York
I featured the song Empire State of Mind by Jay Z, featuring Alicia Keys, for another Song Lyric Sunday prompt, Contrasts, five years ago. Alicia was invited by Jay Z to collaborate on the song which was about New York. It turned out to be so successful that she ended up recording a longer version of her song and calling it New York.
This is a soulfully soaring solo sequel to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys hometown anthem, “Empire State of Mind.” Jay-Z was originally scheduled to contribute a new verse to the remake but the rapper does not appear on the final version.
Keys told The Sun November 13, 2009: “It’s just exciting to be able to put together a song about the city I was born and raised in and then to be able to make it an anthem the world can feel. I just love the energy that’s behind it.”
When this debuted at #55 on the Hot 100 chart dated January 2, 2010, it marked the first chart appearance of a sequel to a #1 since Usher followed “Love In This Club” with “Love in This Club Part II” (#18) in 2008.
Lyrics – New York
Ooh, New York Ooh, New York
Grew up in a town that is famous as a place of movie scenes Noise is always loud, there are sirens all around and the streets are mean If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere, that's what they say Seeing my face in lights or my name on marquees found down on Broadway Even if it ain't all it seems, I got a pocketful of dreams
Baby, I'm from New York Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There's nothing you can't do Now you're in New York These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you Hear it for New York, New York, New York
On the avenue, there ain't never a curfew, ladies work so hard Such a melting pot, on the corner selling rock, preachers pray to God Hail a gypsy cab, takes me down from Harlem to the Brooklyn Bridge Someone sleeps tonight with a hunger far more than an empty fridge I'ma make it by any means, I got a pocketful of dreams
Baby, I'm from New York Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There's nothing you can't do Now you're in New York These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you Hear it for New York, New York, New York
One hand in the air for the big city Street lights, big dreams, all looking pretty No place in the world that can compare Put your lighters in the air, everybody say Yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah
In New York Concrete jungle where dreams are made of There's nothing you can't do Now you're in New York These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you Hear it for New York Writer/s: Alexander Shuckburgh, Alicia Augello Cook, Angela Hunte, Bert Keyes, Janet Sewell, Shawn Carter, Sylvia Robinson Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Lillian is hosting D’Verse Poets and has given us some sewing terms to inspire our poem. I have used several: Binding, Darning, Ease, Gather, Backstitch, Appliqué and Bias
Good Morning! I am a little late to the party today because yesterday I completely forgot to search for something for Song Lyric Sunday. On checking I see that we were to find a song that mentions death, kill or murder. Yikes!
Folk music is good for telling stories and there are several American Folk artists I do enjoy. One being Gillian Welch and her musical partner Dave Rawlings. He plays lead guitar and sings harmonies with her, forming one of the most celebrated duos in Americana/folk music, known for their intricate guitar interplay and distinctive two-part vocals. They have worked together for decades, with Rawlings’s unique style complementing Welch’s rhythm and banjo work.
I did in fact use this song about three years ago but I am sure I am the only one here that would remember that so I am using it again as it fits the theme. I could listen to that guitar all day long!
The Song
I was unable to find any background for the writing of The Way It Goes but being a country song it tells its own story.
The song is from the album The Harrow & the Harvest. The fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Gillian Welch. It was Welch’s first album in eight years and was released on June 28, 2011. The album was nominated for Best Folk Album for the 54th Grammy Awards.
The eight years since the release of 2003’s Soul Journey marked the longest period of time between album releases for Welch. In explaining the relatively long recording absence, Welch said, “The sad truth is we never liked anything enough to put it out, which is not a pleasant place to be.” She added, “over the course of that time that we were quiet we probably had enough songs to put out two or three records. Actually we made a few tentative steps at trying to record, but inevitably the heart would go out of it when we realized that we simply didn’t like the material enough to go on with it.” Welch frequently performed the song “The Way It Will Be” in years prior to the release of the album. Welch explains that this tense time period inspired the album title: “Our songcraft slipped and I really don’t know why. It’s not uncommon. It’s something that happens to writers. It’s the deepest frustration we have come through, hence the album title.”[3] The writing process involved “this endless back and forth between the two of us,” Welch said, stating that “It’s our most intertwined, co-authored, jointly-composed album.” John Dyer Baizley provided artwork for the album.
