"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 BillboardR&B singles chart, peaked at number seven on the Hot 100 singles chart, and number five in Canada. According to the AllMusic review of the song, "the lyric takes the cool, laidback image of the low rider — the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot-roddingclassic cars — and using innuendo, extends the image to a lifestyle". The song's most distinguishable features are its driving bass line by B. B. Dickerson, which is present almost throughout, and the alto saxophone riff by Charles Miller. It also ends with a siren-like noise that then becomes a saxophone solo. Saxophonist Charles Miller also takes the lead vocal.
Cover versions
The song has been covered by many artists, including the following:
A Spanish version by Mexican group Banda Pachuco was recorded in 1996
Sampling
"Low Rider" was also significantly sampled by The Beastie Boys for their track "Slow Ride" on the 1986 album Licensed to Ill.
"Low Rider" was sampled by L'Trimm on their song also titled "Low Rider".
"Low Rider" was sampled by The Offspring in the remix version of "Pretty Fly ", and also was featured on the song "Original Prankster" as the rhythm is based off this song and uses the cowbell section.
The song has been featured in numerous films, including Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke, Colors, Blood In Blood Out, Friday, A Gnome Named Gnorm, A Knight's Tale, Robots, 21 Grams, Dazed and Confused, Paulie, Beverly Hills Ninja, the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds, The Young Poisoner's Handbook, Love Potion No. 9, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, The Internship and Beverly Hills Chihuahua. It's also featured in the soundtrack for the 2004 video-game , as part of the fictional radio station Master Sounds 98.3. "Low Rider" is best known as theme song for George Lopez, Lopez Tonight, and for its titular star's stand up comedy appearances. At the 2007 ALMA Awards, George Lopez called this song, "The Chicano National Anthem", and performed it live. "Low Rider" is mentioned in That '70s Show in the episode "Sparks", when the lyrics are inscribed on Eric's wedding ring to Donna. In the UK, the song was well-known in the 1990s as the music bed on a long-running series of TV adverts, beginning in 1994, for the food spread Marmite. These campaigns played on the love–hate relationship that the nation purportedly had with the product. The audio track therefore included interpolated lyrics such as "My mate, Marmite" and "I hate Marmite", sung in a style that mimicked Charles Miller's deep voice on War's original version.
