Low Rider

"Low Rider" is a song written by Charles Miller and the band War and appearing on their 1975 album Why Can't We Be Friends?. It reached number one on the Billboard R&B charts and peaked at number seven on the Pop Singles chart.^[1]

According to the Allmusic review of the song, "the lyric takes the cool image of the lowrider — the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot-rodding classic cars — and using innuendo, extends the image to a lifestyle." Charles Miller was the single person most responsible for the creating of the classic and still-iconic #1 hit, on which he also sang the lead part. [Citation Needed]

Music video

The music video for the song consists of various pimpmobiles on a typical suburban-style street, showing two men each driving a pimpmobile. At one point, an animated version of the face of the album Why Can't We Be Friends? is lip-synching, "Low Rider knows every street, yeah" with its gold tooth shining, as well as a man wearing a mask of the album's face. There are also scenes consisting of a driver showing off the album holding it out the window or on the windshield.

Cover versions

The song has been covered by the following artists:

• Willy DeVille
• The Butthole Surfers
• Carlos Santana
• Blues Traveler
• Peter Cetera
• Cypress Hill
• The Fantômas Melvins Big Band
• George Clinton
• Epsilon Minus
• Exodus
• Gary Hoey (this version is played at the start of the Greg and the Morning Buzz radio show each day)
• Andy Offutt Irwin
• JFA
• Terry Kath
• Kid Frost and Latin Alliance
• Korn on their 1996 album Life Is Peachy
• Look People
• Paul Rodriguez
• Phish
• Popa Chubby featuring Galea
• Quando Quango
• Son of Dave
• Cedar Walton
• moe.
• Air Liquide
• Widespread Panic
• Barry White^[2][3]
• Yukon Kornelius
• Warren Hill on his 2005 album PopJazz^[4][5]
• A Spanish version by Mexican group Banda Pachuco was recorded in 1996 for the album with the same name

Sampling

• "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".
• "Low Rider" was also significantly sampled by The Beastie Boys for their track "Slow Ride" on the 1986 album Licensed to Ill.
• The song "Jorge Regula" by The Moldy Peaches borrowed the main riff from "Low Rider".
• Sublime sampled the song in the bassline of "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".

In popular culture

The song has been featured in fourteen 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 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".

"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 and Rock Band 3.

References