1. *Payday
Words: Boz Scaggs
Music: Boz Scaggs / David Paich
Hey you steppin on my head
Why you have to throw rocks at my bed
Must you shout or could you kindly keep it down
Do we really need it.. an Apocalypse right now
Oh man
Where´s my sunshine sunshine was my friend
She was good to me right until the end
Where I left her yeah well its hard to tell
Got to call her just a soon as I get well
Come payday everybody gets strange
Talkin 'bout my Payday hey hey
Better get out of my way baby
I don´t mind a job works no big deal
It´s how they treat you and the way make you feel
I´ll take my check you take your mood
And let´s just say whatever man whatever gets you through
Cos its Payday
I'm blowin the blues away boy
Talkin about my Payday hey hey
Don't be waitin up for me now
Brothers.. sisters
Tonight we party tonight we're dancing
Hey we're talking the ultimate smash of a lifetime
This ones on me...
Sometimes it like a war in here facing down alone
But ever since I woke up I've felt it in my bones
Waiting for that hour is all that keeps me clear
There's gonna be some lightning strikin man when I get out of here
Cos it payday y'all better stay outta my way
Talking about some Payday hey hey hey
Man its all coming home
I said its Payday y'all
Gonna shake it on down tonight
Gonna do my dance tonight yeah
Talkin 'bout my Payday.. Payday hey hey
Come payday....
2. *Sarah
Words: Boz Scaggs
Music: Danny Kortchmar/ Allan Jay Lerner / Frederick Loewe
Thinking about Sarah
And that's heaven to me
You don't know my girl
But she's right as right can be yeah
It's like yonder mockingbird
In the cottonwood tree
Mmm mmm you don't change that no
It's meant to be
And that's the soul of a southern girl
Gonna set you free
When we go walking
On a summer's eve
We take the long way home yeah
And that's guaranteed
Thinking about Sarah
That's heaven to me yeah
Thinking about my Sarah girl
She is love to me
Sitting there by her window
Sunshine in her hair yeah
Sun can't help but love her
In fact I think he's jealous of her
Because he's just passing through
And she is ever Sarah
And that's the soul of a southern girl
gonna set you free
Sure as that river
Is gonna run to the sea
Sure as the suns gonna shine
She's there for me
Thinking about Sarah
That's heaven to me yeah
Thinking about my Sarah girl
She is love she is love
Like those lazy willows
Playing in the summer breeze yeah
She's got that that easy rhythm
Swinging right along with them
But they're just melodies
In a symphony called Sarah
She sets me free oh yeah
And that's the soul of my southern girl
And she sets me free
Thinking about Sarah
That's righteous to me
Yeah
Thinking about my Sarah girl
3. *Miss Riddle
Words: Boz Scaggs
Music: Boz Scaggs / David Paich / Michael Rodriguez
Hey Miss Riddle I'm stuck in the middle again
I don't know how but you've got me playing both ends
Of a game I should know all about
That you came and turned inside out
Hey Miss Riddle I'm stuck in the middle again
It's a long way home it's late and yet we pretend
It's a long way home when you call last night just friends
So cool so clear so nonchalant
So absolutely what I want
Hey hey Miss Riddle I'm stuck in the middle again
I've heard a lot of talk about how you were sizing me up
A line or two you dropped about but don't let me interrupt
Your game Miss Riddle I'm stuck in the middle again
Mmmmmmm
I found out why those birds go looking for spring
I found out what those dizzy heights can bring
Because I've found your lips so awfully nice
One stop south of paradise
Whatcha say Miss Riddle
What say we do it again.. again.. again
Hey Miss Riddle I'm stuck in the middle again
I don't know how but you've got me playing both ends
Of a game I should know all about
That you came and turned inside out
Hey hey Miss Riddle I'm stuck in the middle.. again.. again
Whatcha say Miss Riddle I say we do it again
It's a long way home
Whatcha we stop it
Whatcha say we drop it
Whatcha say Miss Riddle
What say we do it again.. again.. again.. again
4. *I Just Go
Words and Music: Boz Scaggs [Watch Video]
Don't know why I wandered off last night
I was having a good time and feeling all right
Feeling right at home with you
Guess I hadn't had enough though or something
And I just go
Saw some of my old running boys over by the back door
Having a laugh thought I'd say hello been a while
Then one thing leads to another I guess
And anyway I just go
I didn't know till you left word for me
Your concern about where I'd disappeared to
And it never crossed my mind
That I'd worried you or been unkind in doing so
And I'm so so sorry I took off so fast
That you felt abandoned and left out like that
Please understand
You see I just don't pay much mind sometimes..
