Lowdown Lyrics
Hard to believe that he and Steve Miller not only went to high school together but actually played music together back in the '60's... I wonder,I wonder,I wonder...
A groupie gal is running around telling everyone she's Boz's girlfriend. She has no tact, and takes the gifts for granted – as if they will be getting married. “Hey boy”, is his rational-self saying that he really should tell her the sad truth, that she is just a fling.
He's rich and on top of the world – can pay cash. Can turn on the charm and get what he wants with ease. But doing that gets him at odds with the girl, and life. But like the groupie girl, he too is taking his success for granted, and needs better grounding.
Get on back to town – means stop traveling the world (London, Sweden, etc.) and get back closer to his more humble roots back in his hometown. It's figurative and literal. Enjoy normal life.
Being a highfalutin rock star (or joining the rat-race in general) vs. being a relatively normal person – the latter being preferable. Who gave him that idea? Rhetorical question – can't be answered.
At first glance I assumed lightly that it was a white boy more or less critiquing from afar obscure pimp hooker dynamics in an urban blight ridden city – but reading the lyrics carefully and knowing a scant bit about Scaggs, I think it was simply about his own situation at the time. (He and David Paich actually.) Lowdown was the band's favorite song of that breakout album, but no one ever thought it would become a single, much less win the Grammy for best song in 1976.
I'd like to think Joe Walsh's, Life's Been Good (1978), was inspired a bit by the lyrics.
@MarshalStack "At first glance I assumed lightly that it was a white boy more or less critiquing from afar obscure pimp hooker dynamics in an urban blight ridden city"
@MarshalStack "At first glance I assumed lightly that it was a white boy more or less critiquing from afar obscure pimp hooker dynamics in an urban blight ridden city"
I think that's exactly what it is. A 3rd person commentary on a pimp and his hooker ("put your business in the street, talking out loud") "Got to have a Jones for this Jones for that This running with the Jones boy Just ain't where it's at" - Heroin, drug addiction. Jonesing was a slang term for the craving for IV drugs, especially back in the 70's....
>
"Got to have a Jones for this Jones for that This running with the Jones boy Just ain't where it's at" - Heroin, drug addiction. Jonesing was a slang term for the craving for IV drugs, especially back in the 70's.
Boz is the 3rd person commentator, and he says that they are blinded by their fast money into thinking they got it made. Cars in paid cash, clothes, jewelery, presents, but even the pimp who things he's on top can never escape the TRUTH behind the denial and rationalization that what they are doing with their lives is just headed for something very negative.
Such a cool song
I can't believe there aren't more comments on this song. Is it really that forgotten?
I couldn't pinpoint one thing and say that's what it's "about," but it's sort of based on the pun that "lowdown" can mean both an unsavory person and the real scoop. For me though, I just I like the urban imagery and Scaggs's cool, suave delivery.
Not forgotten, but starting to sound its age. Still a good song.
Not forgotten, but starting to sound its age. Still a good song.
This CD is my car and I play it over and over, ad infinitum. Boz Scaggs' songs never get old. I love them all.
I think this song is about a man who is in some type of shady racket. He bought gifts for his girlfriend; and instead of keeping it on the "Lowdown," she's telling everyone she knows that her boyfriend "bought her this and that." The girl's continuous talking may put the boyfriend in jeopardy. If word got back to the unscrupulous people he works with/for, they could kill him.
She thinks this guy is the answer to a prayer "...she must believe it's all heaven sent." His friend wonders how this girl knew to talk about the man's business, "Putting your business in the street" implying that he had been lying to her about how he came by his ill-gotten gains. The man's friend tells him to make his girlfriend stop talking: "Better bring the chick around" and give her "the sad, sad truth, the dirty lowdown." He's saying to tell the girl the truth: the money for the gifts was not made honestly.
It seems like these two men go way back. One seems to be older, calling him "son" and referring to the apparent charm this guy has that can make a girl change her mind: "Turn on that ole love light and turn a maybe to a yes. Same old schoolboy game got you into this mess."
He is advising this younger man to live a better, more decent life. "Come on back down to earth, son." He doesn't need Everything that Everyone else has: "...Jones for this Jones for that..." He wonders who is responsible for the way this young man is living his life. "Who got you thinking like that boy." Living life in the fast lane is going to take its toll. The dirty lowdown is just truth, plain and simple.
Sorry - The first line should read "This CD is in my car..."
Sorry - The first line should read "This CD is in my car..."
@Haygurl To me, "putting your business on the street" implies that the girl is prattling to anybody and everybody about all the money her rich boyfriend is spending on her, like he's some kind of trophy. She's a blabbermouth who doesn't have the sense or the loyalty to keep the private aspects of their relationship private. Telling her besty, her sister, you have to expect that, But when you're flashing it everywhere, you're nothing but a gold digger.
@Haygurl To me, "putting your business on the street" implies that the girl is prattling to anybody and everybody about all the money her rich boyfriend is spending on her, like he's some kind of trophy. She's a blabbermouth who doesn't have the sense or the loyalty to keep the private aspects of their relationship private. Telling her besty, her sister, you have to expect that, But when you're flashing it everywhere, you're nothing but a gold digger.
The "lowdown" is the practice of currying favor by spending money on someone. Boz's character has a girl whom he has bought things for in order to get sex (the old schoolboy game) and the (sad truth behind the gifts). She, however, is running around telling people what's going on, and it's embarassing to him that she is exposing his mode of operation. "who gave her the big idea" that she should go around and tell everyone his business.
Boz tells the guy "there's nothing you can't handle, nothing you ain't got" so as to encourage him not to play this game but just to "turn on the love light" so that her "maybe" will turn into a "yes." But since he's been playing this "schoolboy game" he's in a "mess."
He tells the man further that "he doesn;t have to be so bad, or so cold"; that he could just use an approach that isn't a dirty secret. Boz wonders, "who taught him how to think like that" and he tells everyone "watch out for that dirty lowdown."
To me the lowdown is the fact that money can not buy you happiness. That's the sad, sad, lowdown.
Here is my take and hopefully makes sense. Lowdown meaning by all, point taken. Next listen to Bozz's succeeding songs after Lowdown. such as "Love Look What You've Done To Me", "This Heart Mine". hey seem to be sequel of Lowdown of the character's in the lyrics. Lyrics of most of his songs send strong message and possibly could have happen to anyone. Remember, before songs were made, there were poems and stories made. " Listen, Understand then Love Music and Life" T
I relate this to Do It Again by Steely Dan. Three separate stories, three guys ignoring reality (the "lowdown"), which is that they're wasting their time with:
a) a gal who only cares about gifts. b) prostitutes c) drugs.
What a great song in its uniginess due to its depth of meaning. Truly awesome song that passes under most people's radar :) way to go Boz. Love the YouTube version with Fagan and McDonald and the hero Boz Staggs
@JimJoy Silk Degrees came out when I was 13. All the other kids were listening to Led Zepplin and Van Halen, and I'm over here with a major crush on Boz. Such a great song on a great album.
@JimJoy Silk Degrees came out when I was 13. All the other kids were listening to Led Zepplin and Van Halen, and I'm over here with a major crush on Boz. Such a great song on a great album.