Low Rider (3:09)

“Low Rider” is a song written by the band War and appearing on their album Why Can’t We Be Friends?, released in 1975. It reached number one on the Billboard R&B charts 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”.[1] 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.

The writers and performers of “Low Rider” have formed the Lowrider Band. The band consists of Lee Oskar, Howard E. Scott, B.B. Dickerson and Harold Brown.

Cover versions

* The song has been covered by the following artists:
o Blues Traveler
o Peter Cetera
o George Clinton
o Epsilon Minus
o Exodus
o Gary Hoey
o JFA
o Terry Kath
o Korn
o Latin Alliance
o Phish
o Popa Chubby featuring Galea
o Quando Quango
o Son of Dave
o Barry White
o Yukon Kornelius


* “Low Rider” was sampled by The Offspring in the remix version of “Pretty Fly For A White Guy”.
* War’s “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 Forman Freestyle on disc 2 of their posthumous release Everything Under the Sun.