Boz Scaggs Music Community

Silk Degrees
Columbia/CBS Records
February 1976

Track Listing:

1.   What Can I Say
2.   Georgia
3.   Jump Street
4.   What Do You Want The Girl To Do
5.   Harbor Lights
6.   Lowdown
7.   It's Over
8.   Love Me Tomorrow
9.   Lido Shuffle
10. We're All Alone

Silk Degrees Remastered Edition [Includes 3 Bonus Tracks recorded LIVE at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, CA 1976]
Legacy Recordings
Released: February 27, 2007

Bonus Tracks:
11. What Can I Say
12. Jump Street
13. It's Over

Musicians: Boz Scaggs - Vocals, Guitar David Paich - Keyboards, Synthesizer Jeff Porcaro  - Drums, Percussion David Hungate - Bass Fred Tackett - Guitar Louie Shelton - Guitar Vincent DeRosa - French Horn Chuck Findley - Trumpet, Flugelhorn Jim Gilstrap  - Backing Vocals Maxine Green  - Backing Vocals Jim Horn - Tenor Saxophone

Paul Hubinon - Trumpet Dick Hyde  - Trombone Augie Johnson - Backing Vocals Plas Johnson - Tenor Saxophone, Vocals Marty McCall - Backing Vocals Les Dudek  -  Slide Guitar Jump Street Tom Scott - Saxophone Bud Shank - Alto Saxophone Pepper Swenson - Backing Vocals Carolyn Willis  - Backing Vocals

Producer: Joseph Wissert
Arranger: David Paich
Engineer: Tom Perry
Photography: Moshe Brakha
Design: Ron Coro, Nancy Donald
Recorded in Los Angeles at Davlen Sound Studios and Hollywood Sound
Disc-mastering Doug Sax, The Mastering Lab

SILK DEGREES COVER

"When we talk about the Silk Degrees cover, we talk in terms of it going hand-in-hand with the music. I think it should be thought of in sexy terms or an even better word is 'provocative.' And the music should be representative of the cover. It could also be amusing or standoffish because my back is turned on a girl. I think it's provocative in that respect. I'm very aware of styles and images, but primarily musical styles. The style of the Silk Degrees cover worked well with the music. But the music, of course, came first." - Boz Scaggs

SILK DEGREES TITLE

"I keep notes, drunken images and things. I have this box full of bits of paper, cocktail napkin scribblings, bits of wisdom. I always look through it before I do an album. In fact, 'silk degrees' was a phrase I'd had around in that box for a long time. Originally I was going to use that name for my second album (Moments). - Boz Scaggs

WHAT CAN I SAY
(Boz Scaggs / David Paich)

What can I say... what can I do

Three a.m. it's me again and wouldn´t you know
Things would have to end this way
I did my best the perfect guest knew when to go
Perfect you knew when to stay

Come on tell me that you´re lonely dear
I´ve been feeling down some too
After all this time now ain´t it clear
I´ve been waiting just for you

What can I say
Oh to make you know baby
What can I do
Oooh show you that I care
What can I say
Mmm got to have your number baby
What can I do

Can´t you see the people just stop and stare
Don't it make you wonder why
I just happened to be standing there
Can't you see it in my eyes

What can I say
Ooooh you got me acting like a fool girl
What can I do
Oooh stop making like a little school girl
What can I say
Could be your lucky day baby
What can I do
Oooh   talk to me
Oooh   talk to me girl

What can I say
Oh to make you know baby
What can I do
Oooh to show you that I care
What can I say
Oooh I´m all down on my knees
Please please please
What can I say
Oooh what can I do

[Return To Index]

GEORGIA
(Boz Scaggs)

"This is a story about a friend of ours doing a little time down south because he met a young lady who was a little under age. She was 13 years old, but she was all woman, folks. Anyway, he met a beautiful young lady by the name of Georgia, and it's all her fault'." - Boz Scaggs - Radio City Music Hall 1980

"This is about a young man who's in jail. He's inside some place down south all because he met a YOUNG girl by the name of Georgia...and if you pay real close attention, you can figure out why the boy's inside..." - Boz Scaggs -  July 13, 1976 Central Park, NYC

