Song Exploder is a podcast where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. Each episode features an artist discussing a song of theirs, breaking down the sounds and ideas that went into the writing and recording. Hosted and produced by Hrishikesh Hirway.
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Low rider culture. All my friends know the low rider. Charles had his own real style of singing. He was kinda brilliant in his own way, and he was a great sax player. And he also had a unique vocal scent. The low ride is a little higher. The low rider culture, the beginning of it all, was happening in Los Angeles, east LA, and we came out with a culture, you know, of people, Hispanics, and blacks. Who shared the same dreams of fixing up a car and seeing who can have the best car, who can drop at the lowest. I mean, It was a crazy scene at the time. The low ride, drives a little slower. No ride. It's a real go. I was in the studio playing the piano while they were trying to work out the lyrics. And then I came back in to hear what they had. And online, he said, why don't we try, take a little trip Take a little trip. Take a little trip. Take a little trip and see. Take a little trip. Take a little trip. Take a little trip with me. And then a cool stick on a song like that. Howard's got. Howard's got. That piano sound is called an RMI, RMI Piano. Only a few bands had those. They didn't really like them, but I liked the attitude it had. Jerry put it on tape and said, okay. Let's put it on there. Without thinking about it because thinking for us was a disease. That's right. Nobody thought. We just No. Just did. Just
The day of writing, you're still the one is so clear in my head. I start humming a melody around in the kitchen, which is very common for me. The lyric looks like we made it comes out. Looks like we made it. I thought, I'm onto something here, but we're not that far into our marriage. I could be getting ahead of myself. I know we still have a long way to go together. So I'm just gonna put it out there and I'm gonna say it in this song. I picked up my guitar, and the melody came really fast. Looks like we made it. Look how far we've come up, baby. We might've took a long way. We knew we'd get there someday. And then the chorus lyrics came together. That was the next thing I did. You're still the one I run to, the one that I belong to. You're still the one I want. And, Mutt came in, he just sat across from me. I played him what I was doing, and he said, okay, well let's just roll the course over a few times. So, I played and sang, and played and sang, and you know, he would just say do it again and do it again and do it again. And I could see his mind coming up with something, And then he just started singing. And that was the hook to me. I'm just like, that's the hook. That is the hook.
For more, visit songexploder.net. You'll find links to buy or stream YBP, and you can watch the music video. If you like this episode, you might also like the episode with Meek Mill from 2019. You'll find that and all the other episodes of the show at songexploder.net. This episode was produced by Craig Eley, Theo Balcom, Kathleen Smith, Mary Dolan, and myself. Special thanks to Chris Goodwin. The episode artwork is by Carlos Lerma, and I made the show's theme music and logo. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, listener supported, artist owned podcasts. You can learn more about all our shows at radiotopia.fm. You can follow me on social media at Rishi Hirway, and you can follow the show at Song Exploder. You can also get a Song Exploder T Shirt at songexploder.net/shirt. I'm Rishikeshirway. Thanks for listening.
On iOS and Android. Go to the app or Play Store to download it now. And for 10% off your 1st year's membership, go to distrokid.com/ vip/songexploder. And now, here's You Louisiana Man by Rhiannon Giddens in its entirety. You turned my head, tripped up my mind, you Louisiana man. You burned my bed, lit up my sky, you Louisiana man. I never knew that things were gonna get so far. I never knew it. I never knew that you were gonna break my heart. You, you Louisiana man. You stole my bread. You took my soul. You Louisiana man. I'll catch my death. You look so cold. You Louisiana man. I never knew that thing.
The way that I like to work is starting from whether it's a synth or a piano or a guitar, it has to be sparse. There can't be too much going on around it otherwise I lose the thread. And I immediately felt transported. It seemed like there was this real sense of melancholy, this real sense of nostalgia. And because it was so sparse and so minimal, it felt like it provided the perfect backdrop for going into lyrics that were quite complicated and dark. I was going through a lot at the time and just all kind of spilled out of me in that moment. The song surrounds my best friend. You know, we'd been friends since we were 14. We met in Spanish class. And she was really struggling with deep depression and anxiety. And seeing her struggling was really kind of putting this sense of heaviness in my heart. And I didn't know how to help her. And I wanted this song to kind of speak about what she was living but through my eyes. I have found this poem that I'd written kind of about her situation, and that formed the the foundation, I guess, of the song. Would you be open to reading the poem? Yeah. Of course. You promised you'd be there in the morning, and I only half believed you. Because last time you said that, you almost weren't. I should have forgotten that by now, but I remember. There has always been a part of you, some little agony, smooth, hot, and painful, something that I could not touch. I hear the smile in your voice today, though. A loose string of dark red silk, so soft, faint, and rare. Where did it come from?