Courtesy of Wiki
The Lyrics
Becky Johnson bought the farm Put a needle in her arm That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
And her brother laid her down In the cold Kentucky ground That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
That’s the way that it goes Everybody’s buying little baby clothes That’s the way that it ends Though there was a time when she and I were friends
Well, Miranda ran away Took her cat and left LA That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
She was busted, broke and flat Had to sell that pussy cat That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
That’s the way that it goes Everybody’s buying little baby clothes That’s the way that it ends Though there was a time when he and I were friends
See the brightest ones of all Early in October fall That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
While the dark ones go to bed With good whiskey in their head That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
Now Billy Joe’s back in the tank You tell Russo, I’ll tell Frank That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
Did he throw her down a well? Did she leave him for that swell? That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
That’s the way that it goes Everybody’s buying little baby clothes That’s the way that it ends Though there was a time when all of us were friends
When you lay me down to rest Leave a pistol in my vest That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
Do you miss my gentle touch? Did I hurt you very much? That’s the way that it goes That’s the way
That’s the way that it goes Everybody’s buying little baby clothes That’s the way that it ends Though there was a time when you and I were friends
It was hard, I admit Forgiving your wrongs With just a flick of my hand As if they meant nothing Excusing your rude behavior And your cruel words To friends and family Who were left shell-shocked From your explosions Now I have zero tolerance
A big thanks to our host, Jim Adams, who makes Song Lyric Sunday such a pleasure each week. Again our friend Di from the blog Pensitivity101 has supplied the prompt. It is to find a song that mentions a hill or a mountain. I went with the first song that came into my head, The Fool on the Hill by The Beatles. I did in fact use this song several years ago for the prompt Elevator Music, only that time I used the Sergio Mendes version mentioned below. Anyway, today it is the original and best version ever.
On a side note, growing up in England, we as children were ‘punished’ in school by having to learn to play the recorder. I came away from that experience by wondering what the hell was that all about, and why did I have to learn that of all instruments? Well I am happy to say that at least Paul McCartney gave the instrument credibility by using it in this song. It is part of the flute family, yes, but that sound of a recorder still haunts me to this day! Paul played the recorder on the song and a session musician played the flute.
The Song
Paul McCartney wrote this song. It’s about a man who is considered a fool by others, but whose foolish demeanor is actually an indication of wisdom.
An event which prompted this song happened when Paul was walking his dog, Martha, on Primrose Hill one morning. As he watched the sun rise, he noticed that Martha was missing. Paul turned around to look for his dog, and there a man stood, who appeared on the hill without making a sound. The gentleman was dressed respectably, in a belted raincoat. Paul knew this man had not been there seconds earlier as he had looked in that direction for Martha. Paul and the stranger exchanged a greeting, and this man then spoke of what a beautiful view it was from the top of this hill that overlooked London. Within a few seconds, Paul looked around again, and the man was gone. He had vanished as he had appeared. A friend of McCartney’s, Alistair Taylor, was present with Paul during this strange incident, and wrote of this event in his book, Yesterday.
Both Paul and Alistair could not imagine what happened to this man. He had seemed to vanish in thin air. The nearest trees for cover were too far to reach by walking or running in a few seconds, and the crest of the hill was too far as well to reach in that short time. What made the experience even more mysterious, was that just before this man first appeared, Paul and Alistair were speaking to each other of the beauty they observed of the view towards London and the existence of God. Once back home, they spent the morning discussing what had happened, trying to make some sense of it. They both agreed that this was something others were infer occurred as a result of an “acid trip,” but they both swore they had not taken or used any drugs. When Paul filmed the sequence for this song in the film, it shows him on a hilltop overlooking the town of Nice.
Paul played this for John Lennon while they were writing “With A Little Help From My Friends.” John made him write down the words so he wouldn’t forget. This is a very curious song musically as well as lyrically, as it shifts between major and minor keys. Dan Wilson, a songwriter whose credits include Adele’s “Someone Like You” and Chris Stapleton’s “When The Stars Come Out,” explained in a Songfacts interview: “I think that song is musically just incredible. And mysterious. The way it goes from minor to major to minor just kills me every time.
Why it isn’t a funny kind of silly song in my heart is just a mystery to me, also. The lyrics are like a nursery rhyme. It’s so simple and there’s nothing to it, yet I find it deeply sad and affecting and almost tragic, like it’s some kind of tragedy of human nature being explained or channeled in a super-simple song that toggles from minor to major and back again.”
This began as a solo composition with Paul McCartney at the piano. Flutes were added last.
This was not a hit for The Beatles, but a 1968 cover version by Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 went to #6 in the US. In America, this was the highest-charting Beatles cover until 1975, when Elton John took “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” to #1.
This was used in the Beatles movie Magical Mystery Tour.
The Eurythmics (Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart) reunited to perform this song on the CBS special The Beatles: The Night That Changed America, which aired on February 9, 2014 – exactly 50 years after The Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.
The Lyrics
Day after day Alone on a hill The man with the foolish grin Is keeping perfectly still But nobody wants to know him They can see that he's just a fool And he never gives an answer
But the fool on the hill Sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head See the world spinning 'round
Well on the way Head in a cloud The man of a thousand voices Talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him Or the sound he appears to make And he never seems to notice
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head See the world spinning ’round
And nobody seems to like him They can tell what he wants to do And he never shows his feelings
But the fool on the hill Sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head See the world spinning ’round, oh oh oh, ’round ’round ’round ’round
He never listens to them He knows that they’re the fools They don’t like him
The fool on the hill Sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head See the world spinning ’round
Oh, ’round ’round ’round ’round, oh
Writer/s: John Lennon, Paul McCartney Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Songtrust Ave, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Good Morning! I have been away from my blog for a few weeks. Working, traveling and now with a head cold so I need to get back in the flow with today’s perfect prompt of River/Stream/Creek/Brook suggested by our friend Di of the blog Pensitivity101. Thanks to Jim Adams, as always, for hosting Song Lyric Sunday. I am including two songs today as both deserve to be here. The first is the beautifully written ‘River’ by Joni Mitchell. The second is ‘Blue Bayou’ by Linda Ronstadt. I hope you enjoy them both.
The Song
At the start of 1970, Joni Mitchell’s relationship with her boyfriend Graham Nash was crumbling. On top of this, she was feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the mass adulation her recordings were receiving. The songstress needed to get away, so she took off on a trip to Europe, metaphorically skating away on a river to escape the crazy scene. While Mitchell was in Crete, she sent Nash a telegram to tell him their romance was over. On “River,” the Canadian singer gives her perspective on the doomed relationship as she yearns to escape the emotional bonds. She admits to being “hard to handle” and blames herself for losing “the best baby I ever had.”
The song, set in the holiday season, finds Mitchell feeling sad that she won’t be sharing the Christmas period with Nash. The piano accompaniment to the vocal, which borrows heavily from “Jingle Bells,” adds to its festive feel. Though “River” has become a modern holiday standard, it is actually a Christmas song that isn’t about Christmas (as is “Jingle Bells”).
Because of the song’s link with Christmas, it has been covered by numerous artists on holiday albums. Indeed, “River” is the second-most-widely recorded song in Mitchell’s oeuvre behind “Both Sides Now.” Well known covers include those by Barry Manilow (in 2002), Sarah McLachlan (in 2006) and James Taylor (also in 2006). McLachlan’s version peaked at #71 on the Hot 100.
Ellie Goulding released a cover of “River” exclusively on Amazon Music in 2019. Her version is accompanied by a David Soutar-directed video, which highlights the excessive use and disposal of single-use plastic. Filmed along the UK coastline near Dungeness, it sees Goulding and her friends gathering beach litter and recycled objects to make a zero-waste Christmas tree.
