In the decade since releasing his 1965 debut, Boz, through his sixth album, Slow Dancer, in 1974, Boz Scaggs couldn’t land a hit. Everything changed with the release of his 1976 breakout album, Silk Degrees, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
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The Meaning: The Story of a Drifter
Silk Degrees was elevated by two hits, “Lowdown,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100, and another song about a wandering hustler looking for his next big score — makin’ like a beeline headin’ for the borderline, goin’ for broke.
Lido missed the boat that day, he left the shack
But that was all he missed, and he ain’t comin’ back
At a tombstone bar in a juke joint car, he made a stop
Just long enough to grab a handle off the top
Next stop, Chi-town, Lido put the money down, let it roll
He said, “One more job oughta get it
One last shot ‘fore we quit it
One for the road”
Lido be runnin’, havin’ great big fun until he got the note
Saying, “Toe the line or blow it, ” and that was all she wrote
He be makin’ like a beeline headin’ for the borderline, goin’ for broke
Sayin’, “One more hit oughta do it
This joint, ain’t nothin’ to it
One more for the road”
Co-written with Toto‘s David Paich — who also co-wrote “Lowdown” and would later work on Scaggs’ 2001 album Dig —”Lido Shuffle” also features late Toto drummer Joe Porcaro and the band’s former bassist David Hungate. Coincidentally, Toto singer Steve Lukather also co-wrote the track “You Got Some Imagination” on Scaggs’ 1980 album, Middle Man.
Fats Domino
“Lido Shuffle” was also greatly inspired by one of the pioneers of rock and roll: Fats Domino.
“‘Lido’ was a song that I’d been banging around,” said Scaggs. “And I kind of stole, well, I didn’t steal anything, I just took the idea of the shuffle. There was a song that Fats Domino did called ‘The Fat Man’ that had a kind of driving shuffle beat that I used to play on the piano, and I just started kind of singing along with it. Then I showed it to Paich and he helped me fill it out. It ended up being ‘Lido Shuffle.'”
Photo: Chris Phelps / Courtesy of Concord Records
