Back in 1965-66, The Sheriffs would stop us for our car being too low. When they finally built freeways in Southern California we would cruise in the slow lane just in case we had to pull over and do some repairs. We would drive from Pomona California to South Los Angeles taking side streets and main drags through El Monte, Whittier, Watts, and Compton, then eventually into Long Beach/San Pedro, California. If you were driving a truck with lift gates on the rear, you’d better check to see if someone has stolen your hydraulics – it happened to me. It made for a hard ride up until homies started putting hydraulics on them. We’d chop our springs with torches – this would lower the car a few inches. He eventually lowered it all the way around after returning from the Korean War. Leon left his 1953 yellow Mercury with black prime spots on it, tuck and roll seat covers from Tijuana Mexico, lowered in the front, parked on the side of the house. They were from the other side of the tracks. You also had Hot Rodders, which were a different breed racing around town. One member of the band who didn’t get drafted into the Vietnam War was the drummer Harold Brown and that was because he had his own car business and he told Song Facts, “The first time I knew about what we called Low Riders were my cousin Leon and a few more cruising up and down the coast in California. Most of the band grew up in Southern California and were immersed in low rider culture. They are often coruscating with ridiculous and lairy paint jobs, they have very small steering wheels and swivel seats.
#Low rider song show driver#
The cars are modified with hydraulic lifts that allow the driver to lower each wheel and make the car bounce. So what exactly is a low rider? As well as being a customised car it is also a culture. Their first international hit, Low Rider, reached number seven Stateside and number 12 in the UK. The hits came thick and fast in America and they hit the top 10 with The World Is a Ghetto (1972), The Cisco Kid and Gypsy Man (1973) and Why Can’t We Be Lovers in 1975. But we just let it flow and played.” There was an ever changing line up because various members kept getting drafted to the Vietnam War. “We never thought we’d hit because we were too different,” says Jordan, “people wanted us to be like the Chambers Brothers or Sly and the Family Stone. They were a multi-racial group who developed their own unique sound to incorporate funk, jazz, Latino, rock and soul. Scott, Charles Miller on sax and flute, Lee Oskar on harmonica, percussionist Papa Dee Allen and drummer Harold Brown. The original line up consisted of lead singer Lonnie Jordan, bassist B.B. After two albums and three American hits including the number three Spill the Wine, Burdon left and the band would continue without him. He paired them up with Burdon and spent a few months touring around Southern California to discover how they were received before they recorded their debut album Eric Burdon Declares War. In 1969 Jerry attended the Rag Doll in North Hollywood and saw a footballer called Deacon Jones, but what caught his eye was his backing band. Their big break came when record producer Jerry Goldstein conceived the idea of finding a group to back Eric Burdon, following his departure as lead singer with The Animals. After a few months they changed name to Nite Shift – so called because the drummer, Harold Brown, worked at a steel yard at night. The original group started out as The Creators, playing clubs in the Los Angeles area, where they became the first black band booked on the Sunset Strip. Is there a fine line between funk and rock? This week’s track is a top 20 hit from 1976 which I’ve always classed as a funk track and that snuggles in beautifully between songs like Black Betty, Play That Funky Music and any of James Brown’s repertoire, but not too long ago, Classic Rock Magazine listed it at number 87 in their all-time Top 100 classic rock Songs, that track is Low Rider by War.
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