The band War formed in 1969, in Long Beach, California. “Low Rider” is from their 1975 album Why Can’t We Be Friends? The song was a hit as soon as it came out. It went to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts. And it’s just had tremendous lasting power ever since. Besides being in Dazed and Confused, where I heard it, it’s been sampled by The Beastie Boys, it was covered by Korn, and it was the theme song for all six seasons of The George Lopez Show.
For this episode, I talked to War’s bandleader Lonnie Jordan, and their producer Jerry Goldstein. The two of them told me how “Low Rider” was made in the studio, through a combination of improvisation and meticulous editing.
For more, visit songexploder.net/war.
Rachel Platten - Broken Glass
Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein - Stranger Things (Main Title Theme)
TOKiMONSTA - Bibimbap
The Killers - Rut
Lorde - Sober
Rostam - Bike Dream
Ibeyi - Deathless
Maggie Rogers - Alaska
St. Vincent - New York
Grizzly Bear - Four Cypresses
Phoenix - Ti Amo
Slowdive - Sugar for the Pill
Goapele - Stand
Fleet Foxes - Mearcstapa
Michelle Branch - Best You Ever
alt-J - In Cold Blood
Michael Kiwanuka - Black Man in a White World
Perfume Genius - Slip Away
Little Dragon - Sweet
Aimee Mann - Patient Zero
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