Sometimes I just go
I need you to know
How I long to do all that you want me to
I'd go anywhere at all any time you call
To comfort you
And I take every word or your advice
I'd make any kind of sacrifice to let you know
But there's this other voice calling me sometimes
And I just go
5. *Get On The Natch
Words: Boz Scaggs
Music: Danny Kortchmar / Angelo Bond / General Johnson / Gregory Perry
Oh sleeping beauty its time to wake up
And get ready for a brand new day
It's the new millennium and time to rise
And maybe think in a different way
Take a deep breath have a look around
Are you happy with what you see
If your body's fit and your mind is clear
No reason you ought not to be
If some joker's trying to sell you some new sport drink
Just tell him that you'll have to pass
You're paying three times as much for this bottle of water
As you're paying for a gallon of gas
Cause everything counts even small amounts
When you're working towards a goal
It's not about simple thirsts or hungers
But satisfying your soul
Get on the natch
And don't talk back
Get on the natch
Get off your booty
Get on the natch
Well allarootie
I can't tell you what to do do do
You eat a bucket of grease and a can full of sugar
You're adding to the critical mass
Pretty soon you're gonna need a new wardrobe
To cover your big new ass
I aint sayin' slim is beautiful
Or you got to be some showdog
But go down to the gym or find a place to swim
And ask the doctor if you can't jog
If not your body your memory
Think back to what it's like as a kid
When you're running and climbing and jumping around
Having fun with the things you did
It's not easy it's hard at first
When you're breaking the old routine
Get off your behind cut some TV time
Try reading that magazine
Get on the natch
And don't talk back
Get back in here you little..
Get on the natch
Well allarootie
I can't tell you what to do do do
You better watch out its alright to cry
But we don't like nobody whines
And being cool aint acting son
It's like read between the lines
Try a little dignity have self respect
And you'll reap just what you sow
If you're not sure about something don't worry about it
Just tell 'em "I don't know"
Get on the natch
Don't talk back
Get on the natch
And get your feet off the couch
Get on the natch
Well allarootie
I can't tell you what to do do do
Get on the natch
Get back in there you little..
Get on the nathch
And don't talk back
Get on the natch
Well allarootie
I can't tell you what to do do do
Get on the natch
Get on the natch
Slam that back door one more time
Well allarootie
Get on the natch
Get off your booty
Get on the natch
Good God Bernice
Get on the natch
Slam that back door one more time
Well allarootie
I can't tell you what to do do do
Get on the natch
Don't talk back
6. *Desire
Words: Boz Scaggs
Music: Boz Scaggs / David Paich / Greg Phillinganes
So much desire in the world today
So much of everything you can't give it away
You could be happy but you're feeling so bad
About what you never have
Because you can't look at nothing without wanting it
And you know that's the truth
There's always some scene you think you got to break into
Or a new sensation to intoxicate you
Ain't it a drag
Staring through the glass at something doesn't touch you really
Or bring you laughter or roses or stroke your hair so tenderly
Desire
Stealing you away from me
Desire
You're living in a dream
Desire
Is getting the best of you
Who was it told you
You have to have everything you see
Same one who sold you that last fantasy
Roll up your sleeves and use those hands for something
That's gonna work for you baby
To fill your arms and your heart with joy
Desire
Stealing you away from me
Desire
You're living in a dream baby
Desire
Is getting the best of you
Now look into your mirror
Could you stand a little nearer
Look her in the eye
A lot depends on what you see
Now look away baby
Look my way baby
You'll see
Desire
Stealing you away from me
You're living in a dream
Is getting the best of you
Desire
Stealing you away from me
You're living in a dream
Who was it told you
You have to have everything you see...
7. *Call That Love
Words: Boz Scaggs / Jack Walroth
Music: Boz Scaggs / Danny Kortchmar / David Paich / Steve Jordan
Well there's a fire up the road burning about five foot three
I feel the heat all the way down here so she's getting to me
It's coming on strong like a beautiful bolt from the blue
She puts the heat in my Havana the bee in my boogaloo
(Call that love)
I call it lighting up the grid
(Call that love)
I call it blowing off the lid
(Call that love)
I call it brimstone lightning
Soul uptightening
Cos that's what it is
It's like you don't know what it is till you open up a bottle of wine
It's some well kept secret that was waiting there all the time
She's raging through my main frame burning out my circuitry
And there's a full blown Frankenstein monster waking up in me
(Call that love)
I call it burning down the main frame
(Call that love)
I call it speeding up the end game
(Call that love)
I call it running in the red
Sitting on a powder keg
Cos that's what it is
Lord how can this be..