Goulding’s cover climbed to #1 on the last UK singles chart of 2019. It was the English singer’s third visit to the summit, following “Burn” (2013) and “Love Me Like You Do” (2015).
The Lyrics
It's coming on Christmas They're cutting down trees They're putting up reindeer And singing songs of joy and peace Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on But it don't snow here It stays pretty green I'm going to make a lot of money Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene I wish I had a river I could skate away on I wish I had a river so long I would teach my feet to fly Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on I made my baby cry
He tried hard to help me You know, he put me at ease And he loved me so naughty Made me weak in the knees Oh, I wish I had a river
I could skate away on I'm so hard to handle I'm selfish and I'm sad Now I've gone and lost the best baby That I ever had Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on I wish I had a river so long I would teach my feet to fly Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on I made my baby say goodbye
It's coming on Christmas They're cutting down trees They're putting up reindeer Singing songs of joy and peace I wish I had a river I could skate away on
Writer/s: Joni Mitchell Publisher: Reservoir Media Management, Inc. Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
The Song
“Blue Bayou” was originally recorded by Roy Orbison on his legendary 1963 album In Dreams. While it only scored as high as #29 in the US (despite scoring #1 in Ireland and #10 in Norway), Linda Ronstadt took it to far greater fame as her only gold-selling single and her signature song. Linda Ronstadt has been called “the most successful and certainly the most durable and most gifted woman rock singer of her era” in Andrew Greeley’s book God in Popular Culture.
Simple Dreams was Ronstadt’s fourth album with producer Peter Asher, half of the British Invasion duo Peter & Gordon, who had a #1 hit in 1964 with “A World Without Love.” Under Asher’s guidance, Ronstadt became a bonafide rock star with her breakthrough album, Heart Like A Wheel (1975), and pop-rock makeovers of classic songs like Dee Dee Warwick’s “You’re No Good,” the Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved” and – of course – Orbison’s “Blue Bayou.”
“I feel really good about ‘Blue Bayou’ being the single,” she told Sounds magazine in 1978. “I used to sing it’s so easy to have a hit, all you have to do is recycle it.’ Really. And you can quote me on that.”
Ronstadt also had the help of JD Souther and Glenn Frey when it came to choosing songs for the album, who simultaneously suggested she record the Orbison tune. “We sat up all night talking like mice at incredible speeds, playing and singing half the songs we knew, all of us singing in different keys. I’ve got a tape of it and it’s the fastest tape I’ve ever heard. It sounds like the R2D2,” she said, referencing the chirpy droid from Star Wars.
Asher didn’t think this would be a hit and tried to convince Ronstadt to reconsider. “If we disagree on something, I really re-examine it and if I still think I’m right, I go ahead,” she told Playboy in 1980. “I remember ‘Blue Bayou’ – Peter was afraid it wouldn’t be a hit. He said we should shop around for some insurance. I said, ‘OK, get the insurance.’ But I knew it was a hit and it was the biggest single I’ve ever had . Sometimes he is real wild about stuff and I say, ‘Oh, no. That will never go.'”
In a 2018 Songfacts interview, Asher explained his method of reworking already established songs: “The arrangement is a framework for how the artist does it. So, it’s all based on Linda singing the song, so we would always sit with the guitar or piano or something and try out the song. And then I’d start thinking and bounce the ideas off Linda, who has brilliant ideas herself of how to do it.”
Ronstadt grew to resent the songs that made her famous, to the point where she can’t bear to listen to her Greatest Hits collection. “I hated those records,” she confessed to the San Francisco Chronicle in 2006. “I never thought of myself as a rock singer. I was interested in songs like ‘Heart Like a Wheel’ and I liked the others for about 15 minutes. But it wasn’t until I found Nelson Riddle that I had music I could live with.” Ronstadt teamed with the legendary arranger in the 1980s to release three successful albums of traditional pop standards, starting with What’s New in 1983.
