| Low Rider | |
| Cover: | Low rider by War US single sleeve.png |
| Alt: | cover art |
| Caption: | US single picture sleeve |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | War |
| Album: | Why Can't We Be Friends? |
| B-Side: | So |
| Recorded: | 1974 |
| Length: | 3:11 |
| Label: | United Artists |
| Chronology: | War |
| Prev Title: | Why Can't We Be Friends? |
| Prev Year: | 1975 |
| Next Title: | Me and Baby Brother |
| Next Year: | 1976 |
"Low Rider" is a song written by American funk 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 singles chart, peaked at number seven on the Hot 100 singles chart, and number six in Canada (number 69 in the Canadian year-end chart[1]).
AllMusic says of the song: "the lyric takes the cool, laidback image of the lowrider—the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot-rodding classic cars—and using innuendo, extends the image to a lifestyle". A driving bass line by B. B. Dickerson is present almost throughout, along with an alto saxophone and harmonica riff by Charles Miller, who also provides lead vocals and a saxophone solo towards the end that includes a siren-like sound. Lee Oskar doubles the alto sax line on harmonica.[2]
Beginning in 1996, "Low Rider" featured for several years on British television in adverts for Marmite, as part of their 'Love it or hate it' campaign.[3] [4] The song was covered by nu metal band Korn on their 1996 studio album Life Is Peachy.[5] A decade earlier, Beastie Boys sampled "Low Rider" on their song "Slow Ride", from 1986's Licensed to Ill.[6] In 1999, Barry White recorded a version on his album Staying Power. "Low Rider" was later used as the theme song for the George Lopez self-titled ABC sitcom, which ran from 2002 to 2007.[7] The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.[8]
| US Hot Soul Singles (Billboard)[9] | 1 |
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