All of this for me
Call it dreams on fire
Call it heart's desire
It's a lowdown feeling
The best that you ever had
It's no sign from above
It's called love sweet love
Well you can call it what you want to
But don't try to understand
(Call that love)
Call it rocking my world
(Call that love)
I call it lightning bolts
(Call that love)
Call it turning the key
(Call that love)
Just you and me
(Call that love)
Call it cooking on the range
(Call that love)
Mmmm getting signal again
(Call that love)
Is it too soon to know
(Call that love)
Well maybe so
(Call that love)
(Call that love)
Beaming on broadband
(Call that love)
Drowning on dry land
(Call that love)
Call it getting through
(Call that love)
Call it me and you
(Call that love)
Mmmm call it getting down
Mmmm going to town
8. *King of El Paso
Words: Boz Scaggs / Jack Walroth
Music: Boz Scaggs
About a million stars in that desert sky
So high and lonesome it can make you want to cry
Or drive your young blood wild
And a burning glow above that northern ridge
Three day ride will get you straight down to old Juarez
A fool's El Dorado
He got a taste for Mescal and sweet perfume
Didn't take long to get him in the back room
All of sixteen and first taste of the border
There's a pile of bones out on the desert floor
All that's left of el Conquistador.. the conqueror
Well I rode that beast down into the ground
Through every draw and every border town
That devil carried me
You watch a few go down to the fire or the rope
You leave little to chance and nothing to hope
An old 24 and nothing could hold me down
(Ain't gonna ride no more)
Ain't gonna ride no more
Well you cross it once you're gonna cross it again
Something keeps you coming back to that shadowland
And so I did for the mysteries
To hear that old soul stirrer slamming through the night
Tombstone train cuts its own daylight
Ain't gonna ride no more
Though my leathers worn and my cuffs in tatters
My hearts on straight and that's all that matters
If I lose a few moves it aint no loss
Cause there's only one border left for me to cross
(Ain't gonna ride no more)
I'll take my sweet time on that one
Aint gonna ride no more
(Ain't gonna ride no more)
Oh I aint gonna ride no more
They call me King Of El Paso and my advice
Learn that road between here and paradise
(Ain't gonna ride no more)
Ain't gonna ride no more
(Ain't gonna ride no more)
9. *You're Not
Words: Boz Scaggs
Music: Danny Kortchmar
I can read the papers but I can't read you
Cancel my subscription I'll take pay per view
Is this a lover from another planet made up to look like you
You're out there honey and this is out of hand
Or is it all smoke and mirrors
Some holographic stunt I'm going through
Or is it voodoo
And though your fingers don't leave your hand
They just don't touch me any more... any more
Well I see your face.. its here
And its like your voice.. its here
Your pretty pink mouth.. mmm its hot
Well everybody's here - you're not
Well I know you're in range
The jingle of your change is ringing a bell
A ringa ringa
This knee jerk show of affection
This sticky new confection
Well I can't get it down
And even when you do that thing
The kinky thing you do
Well you're getting too good
You been practicing without me
And I just don't recognise
The space behind your eyes anymore
But you got your little dog.. he's here
Even your...your good intent.. it's here
You say you'll meet me and you're on the dot
Well the gang's all here honey but you're not
I see the writing on the wall
Looks like I'm heading for a fall.. Uh oh
But the supernatural fact
Is this a disappearing act I'm about to debut
Why couldn't you be true
But you're not
But you're not... etc
10. *Vanishing Point
Words: Boz Scaggs / Dominique Gioia
Music: Boz Scaggs / David Paich
I met him first out at the edge of nowhere
A last chance oasis on the plains
The sky was threatening as he came up to me
Said could you help me beat the rain
Where does it take you this road you travel
He smiled the same place as yourself
To that point out there where all roads vanish
Going to Vegas man where else
Play it straight and play it true my brother
Cause you're miles from anywhere
As it happens in the world of shadows
Time and distance vanish there
I was just another deadbeat loser there the last time
I couldn't even read the signs
But I've got this feeling and there's magic in the cards now
I'm going back to take what's mine
Play it straight and play it true my brother
Cause you're miles from anywhere
As it happens in the world of shadows
Time and distance vanish there
What damned illusion in that neon lightning
A run of luck is in the air
Shining brighter than any flush of diamonds
A magic carpet of despair
Play it straight and play it true my brother
Cause you're miles from anywhere
As it happens in the world of shadows
Time and distance vanish there
Play it straight and play it true my brother
Cause you're miles from anywhere
As it happens in the world of shadows
Time and distance vanish there
11. *Thanks To You
Words: Boz Scaggs
Music: Boz Scaggs / David Paich
Thanks to you
I've got a reason to get outta bed make a move or two
Thanks to you
There's a net below cause otherwise well I don't know
And thanks to you
There are promises of laughs and loves and labyrinths