The Lyrics
I feel so bad I got a worried mind I'm so lonesome all the time Since I left my baby behind On Blue Bayou
Saving nickles, saving dimes Working til the sun don't shine Looking forward to happier times On Blue Bayou
I'm going back someday Come what may To Blue Bayou Where the folks are fine And the world is mine On Blue Bayou Where those fishing boats With their sails afloat If I could only see That familiar sunrise Through sleepy eyes How happy I'd be
Gonna see my baby again Gonna be with some of my friends Maybe I’ll feel better again On Blue Bayou
Saving nickles saving dimes Working til the sun don’t shine Looking forward to happier times On Blue Bayou
I’m going back someday Come what may To Blue Bayou Where the folks are fine And the world is mine On Blue Bayou Where those fishing boats With their sails afloat If I could only see That familiar sunrise Through sleepy eyes How happy I’d be
Oh that boy of mine By my side The silver moon And the evening tide Oh some sweet day Gonna take away This hurting inside Well I’ll never be blue My dreams come true On Blue Bayou
Writer/s: Joe Melson, Roy Kelton Orbison Publisher: Barbara Orbison Music Company, Orbi-Lee Music, R-Key Darkus, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
This week for Song Lyric Sunday, our host Jim Adams has given us a theme provided by our friend Di from Penitivity101 blog. We are to find a song that mentions jewelry like a watch, a ring or a necklace. I have picked Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyoncé. It’s a fun song with a very watchable video. Enjoy!
The Song
In this song, Beyoncé urges all the single ladies to dump their boyfriends if they don’t propose. Her man stepped up: After dating for two years, she and Jay-Z got married on April 4, 2008, about five months before this song was released. In an interview with Essence magazine, Beyoncé said when she married Jay-Z in April 2008, she didn’t even want an engagement ring, so it can be safely assumed that the Texan singer was performing this song as her feisty alter-ego “Sasha.”
This upbeat dance track features a beat provided by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, the duo behind Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” They wrote the song along with their associate Kuk Harrell and Beyoncé.
The-Dream told The Boombox that when writing for women, he likes to tap into their personal stories. “The topics change based on what you’re going through in your life,” he said. “Beyoncé was going through marriage for the first time in her life when I wrote ‘Single Ladies,’ but the blessing is in how I was raised and my principal of it, and how I feel about [marriage]. I wrote a song about a relationship that’s starting but sings, ‘If you like it then you should’ve put a ring on it,’ meaning a lot. [Meaning] that, ‘I’m OK with being this type of girl,’ which men want to hear, and women want to say.”
This was released as a single together with “If I Were a Boy.” Beyoncé wrote in a letter to her fans around the time of their release, that she was “in a different place right now and I wanted people to see the many sides of me” and indeed the two songs have completely different perspectives.
Both this and “If I Were a Boy” were released with accompanying black-and-white videos directed by Jake Nava, who also did the clips for Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love” and “Baby Boy.”
In the “Single Ladies” video, which features Beyoncé and two look-a-likes dancing, the Texan singer and her pals are pointing in the direction of their wedding fingers, as they urge ladies to find a man who “should put a ring on it.” The dancing was inspired by the legendary choreographer and director Bob Fosse.
The video has become an internet phenomenon with thousands of homemade versions posted on YouTube. Beyoncé explained to The Sunday Times May 10, 2009 that the idea for the promo was a 1960s film of a Bob Fosse routine, Mexican Breakfast, which featured his wife, Gwen Verdon. She recalled; “I saw a video on YouTube. They had a plain background and it was shot on the crane; it was 360 degrees, they could move around. And I said, ‘This is genius.’ We kept a lot of the Fosse choreography and added the down-south thing – it’s called J-setting, where one person does something and the next person follows. So it was a strange mixture, kind of like the song, which is almost like a nursery rhyme, the ‘oh-oh-oh’s, and the sinister chords. So it’s like the most urban choreography, mixed with Fosse – very modern and very vintage. We’d spent all the budget on the video for (the previous single) If I Were a Boy, and with this song, we didn’t even have a treatment. So, it’s the least expensive video I’ve done. Not for a moment did I think, ‘This is going to be a movement.'”
