‘Lido Shuffle’ is a song written by Boz Scaggs and David Paich and introduced on the 1976 Boz Scaggs album Silk Degrees. It was subsequently released as a single in 1977 and was produced by Joe Wissert. Released as the album's fourth single, ‘Lido Shuffle’ reached number 11 in the US and 13 on the UK Singles Chart. In Australia the track spent three weeks at number 2 as a double A-side hit with ‘What Can I Say’.
Scaggs recalled: "'Lido Shuffle was a song that I'd been banging around. I...took the idea of the shuffle [from] a song that Fats Domino did called 'The Fat Man' that had a kind of driving shuffle beat that I used to play on the piano, and I just started kind of singing along with it. Then I showed it to [David] Paich and he helped me fill it out. It ended up being 'Lido Shuffle.'"
The song is about a drifter looking for a big score. Scaggs and Paich were both very good at crafting songs with intriguing storylines using words and phrases that don't often show up in a lyric: "A tombstone bar," "makin' like a beeline..." The name Lido is very unusual as well. From the perspective of songcraft, it's very versatile, allowing the singer to get clear vocal sounds and follow with the "whoa-oh-oh-oh" hook. Kenny Loggins did something similar on his song "Footloose," writing the character "Milo" into it ("Whoa... Milo, come on, come on let's go").
he last single from Silk Degrees, this wasn't released until about a year after the album was issued. The first single, ‘It's Over,’ peaked in May 1976; ‘Lido Shuffle’ didn't reach its chart peak until May 1977. The Silk Degrees album was a slow burner, gradually gaining momentum and selling over 5 million copies. The song was adopted by the Philadelphia Eagles to play when cornerback Lito Sheppard would make an interception.
Label – CBS
Songwriters – David Paich, Boz Scaggs
Producer – Joe Wissert
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]Lido missed the boat that day he left the shack
But that was all he missed and he ain't comin' back
A tombstone bar in a jukejoint car, he made a stop
Just long enough to grab a handle off the top
Next stop Chi town, Lido put the money down and let it roll
He said one more job ought to get it
One last shot 'fore we quit it
One more for the road
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He's for the money, he's for the show
Lido's waitin' for the go
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He said one more job ought to get it
One last shot 'fore we quit it
One more for the road
Lido be runnin', havin' great big fun, until he got the note
Sayin' toe the line or blow, and that was all she wrote
He be makin' like a beeline, headin' for the borderline
Goin' for broke
Sayin' one more hit ought to do it
This joint ain't nothin to it
One more for the road
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He's for the money, he's for the show
Lido's waitin' for the go
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
One more job ought to get it
One last shot and we quit it
One more for the road
{Bridge}
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He's for the money, he's for the show
Lido's waitin' for the go
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh...