Boz Scaggs - Lowdown (lyrics)

6th track from "Silk Degrees" (1976). "The former Steve Miller Band sideman teams up with the musicians who would become Toto to enact the birth of the Smooth."

~popMATTERS.com

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What's this song about? Well, the girl is hot. That much is certain. And the singer's young friend is burning through his money in order to put her in the lap of luxury. But when the money runs out, will she? Um, ye-ah, about as fast as Usain Bolt would pass me in the 100 meter sprint giving me a 75 meter head start. And that's the dirty lowdown.

~thatMimosaGrove

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Song written by Boz Scaggs and David Paich

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The big moment was "Lowdown", which had the best opening vamp of any Caucasian disco record that year. Much better bass plucking than the Seinfeld theme. It’s a very cool, mentholated song, and Scaggs is cooler than Fonzie singing it. He’s acting in an advisory capacity, riffing to a drinking buddy about the downfalls of materialism in the love thang. That’s all there is to it, but it’s done with some dynamic rises and falls, because it’s disco. The soaring instrumental bridge after the chorus was just enough of a satisfied resolution so as not to tire everyone out. Look, sometimes big isn’t better. Sometimes huge orgasms make people raid the fridge for cold cuts afterwards. The little hiccups of well-paced doin’ it tend to keep the whole thing going longer. I know this. I’ve watched films.

~Paul Pearson
http://www.popmatters.com/feature/boz...

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Personnel
Boz Scaggs – lead vocals
David Paich – keyboards, Mini-Moog & ARP
Fred Tackett – guitar
Louie Shelton – guitar
David Hungate – bass
Jeff Porcaro – drums
Carolyn Willis – background vocals
Marty McCall – background vocals
Jim Gilstrap – background vocals
Augie Johnson – background vocals
Joe Wissert – producer

[Hey, where's the flute/fife player?! Or is that a synthesizer? Hm?]

Production Personnel
Joe Wissert – producer
Tom Perry – engineer
Doug Sax – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Los Angeles, CA).
Ron Caro – design
Nancy Donald – design
Moshe Brakha – photography

"Lowdown" reached the top 5 on the club play, black, disco, and pop charts and also did respectably on the AC chart, with its peak at #3 on the pop chart. It earned a Grammy Award, as the Best R&B Song at the Grammy Awards of 1977, and the song is an airplay staple to this day, particularly on AC, oldies, and smooth jazz radio stations. "It's Over", "What Can I Say", and "Lido Shuffle" reached #38, #42 and #11, respectively, on the pop chart. Scaggs also received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year, Best LP Package, Best Pop Vocal by a Male, and Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Male for "Lowdown".

Scaggs is quoted as saying that the success of "Lowdown" was 'an accident' and that, even though it was their favorite from Silk Degrees, he and the others involved in the making of the song thought there 'wasn't a chance in hell' that the song would have been released as a single. The single was certified gold by the RIAA for sales of one million copies and would go on to win the Grammy Award for Best R&B song of 1976.

~Wikipedia

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Scaggs had little name recognition at the time, and sales were stagnant for the album until an R&B radio station in Cleveland started playing "Lowdown." Other stations followed suit, and it quickly became clear that the song had crossover appeal and hit potential. Scaggs' label, CBS, released it as a single and it climbed to #3 on the Hot 100 in October, spurring sales of the album along the way.

The song is about a girl who doesn't appreciate what her man gives her. The "dirty lowdown" is the honest truth—what Scaggs is encouraging this poor sap to face.

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?i...

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Image Credits (other than album art): Luxury Liqueur
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...