We went to the Wollman Memorial Rink, in Central Park, the other evening to hear Boz Scaggs, a singer who comes from Texas, perform. There are a few things we have always liked about Boz Scaggs. We like his performing name (Boz Scaggs) and we like his real name (William Royce Scaggs). We like the songs he sings, which are mostly his own compositions and are mostly about bad boys (as in a song called “Lowdown”) and bad girls (as in a song called “Georgia”). When we saw him in the Park, we found other things to like. For instance, his live singing voice isn’t at all far removed from his recorded singing voice; he talks with a nice Texas drawl; and he never once asked the audience if everybody was feeling all right or to accompany his singing with handclaps.
Boz Scaggs is not a new performer or a widely popular old performer. During the late sixties, he was a member of the Steve Miller Band, a San Francisco rock group. Since then, as a solo performer, he has had a “following.” He’s been very
popular in cities like San Francisco, where he now lives, and New York. But his popularity seems to be getting national. We took a look at Billboard, the music-trade magazine, and saw that his latest album was in the Top Forty of both the regular chart and the black-music chart.
At the Wollman Memorial Rink, we saw many people wearing T-shirts that said simply “Boz.” Onstage, Boz Scaggs, a tallish, handsome man with brown hair that he wears swept back in a beatniklike style, wore blue pants, a red turtleneck sweater, and white sneakers. He was accompanied by some other musicians and by two pretty girl singers wearing white backless gowns. Sometimes he sang and played a white guitar, sometimes he sang and played a gold guitar, sometimes he sang and played a piano, and sometimes he sang and danced around. Almost always he said something about the song he was about to sing. He said, “This song is about a lady thing; it’s about when it’s all over,” and he sang a song called “It’s Over.” He said, “This is a song about a cat who’s inside doing time all because of a girl named Georgia. If you listen, you’ll know why,” and he sang “Georgia.” Then he sang a song called “What Can I Say.” It’s our favorite Boz Scaggs song, because of these two lines: “Stop makin’ like a little schoolgirl” and “Could be your lucky day, baby.” That song made us very happy.
—August 30, 1976