And reason to suspect that I'm meant for this
A smile a song a tender kiss
Thanks to you
Thanks to you
There's a thing I think I know
I really mean or variations on that theme
Thanks to you
I have time to turn time to cool and time to burn
And thanks to you
There's something suddenly too good to miss
In other words a way through this
And just when one might feel so perfectly alone
There's someone else's stuff to trip on besides ones own
Thanks to you
One can only guess what happens next
As it is I balk and stumble through a world gone quite absurd
Dodging shadows lurching through the rain
I'm not complaining but I'm caught
With or without you I'd have to get through this anyway
So where does the genius go when business is slow
And even dreaming has a way of scheming to get you down
Likely off at some chateau so how would he know
It gets as lonely up there as anywhere
Where moving over to make room once seemed impossible
It's not impossible
That one handed applause
That unspoken word
That treefall in the forest someone finally heard
Thanks to you
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Musicians:
Boz Scaggs
Danny Kortchmar
David Paich
Ray Parker Jr
Michael Rodriguez
Roy Hargrove Jr
Robin DiMaggio
Joe Bonadio
Greg Phillinganes
Nathan East
Steve Lukather
Monet
Steve Jordan
Martin Tillman
Dig
Behind The Scenes
By Boz
The way Dig was used by the old hipsters or in the jazz world, like enjoy it, like get into it, like go ahead and relax and have a good time with it.
Its a rather small cast of characters, most of the work being done by David Paich, Danny Kortchmar and myself. I went to an old friend and collaborator David Paich who I had known from back in the 70's. David and I had written some things together that are in a rhythm and blues vein. He shares my love and my sort of interest in whatever contemporary form of rhythm and blues it may be as well as traditional forms of rhythm and blues. And Danny Kortchmar, a producer and extraordinary guitar player.
We hit the ground running and every step seemed to be in place, the experience took off from the beginning. This trio, this triad, this combination of personalities happened to be perfect chemistry I think. The in-studio work just shot out of the box. We were working at a pace that none of us had ever experienced before. Rhythm and blues to us really takes a lot of forms and we were using some elements of contemporary hip-hop which I call rhythm and blues. Its just the current state of rhythm and blues. There's a little drum double time thing that happens in the song "Desire", in the hip-hop world its called timber light beat. So we borrowed a little from the new and a lot from the old. Its a style that I keep going back to and its a style that I like a lot.
The guitar and I have had a long affair. Several of the songs, a song like "Desire" or a song like "Payday" were to some degree built around my guitar style and Danny Kortchmar (Kooch) is one of the best guitar players I have ever heard, ever seen in my life, and he knows how to set it up for me. He's a great rhythm player, a great comp player and he left me some wide open spaces. He recognised my style and where I could fit in well.
"Payday" was probably the real cornerstone of this record. It has a spirit and a stride about it that I think really set the pace for everything we tried to do on this record. I think the spirit of that song is probably the driving force of the whole album.
If there is a thread that runs through this album its that pretty much song for song you are talking about a string of losers who have lost out one way or another. From a world weary attitude of a "Thanks To You" song to maybe a vet who came back from Vietnam and never could put it together on pay day, to "Desire" to "I Just Go". They are a series of dead ends in some way.
"Sarah" is just a dream, "Sarah" is a wonderful Southern Memphis dream. I can see the porch swing, I can feel the breeze, smell the honeysuckle.
The engineer that I work with in my studio is quite an accomplished musician in his own right, Michael Rodriguez, he and I developed a few ideas together. There's a song "Miss Riddle" that happened to be just something that he was playing in the studio as I walked by the door one day, I went in and asked "what's that" ? Then a little further on in the process we asked Roy Hargrove Junior to try some horns on several tracks. This is the first one he did for us and the hairs stood on end when I heard what he read into that track.
I think its a very very healthy time for music. To think of the complex rhythmic structures kids are getting when they are 7, 8, 9 and 10 years old in hip-hop. They are amazing groups, their cord changes are sophisticated, the instrumentations are complex and the arrangements are in some cases are brilliant. Kids are getting to it and its going to lead to other things, its going to lead to other musical forms.
You can't be afraid to change, you can't be afraid to move into new areas and you have to explore your intuitions and your interests and keep looking for new ways to express yourself. You're not playing to a static audience.
Complete Dig Interview
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