Good Morning! Welcome to another Song Lyric Sunday where our host, Jim Adams, gives us a prompt word and we find a song with the prompt word in the title or within the lyrics. This week the prompt is Cars or Trucks suggested by our friend Clive from the Take it Easy blog. I have picked ‘Low Rider’ by War because I love this old song.
The Song
The song “Low Rider” was written in 1974 by members of the band War and producer Jerry Goldstein and released in 1975 on their album Why Can’t We Be Friends?. The song was written during a studio jam session, with lyrics developed from inspiration by the lowrider car culture.
A low rider is a car, and also a culture. “Low Riders” are modified with hydraulic lifts that allow the driver to lower each wheel and make the car bounce. They are often customized with outrageous paint jobs, tiny steering wheels and swivel seats. The culture formed around these cars is big in the Southwestern US, and popular in Latino culture. Most of the band grew up in Southern California and were immersed in low rider culture.
War’s drummer Harold Brown, who was a founding member of the band, knows his way around cars and had his own business working on them for a while, which kept him from getting drafted during the Vietnam War. Brown told Songfacts: “The first time I knew about what we called Low Riders were my cousin Leon and a few more cruising up and down the coast in California. You also had Hot Rodders, which were a different breed racing around town. They were from the other side of the tracks. Leon left his 1953 yellow Mercury with black prime spots on it, tuck and roll seat covers from Tijuana Mexico, lowered in the front, parked on the side of the house. He eventually lowered it all the way around after returning from the Korean War.
My brother KB and I had a 1953 Dodge. We’d chop our springs with torches – this would lower the car a few inches. It made for a hard ride up until homies started putting hydraulics on them. If you were driving a truck with lift gates on the rear, you’d better check to see if someone has stolen your hydraulics – it happened to me.
We would drive from Pomona California to South Los Angeles taking side streets and main drags through El Monte, Whittier, Watts, and Compton, then eventually into Long Beach/San Pedro, California. When they finally built freeways in Southern California we would cruise in the slow lane just in case we had to pull over and do some repairs. There wasn’t any AAA for us folks.
Back in 1965-66, The Sheriffs would stop us for our car being too low. At first they would have a long rod with a clamp on it. Then they would take a pack of Camel cigarettes and clamp it on to the rod sliding it under the chassis of your hooptie. If it didn’t go from one side to the other they would give you a ticket or impound your ride. You have to call your daddy or momma to come give you a rider. After a couple of years they became more sophisticated by having a stick with a caliper on the end made as a ruler. The Sheriffs would measure from the ground up to your rims, then slide the calipers from one side to the other to make sure you had proper clearance. Could you imagine having a blow out? You would be dragging along the cement. Thank God for lifts.”
The lines “Take a little trip” and “Rides a little higher” led many listeners to believe this song was about drugs, but Brown tells a different story: “We did not want it to sound as if we were referring to drugs. As a rule most Lowriders are not big druggies, because we all had regular jobs as machinists, body and fender and mechanics. We didn’t have any extra money for drugs. We put the money into our cars. Drugs didn’t come into the picture then. That became a Hollywood thing for some reason. Maybe Cheech and Chong?
We were trying to convey that the Lowrider gets a little higher by riding in his automobile, being proud of how he takes care of his ride. It’s like riding around in your trophy. We have found that if you are a real Lowrider with a nice ride and it’s clean you will find that his or her home and work place is neat and in order. We Lowriders like to make our surroundings better by taking pride in what we are blessed with.
‘Take a little trip, take a little trip with me and see.’ That’s how it felt with my big brother Charles Miller. He’s the one that sung the song. When he and I would cruise in his 1948 Chevy (You can see Charles Miller in our Lowrider film on Youtube.com) we never knew what adventure we would encounter. One morning about 2:30 – 3:00 AM we came up on a fire in an apartment complex in Long Beach, California. The people were all asleep. Charles jumped out of his hooptie (1948 Chevy), me following close behind, and started banging on doors and throwing barrels and things against the building to get the attention of the residents inside. I had forgotten about that little trip out of many that we took.”
