After learning guitar at the age of 12, Scaggs met Steve Miller at St. Mark's School of Texas in Dallas. In 1959, he became the vocalist for Miller's band The Marksmen. The pair later attended the University of Wisconsin together, playing in blues bands like The Ardells and The Fabulous Knight Trains. Leaving school, Scaggs briefly left Texas to join the burgeoning rhythm and blues scene in London. After singing in bands such as The Wigs and Mother Earth, he recorded his first solo album Boz in 1965, which was not a commercial success. He traveled to Sweden as a solo performer and did a brief stint with the band The Other Side with fellow American Jack Downing and Brit Mac MacLeod.
Returning to the US, Scaggs promptly headed for the booming psychedelic music center of San Francisco in 1967. Linking up with Steve Miller again, he appeared on the Steve Miller Band's first two albums Children of the Future and Sailor, which won over critical reviews. After being spotted by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, Scaggs secured a solo contract with Atlantic Records in 1968. Despite good reviews, his first Atlantic album was met with lukewarm sales, as were followup albums on Columbia Records. In 1976, he linked up with session musicians who would later form Toto and recorded his smash album Silk Degrees. The album reached number 2 on the US charts and number 1 in a number of countries across the world, spawning three hit singles: "Lowdown", "Lido Shuffle", and "What Can I Say", as well as the MOR standard "We're All Alone", later a hit for Rita Coolidge. A sellout world tour followed, but his follow-up album, the 1977 Down Two Then Left, lacked the cohesion of Silk Degrees.
Scaggs' 1980 album Middle Man would spawn two top 20 hits, "Breakdown Dead Ahead" and "Jojo," and Scaggs would enjoy two more hits over 1980 and 1981 ("Look What You've Done to Me" from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack, and "Miss Sun" from a greatest hits set).
Scaggs continued to record and tour sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s, although he semi-retired from the music business and turned owner of the San Francisco nightclub Slim's. His lengthy hiatus from the music industry slowed his chart career down dramatically.
Scaggs recorded Other Roads in 1988, took another hiatus, and then came back in 1994 with Some Change. In the late 190s he released Come On Home, an album of blues, and My Time, an anthology. He garnered good reviews with Dig, although the CD, which was released on September 11, 2001, was lost in the post-911 melée. In May, 2003, Scaggs released But Beautiful, a collection of jazz standards that debuted at number 1 on the jazz charts.
In 2013 he released the album Memphis
Desire
Boz Scaggs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
So much of everything you can't give it away
You could be happy but you're feeling so bad
About what you never have
Because you can't look at nothing without wanting it
And you know that's the truth
There's always some scene you think you got to break into
Ain't it a drag
Staring through the glass at something doesn't touch you really
Or bring you laughter or roses or stroke your hair so tenderly
Desire
Stealing you away from me
Desire
You're living in a dream
Desire
Is getting the best of you
Who was it told you
You have to have everything you see
Same one who sold you that last fantasy
Roll up your sleeves and use those hands for something
That's gonna work for you baby
To fill your arms and your heart with joy
Desire
Stealing you away from me
Desire
You're living in a dream baby
Desire
Is getting the best of you
Now look into your mirror
Could you stand a little nearer
Look her in the eye
A lot depends on what you see
Now look away baby
Look my way baby
You'll see
Desire
Stealing you away from me
You're living in a dream
Is getting the best of you
Desire
Stealing you away from me
You're living in a dream
Who was it told you
You have to have everything you see...
In Boz Scaggs's song "Desire," the lyrics talk about the power of desire and how it can take hold of a person's life. The world is full of things that we desire, but we can't have everything that we want. Despite this fact, we continue to strive for more and more things, which can make us feel bad because we can never be satisfied. The lyrics urge the listener to focus on what they really need and to use their time and energy to achieve their goals. The song suggests that when we focus on our desires, we lose sight of the things that matter most in life, such as love and joy.
The repeated chorus of "Desire/Stealing you away from me/You're living in a dream/Desire is getting the best of you" emphasizes the theme of desire and its negative effects. The lyrics also suggest that desire can distance a person from others and cause them to live in a self-centered fantasy world. However, the song offers hope by suggesting that we can change our priorities and focus on what is truly important.
Overall, "Desire" is a cautionary tale about the dangers of obsessing over our desires and losing sight of the bigger picture. The song encourages us to focus on what really matters in life, such as love, happiness, and fulfillment.
Line by Line Meaning
So much desire in the world today
There is an overwhelming amount of desire present in the world today
So much of everything you can't give it away
There is so much of everything that people are unable to give it away
You could be happy but you're feeling so bad
Despite the possibility of being happy, people often feel bad
About what you never have
People often feel bad about what they do not have
Because you can't look at nothing without wanting it
People cannot see anything without wanting it
And you know that's the truth
This is a true statement and everyone knows it to be true
There's always some scene you think you got to break into
People always believe there is a scene they have to be a part of
Or a new sensation to intoxicate you
People are always searching for something new to excite them
Ain't it a drag
Isn't it frustrating
Staring through the glass at something doesn't touch you really
Looking at something through a glass doesn't really affect you
Or bring you laughter or roses or stroke your hair so tenderly
It doesn't bring happiness or love or affection
Desire
The emotion that is driving people
Stealing you away from me
Desire is causing people to move away from relationships
You're living in a dream
People are living in a fantasy world
Is getting the best of you
Desire is controlling people's lives
Who was it told you
Who convinced you
You have to have everything you see
That you need to obtain everything you desire
Same one who sold you that last fantasy
The same person who sold you the previous fantasy
Roll up your sleeves and use those hands for something
Get to work and do something productive
That's gonna work for you baby
Do something that is going to benefit you in the long run
To fill your arms and your heart with joy
To bring happiness and contentment to your life
Now look into your mirror
Take a good look at yourself
Could you stand a little nearer
Can you handle the truth more closely than before
Look her in the eye
Confront the reality of the situation
A lot depends on what you see
Much of your future is influenced by your perception
Now look away baby
Look away from the thing that is distracting you
Look my way baby
Look towards me and see the reality of the situation
Contributed by Caleb T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.