"This is a story about a young man who's been locked up, Ah...I think in Yakama, Washington (Boz laughs)...he got transferred around a bit... Anyway, it all comes about because he met an engaging young lady who I think was...ah...underage in whatever state she was in. He got in trouble and got put inside...this could be a lesson to all of us if we took it apart...her name was Georgia". - Boz Scaggs - June 1976 Vancouver, BC

Georgia, I swear I've never seen such a smile
Gorgeous enough to make an angel's heart run wild
Your lazy eyes and small town lies
Have got me in your spell
Your drive-in boys and backseat noises
Oh you learned so well
Oh, oh, oh, so how was I to know?
You got me, you got me by now

Georgia, your daddy was high the night he dreamed of you
Georgia, the stars were flyin' the night that you came through
Christmas in your eyes
Oh what a nice surprise
Oh, oh, oh and now I miss you so
But baby I'm comin' back to you

Georgia we will be together dear
If they ever let me out of here
They will say that its not true
But I did it all for you
Georgia won't you tell them for me, dear?

Georgia, girl I never lived through a night like that
Sure 'nuff got your lovin' where I like it at
Moonlight through the pines
Oh, but how were we to know?
That wasn't moonlight, they were searchlights
Oh no!

Georgia we will be together, dear
If they ever let me out of here
They will say that its not true
But I did it all for you
Georgia won't you tell them for me, dear?

Georgia we will be together, dear
(Oh my dear)
If they ever let me out of here

[Return To Index]

JUMP STREET
(Boz Scaggs / David Paich)

"... this is about what happens when you don't leave those little girls on the D-train alone" - Boz Scaggs

Boz explains that “Jump Street” was written ten minutes before it was recorded. “I did a rough vocal standing in the studio just screaming out words that worked phonetically. The music had been written on piano just before that. It was just one of the areas I wanted to cover. The original rhythm track was completely rock and roll. I wanted it to be as raucous as possible.”

Dawn come a'sneaking like a skinny snake
The harder they come
The harder I ache
Get so high
Get so low
Somebody tell me 'bout this debt I owe

Westside bomber
Look like a comer
Look at I'll be back to school
Put two up her nose
And look how she goes
Little train squeeze
Look like a fool
I'm gone
Oh, wish I was gone

making' fool outta 
makin a fool outta me
the D-train squeezed me lookin' like a fool
etrain
Rock on

And I'm gone
So gone
Said you can forget about me
And I'm gone
So gone

Working girls just tryin' to get ahead
Somebody's bound to end up dead
Honey, you better stop comin' down on me
On me

Stop!

Jump Street

Sally comes creakin' at the break of dawn
Can't figure out whose side I'm on
Momma comes back like a ringin' a bell
Knows a good thing and she knows it well

Well enough is best left alone
Wish your mamma had kept you at home
Wish your mamma had hid the evidence
Worrying about the Feds... they'll crucify me for dead
Sure wish I was dead
Well I wish I was dead

But I'm gone
So I'm gone
As gone as I can be

I'm gone
So gone

Don't look much like a Saturday night
Honey don't look for those flashing lights
But baby you'd better stop coming down on me
Stop coming down on me
I don't need it
Stop coming down... on me
ston
Jump Street

And I'm gone
So I'm gone
You can forget about me

I'm gone
So gone
So long

Workin girls just tryin' to get ahead
Somebody's bound to end up dead
Honey, better stop coming down on me
Stop coming down on me yeah
Stop coming down on me

Look out FOOL!

Jump Street

[Return To Index]

WHAT DO YOU WANT THE GIRL TO DO
(A. Toussaint - Southern Nights, 1975)

So you think the girl is crazy
She eat up your lies like it's good
Your lies like apple pie
And she don't even cry

She is not a fool
She's just tryin to do what her heart says to...
To love you

And as you take to the wind
To the wind again, she breaks down
And as she breaks down within
Within, Within

She waits for you patiently
Hoping that someday you'll see
That all she really wants to be
Is yours and yours alone, eternally

What do you want the girl to do
Don't you know you're breaking the child in two
What do you want the girl to do
All she really wants is you

She knows what you are
Still she'll be your queen, if you'll let her
Ah if you'll let her
Build the world around her
Now and then you'll promise
All the way-out things you're going to get her
You will see, you will see
Maybe she knows better
So damn glad you found her, found her
And as she watched you come and go
All your show
And as she watched your promises erode