The group’s sax player, Charles Miller, came up with the idea for the song. Harold Brown told Songfacts: “What happened on ‘Low Rider’ was in the studio, we were jamming, and I was supposed to have been on the downbeat. But all of the sudden I was on the upbeat. And I said, ‘Oh, boy. I got the beat turned around.’ I didn’t panic. I said, ‘Wait a minute. Stay there. Don’t change it. Stay.’ Because as long as you keep doing it over and over and over, it won’t be a mistake.
We were just messing around, you know. Then the next thing I know, Charles started just singing, ‘Low ri-der drives a little slower. The low…’ he was just pumping it. And then the next thing I know Lee’s over there putting that harmonica on, because Lee is a melody man all the time. And then – boom.
If you’d hear the original version of it, all with that jam, that would be worth a million right there. When we finished it, all of us looked at it, ‘That’s a hit.’ We didn’t know that it was going to be an icon.
You’ve got to say it’s Americana. I don’t care if you’re driving a Cadillac or a Rolls Royce or if you have a hooptie – hearing it thumping, it just works because it predicts historically a time period in America. That’s true about all music, pretty much. If you go back and look at a lot of music from 1800 to the turn of the century, all through the 1900s, how they used to write songs, ‘You’re my little tulip.’ And then when you go into the 1940s all of the sudden you’re talking about growing squash corn, and you’re relating your love to that. Then you went into the ’50s, you started getting Fats Domino and all them Hollywood types singing – that time period relating to it. Or even Chuck Berry. And then you got into our music, and then you started having all the other artists doing it, like we’re not the only ones. But there were certain things during that time period, especially when we went into the Vietnam War, stuff was happening. Then we came on past the Vietnam War, and then all of the sudden the disco stuff started happening. And then right up to now. You’ll be able to look at it, you can tell what was going on, just like food or anything. What was happening. Clothes and everything. So our music, like ‘Low Rider,’ started setting a trend right there.”
Disco was starting to become popular around this time. The slow funk groove on this song sounded nothing like the heavily produced dance beats that would soon dominate the charts.
The group was known as Nite Shift before they were asked to back up Eric Burdon and renamed War. Burdon had been lead singer of The Animals, and brought them instant notoriety. After two albums and the hit “Spill The Wine,” Burdon left War, but the band continued without him, racking up several hits in the ’70s. Korn covered this song for their Life Is Peachy album in 1996. In their version, lead singer Jon Davis played the main melody on his bagpipes.
“‘Low Rider’ was just a song that, it fit with the crowd of people that come out to the shows,” Davis explained to Rock N Roll Experience. “It’s a cool song, it just fit…the song was just perfect for us for some reason and doing the bagpipes just made it sicker, I like it.”
In the 2000 movie Gone in 60 Seconds, this song got the “old school” car thieves into the mood to steal the cars. It’s also the opening song in the 1978 Cheech & Chong comedy movie Up In Smoke, and along with “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” one of two War songs featured in the 1993 film Dazed And Confused, which is set in 1976.
It also appear in these films:
The Happytime Murders (2018) The Internship (2013) Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008) Robots (2005) 21 Grams (2003) A Knight’s Tale (2001) Contact (1997) Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) Friday (1995) Love Potion No. 9 (1992) Colors (1988) This was the theme song to the ABC sitcom The George Lopez Show, which ran from 2002-2007.
The Offspring’s “Original Prankster” is attributed as “containing portions” of this song. The Lowrider Band consists of four of the five surviving original core group members of War: Howard E. Scott, B.B. Dickerson, Lee Oskar and Harold Brown. These members lost the right in federal court to use and tour under the name “War” in the mid-1990s to Far Out Productions (producer and songwriter Jerry Goldstein). The band’s original keyboardist Lonnie Jordan began touring using the name “War” under Goldstein’s guidance.
Marmite used “Low Rider” in their UK advertising during the late 1990 and early 2000s, particularly as part of the famous “Love it or Hate it” and “Hate/Mate” campaigns.
Poetry For Healing 