Tag Archives: Silk Degrees

Music Monday: March 16, 2026

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees was released 50 years ago in February 1976. Seven months later, it peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200. It produced four singles, one that peaked at #2 and another which was a Top 20 hit. This was Scaggs’ seventh solo album and proved to be his breakthrough record.

The blues/R&B/rock singer-born William Royce Scaggs on June 8, 1944 in Canton, Ohio-started his singing career in 1959 as the lead singer for The Marksmen, which was guitarist’s Steve Miller’s first band. Scaggs was a member of The Steve Miller Band as well from 1967-1968, then pursued a solo career. Eight years later, the two former bandmates would meet on the music charts when Miller’s Fly Like An Eagle album was released in May 1976, three months after Silk Degrees.

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Boz Scaggs circa 1972. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Scaggs on stage during an October 2021 show in Florida. (Image courtesy of his official Facebook page. Original source unknown.)

One of the funniest films ever made just turned 30 years old. “The Birdcage”-based on the 1978 French-Italian film, “La Cage aux Folles”, which was based on the 1973 play by Jean Poiret-was released March 8, 1996. The stellar cast was led spectacularly by Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as a gay couple trying to hide their relationship from their son’s ultra conservative future in-laws, played to perfection by Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest. Dan Futterman & Calista Flockhart play the young couple trying to merge the two polar opposite worlds.

Lane-who turned 70 last month-turned shrieking into an art form in the movie. He was on “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend” last year & discussed how Mike Nichols cast him in the role of Albert opposite Williams as Armand. Lane tells a great story, full of laughs, insight & interesting information such as Williams was originally slated to play Albert opposite Steve Martin as Armand. As much as I adore Martin, I cannot picture anyone in the roles better than Lane & Williams. The movie is still one of my go-to’s whenever I need an intense laugh.

The official movie poster. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

A still from the dinner scene (L-R): Calista Flockhart, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, Dan Futterman and Dianne Wiest. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Lane and Hackman in mid-song, with Williams in the background at the piano. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Boz Scaggs: “Lowdown” (1976, written by David Paich and Boz Scaggs).

Boz Scaggs: “Lido Shuffle” (1976, written by David Paich and Boz Scaggs).

Boz Scaggs: “We’re All Alone” (1976, written by Boz Scaggs).

The Cast Of “The Birdcage”: “I Could Have Danced All Night” (1996, written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Cast in order of appearance: Dianne Wiest, Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Calista Flockhart, Dan Futterman and Hank Azaria).

Stay safe & well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 536

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Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

blog Sept 2021

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are still facing a serious situation but a new year gives us hope for the new days, seasons, opportunities & moments ahead. Still, music is something that will never change for me. It is my refuge, the most comforting part of my life & the one thing I consistently count on. So until a more normal semblance of life returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day. And if this helps anyone else, even better.

I really enjoy finding out about childhood friends who both loved music and turned those passions into successful careers. One of my favorites involves Boz Scaggs and Steve Miller. The two young guitarists & singers met as students attending the same prep school in Texas. In 1959 a 15 year old Scaggs became the lead singer of Miller’s band, The Marksmen.

The two men attended the same college together in Wisconsin before Scaggs left to go to London to explore the music culture there. When he returned to the States in 1967 he joined The Steve Miller Band and played on the group’s first two albums before he signed with Atlantic Records as a solo artist a year later. By 1971 He moved to the Columbia label.

Miller’s band first achieved commercial success in 1973 with the album The Joker while Scaggs’ broke through in 1976 with the album, Silk Degrees. It has always been one of my favorites.

“Lido be runnin’ havin’ great big fun
Until he got the note
Saying ‘Tow the line or blow it’
And that was all she wrote“.

scaggs 1967

Silk degrees

Top: Steve Miller (L) and Boz Scaggs (R) circa 1967. Bottom: Scaggs’ 1976 album, Silk Degrees. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Boz Scaggs: “Lido Shuffle” (1976, written by David Patch & Boz Scaggs).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 452

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Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

June 2021 blog

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are still facing a serious situation but a new year gives us hope for the new days, seasons, opportunities & moments ahead. Still, music is something that will never change for me. It is my refuge, the most comforting part of my life & the one thing I consistently count on. So until a more normal semblance of life returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day. And if this helps anyone else, even better.

William Royce “Boz” Scaggs was born June 8, 1944 in Ohio. He was raised in Texas & learned to play the guitar when he was 12. By 1959 he met guitarist Steve Miller & became the singer for his band, The Marksmen. By college Scaggs quit school to tour the European music scene. When he returned to the states in the late 1960’s, he played on The Steve Miller Band’s first two albums before Scaggs signed a record deal of his own.

By the beginning of the 1970’s, he was signed to a different label where he found success after being paired with Motown producer Johnny Bristol. The more soulful bluesy sound of 1976’s Silk Degrees was a smash, as the album reached the #2 spot in the country. It contained the hits “Lowdown” (Day 39), “Lido Shuffle” & “We’re All Alone” and made Scaggs a star. As much as I loved that album, I fell head over heels in love with today’s song from the moment I heard it in the 1980 movie, “Urban Cowboy”. Happy 77th birthday & 100 more, Boz Scaggs.

“Hope they never end this song
This could take us all night long
I looked at the moon and I felt blue
Then I looked again and I saw you“.

Scaggs

Boz Scaggs circa 2000. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Boz Scaggs: “Look What You’ve Done To Me” (1980, written by David Foster and Boz Scaggs).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 39

Posted in Music by

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

music heart

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are in a serious situation, but I need a break from the gloom, doom and bullying by way of hoarding. Music has always been my refuge and watching those beautiful Italians singing to each other from their balconies reaffirmed my belief that music is the answer. So until the old normal returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day.  And if this helps anyone else, even better.

If you combined blue eyed soul with great story telling and a whole lot of cool, the result would be Boz Scaggs.  His “Silk Degrees” album dominated the airwaves in 1976, giving us hits like “Lido Shuffle”, “We’re All Alone” and today’s song.  Over the next few years more hits followed including “Miss Sun”, “Look What You’ve Done to Me” and “Heart of Mine”.  So many of Scaggs’ songs feature his fantastic guitar playing, great lyrics, fabulous hooks and his incredible voice.  I can spend days listening to all of his music but my love affair with him began with his first hit, thanks to one of the best bass lines I ever heard.  It earned Scaggs & the song’s co-writer David Paich the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 1977.

Boz

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Boz Scaggs:  “Lowdown” (1976, written by Boz Scaggs and David Paich).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.