She waits for you patiently
Hoping that someday you'll see
All she really wants to be is yours and yours alone
Eternally

What do you want the girl to do
Can't you see you're breaking the child in two
What do you want the girl to do
All she really wants is you

What do you want the girl to do
Don't you know you're breaking the child in two
What do you want the girl to do
Oh, can't you see you're breakin' the child in two

Also covered by:
Bonnie Raitt, on Home Plate, 1975 ("What Do You Want The Boy To Do?")
Geoff Muldaur, on Motion, 1976
Lowell George, on Thanks I'll Eat It Here, 1979
Vince Gill, on Indecent Proposal, 1993

[Return To Index]

HARBOR LIGHTS
(Boz Scaggs)

Son of a Tokyo Rose
I was bound to wander from home
Stranger to whatever I'd awaken to
Spun the wheel
Took a shot in the dark
One way ticket and a runaway heart
A sailor's dream came true, the night I dreamed you

Through the neon doorways
Down the stony streets I fell
All hands high side, all eyes awreck, I followed
Sailing shadows, reds and blues
Curtains drawn, but I saw through
The window to your soul, and I found you

Whoa oh oh
The harbor lights of Venus shining through the breeze
That brings me back
To you, my love, to you, my love, to you, my love

My eyes must be betraying
But that lonesome jukebox playing
Something 'bout the harbor lights is calling me
Back to some Jamaican Bay
Doesn't seem so far away
Keep the change, but I'll repay these memories

Dawn came in this mornin'
Like some old junked-out melody
The words she spoke as we awoke
  still haunt me
What you feel too
Won't reveal you
Let me steal you for my life

Whoah oh oh
The harbor lights of Venus shining through the breeze
That brings me back
To you, my love, to you, my love, to you, my love

Whoah oh oh
The harbor lights of Venus shining through the breeze
That brings me back.. oh to you, my love
To you, my love.. to you, my love

[Return To Index]

LOWDOWN
(B. Scaggs / D. Paich)

"I think I got myself in a bind not writing the words in time to sing them for the session, and I had to write the words down very quickly. It was either the night before or the morning of the session. I just had to come up with something and the words came out onto the page pretty easily. I found them the other day in going through some notes. They were on the notepad that sits beside the bed in the hotel I was staying in in L.A. And with very little refinement, they came out the way they are. The song just has been real easy for me to relate to, and real easy to sing. After all this time, I still enjoy doing it." - Boz Scaggs

Baby's into runnin' round
Hangin' with the crowd
Puttin' your business in the street
Talking out loud
Sayin' you bought her this and that
And how much you done spent
I swear she must believe it's all heaven sent
Hey boy. you better bring the chick around
To the sad sad truth
The dirty lowdown

Oooh oooh, I wonder wonder wonder wonder who
Taught her how to talk like that
Oooh oooh.. I wonder wonder wonder wonder who
Gave her that big idea

Nothing you can't handle
Nothing you ain't got
Put your money on the table
And drive it off the lot
Turn on that old lovelight
Turn a "maybe" to a "yes"
Same old schoolboy game
Got you into this mess
Hey son, better get on back to town
Face the sad old truth
The dirty lowdown

Oooh oooh, I wonder wonder wonder wonder who
Put those ideas in your head
Oooh, oooh I wonder wonder wonder wonder who

Come on back down to earth, son
Dig the low, low, low, low lowdown

You ain't got to be so bad-
Got to be so cold
This dog-eat-dog existence sure is getting' old
Got to have a Jones for this- Jones for that
This running with the Joneses, boy
Just ain't where it's at
You gonna come back around
To the sad, sad truth... the dirty lowdown

Oooh, oooh, I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who
Got you thinkin' like that boy
Oooh, oooh I wonder, wonder, wonder who

I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who
Said I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who

Oh, look out for that lowdown
That dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty lowdown
I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who
Whoo... hooo
I wonder who got you thinking like that

[Return To Index]

IT'S OVER
(B. Scaggs / D. Paich)

Best of friends
Never part
Best of fools have love forever
From the bottom of his heart

