Low Rider
| "Low Rider" | |
|---|---|
| Single by War | |
| from the album Why Can't We Be Friends? | |
| Released | 1975 |
| Format | 7" single |
| Recorded | 1974 |
| Genre | Funk, jazz fusion, Latin rock |
| Label | United Artists |
| Writer(s) | War, Jerry Goldstein |
| Producer(s) | Jerry Goldstein, Lonnie Jordan, Howard Scott |
"Low Rider" is a song written by the band War and producer Jerry Goldstein, which appeared on their album Why Can't We Be Friends?, released in 1975. It reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart and peaked at number 7 on the Pop Singles chart.
According to the All Music Guide review of the song, "the lyric takes the cool image of the low rider — the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot-rodding classic cars — and using innuendo, extends the image to a lifestyle". The song's most distinguishable feature is its driving bass line, which is present for nearly all of the song. It also ends with a siren-like noise that then becomes a saxophone solo.
Cover versions
The song has been covered by many artists, including the following:
- Willy DeVille
- Butthole Surfers
- Carlos Santana
- Blues Traveler
- Peter Cetera
- The Fantômas Melvins Big Band
- George Clinton
- Epsilon Minus
- Exodus
- Gary Hoey
- Andy Offutt Irwin
- JFA
- Kid Frost and Latin Alliance
- Korn on their 1996 album Life Is Peachy
- Look People
- Fudge
- Paul Rodriguez
- Phish
- Popa Chubby featuring Galea
- Quando Quango
- Son of Dave
- Cedar Walton, from his 1976 album Beyond Mobius
- Those Darn Accordions
- moe.
- Air Liquide
- Widespread Panic
- Barry White[1][2]
- Yukon Kornelius
- Warren Hill on his 2005 album PopJazz[3][4]
- A Spanish version by Mexican group Banda Pachuco was recorded in 1996 for the album with the same name
Sampling
- "Low Rider" was also significantly sampled by The Beastie Boys for their track "Slow Ride" on the 1986 album Licensed to Ill.
- "Low Rider" was sampled by L'Trimm on their song also titled "Low Rider".
- "Low Rider" was sampled by The Offspring in the remix version of "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)".
- "Low Rider" was sampled by Tito & Tarantula on the track "Bullets From a Gun".
- The song "Jorge Regula" by The Moldy Peaches borrowed the main riff from "Low Rider".
- Sublime sampled the riff of "Low Rider" in the song "Foreman Freestyle" on disc 2 of Everything Under the Sun.
- The song "Surfin Buena Park" by The Ziggens borrowed the main riff from "Low Rider".
- The ending siren of Low Rider was heard in GDFR by Flo Rida.
In popular culture
The song has been featured in fifteen movies, including Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke, Colors, A Gnome Named Gnorm, Robots, 21 Grams, Dazed and Confused, Paulie, Beverly Hills Ninja, A Knight's Tale, the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds, The Young Poisoner's Handbook, Friday, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, The Internship and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
"Low Rider" is the theme song for George Lopez, Lopez Tonight, and for its titular star's stand up comedy appearances. At the 2007 ALMA Awards, George Lopez called this song, "The Chicano National Anthem", and performed it live.
"Low Rider" is featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (playing on Master Sounds 98.3), Skate 2, Skate It, Driver: Parallel Lines, MLB 08: The Show, Rock Band 3 and George Lopez: Driveway Bowling.
"Low Rider" is featured in the Misfits "Episode Six" of the first series, when Nathan uses it to protect himself from Rachel.
"Low Rider" is featured briefly in a cutaway in the Family Guy spoof of Return of the Jedi called It's A Trap when Peter Griffin as Han Solo pulls up at some traffic lights driving the Millennium Falcon.
"Low Rider" is featured in The Simpsons episode "A Midsummer's Nice Dream" when Homer goes on tour with Cheech.
"Low Rider" is featured in a 2014 advertisement for the drug Crestor, as well as in older ads for the Canadian bank CIBC.