So why pretend
This is the end
You have to find out for yourself
Go on ask somebody else

Why can't you just get it through your head
It's over, it's over now
Yes, you heard me clearly now I said
It's over, it's over now

I'm not really over you
You might say that
I can't take, I can't take it
Lord, I swear I just can't take it no more

(Go away) Go away
(Far away) So far away
It's too late to turn back now
And it don't matter anyhow

'Cause you were right
I'm to blame
Can't go on the same old way
Can't keep up the same old game

Why can't you just get it through your head
It's over, it's over now
Yes, you heard me clearly now I said
It's over, it's over now

I'm not really over you
You might say that
I can't take it, I can't take it
Lord, I swear I just can't take it no more

Why can't you just get it through your head
It's over, it's over now
Yes, you heard me clearly now I said
It's over, it's over now

[Return To Index]

LOVE ME TOMORROW
(David Paich)

You say, that you love me anyway
But I know it's not in your eyes
You say, you can take it night and day
But I know it's an alibi

Dejon... where did we go wrong
You said that you'd be mine
'Til the end of time
Love me tomorrow
Love me tomorrow
Love me tomorrow
Love me tomorrow

I say, its a sad sort of play
When you never get to my lines
You say, that I'm better off this way
But I know it's all in your mind

Dejon... where did we go wrong
You said that you'd be mine
'Til the end of time
Love me tomorrow
Love me tomorrow
Forget all your sorrow
Love me tomorrow
(repeat)

[Return To Index]

LIDO SHUFFLE
(Boz Scaggs / David Paich)

"I love a shuffle, and that was just a version that I happened to be playing on the piano. I was trying to find a groove that I'd heard Fats Domino do. There's a song that he did way back in his heyday called "The Fat Man," and I'm not much of a piano player, but I can sort of bang that groove on a piano and try to duplicate the feel that Fats Domino used. I showed it to David Paich, and I just sort of howled along with it. Paich picked up on the vibe and carried on with it."  - Boz Scaggs

Lido missed the boat that day
He left the shack
But that was all he missed
And he ain't coming 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 'em roll
He said one more job oughta get it
One last shot 'fore we quit it
One for the road

Lido.. whoa ooh ooh ooh
He's for the money
He's for the show
Lido's waitin' for the go
Lido... whoa ooh ooh ooh
He said one more job oughta get it
One last shot 'fore we quit it
One more for the road

Lido be runnin'
Havin' great big fun
Until he got the note
Sayin' "Tow the line or blow it"
And that was all she wrote

He'll be makin' like a beeline
Headin' for the border line
Goin' for broke
Sayin' one more hit oughta do it
This joint aint nothin' to it
One more for the road

Lido... whoa ooh ooh ooh
He's for the money
He's for the show
Lido's waiting for the go

Lido... whoa ooh ooh ooh
One more job ought to get it
One last shot then we quit it
One more for the road

Lido... whoa ooh ooh ooh
He's for the money
He's for the show
Lido's a waitin' for the go
Lido... whoa ooh ooh ooh

[Return To Index]

WE'RE ALL ALONE
(B. Scaggs)

"We're All Alone" was a piano experimentation on my part. Every time I'd go by the piano, I'd repeat this little pattern. And I can remember being intrigued by the first three chords, and I don't know whether this is accurate or not, but I think they're the first three chords of Paul McCartney's "Yesterday," and that was the catalyst." - Boz Scaggs

Outside the rain begins
And it may never end
So cry no more, on the shore, a dream
Will take us out to sea
Forever more, forever more

Close your eyes, amie
And you can be with me
'Neath the waves, through the caves, of hours -
Long forgotten now
We're all alone, we're all alone

Close the window, calm the light
And it will be alright
No need to bother now
Let it out, let it all begin
Learn how to pretend

Once a story's told
It can't help but grow old
Roses do, lovers too
So cast your seasons to the wind
And hold me dear, oh hold me dear

Close the window, calm the light
And it will be alright
No need to bother now
Let it out, let it all begin
All's forgotten now
We're all alone, all alone

Close the window, calm the light
And it will be alright
No need to bother now
Let it out, let it all begin
Throw it to the wind, my love
Hold me dear

All's forgotten now, my love
We're all alone

[Return To Index]