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
Lost It
Boz Scaggs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who's to say they never move
Cause we moved one after another
Till there was nothing left to prove
Then we turned around and tossed it
After all that we'd been through
When I look at what it cost us
Maybe I lost it
When I lost you
Maybe I lost it
When I lost you
The night we climbed above the ruins
The gypsies sang those ancient Spanish blues
I saw a man awake but still dreaming
I saw myself in love with you
I walk around I think about it
And all the things that we went through
To tell you the truth
Maybe I lost it
When I lost you
Maybe I lost it.. yeah lost it
When I lost you
I walk around I think about it
And all the things that we went through
The more I think about it
It wasn't you.. that I lost
No no
Was it the dream or just the notion
Well I lost it.. when I lost you
I had it.. maybe I lost it
Yeah lost it.. when I lost you
I had it in the palm of my hand
And baby I lost it
I lost it.. when I lost you
I had it.. had it.. had it
Whoah I had it yeah
And I lost you
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
I lost it
When I lost you
The lyrics to Boz Scaggs's song "Lost it" speak of the end of a relationship and the singer's realization that he may have lost something important when he lost the person he was with. The opening lines describe the passage of time and the many challenges the couple went through together, climbing one mountain after another, until there was nothing left to prove. However, despite their successes, the relationship eventually fell apart, and the singer wonders whether he "lost it" - meaning his sense of direction or purpose - when he lost his partner.
Throughout the song, Scaggs reflects on his relationship and considers the possibility that he made a mistake by letting it go. He remembers climbing above the ruins, listening to the gypsies singing ancient Spanish blues, and seeing himself in love with his partner. He also admits that he thinks about the relationship constantly and struggles to understand what went wrong. Towards the end of the song, he reveals that he may have lost "it" - his passion, his sense of self, or the dream he once shared with his partner - when he lost his significant other.
Overall, "Lost it" is a poignant reflection on the joys and pitfalls of love and relationships, and the difficulties of moving on when one has lost something important. The song's introspective lyrics and haunting melody make it a powerful meditation on loss and regret.
Line by Line Meaning
Another day another mountain
Just another day, another challenge to overcome.
Who's to say they never move
Who knows what obstacles may arise in the future.
Cause we moved one after another
We tackled each obstacle one by one.
Till there was nothing left to prove
Until there were no more challenges remaining, as we had proven ourselves.
Then we turned around and tossed it
Despite everything we'd accomplished, we let it go.
After all that we'd been through
Even though we'd been through so much together.
When I look at what it cost us
When I consider what we sacrificed in the process.
I guess it's time I faced the truth
I need to acknowledge the reality of the situation.
Maybe I lost it
I may have lost something significant.
When I lost you
When I lost you as a partner and companion.
The night we climbed above the ruins
Recalling a specific moment of shared history.
The gypsies sang those ancient Spanish blues
The moment was heightened by a particular cultural experience.
I saw a man awake but still dreaming
An observation of someone who was present, yet seemingly detached from the situation.
I saw myself in love with you
Realizing that the dream of being in love with you was lost when we parted ways.
I walk around I think about it
Reflecting on what went wrong and what could have been different.
And all the things that we went through
Every experience we shared together.
To tell you the truth
To be completely honest.
It wasn't you.. that I lost
Acknowledging that the loss wasn't just about losing you, but something else as well.
Was it the dream or just the notion
Wondering if the dream of being in love with you was just an illusion or if it was a real possibility at one point.
Well I lost it.. when I lost you
Whatever it was, it was lost when we parted ways.
I had it.. maybe I lost it
Reflecting on the possibility of having had something truly special that was lost.
Yeah lost it.. when I lost you
Acknowledging that the loss of whatever IT was came as a result of losing you.
I had it in the palm of my hand
Feeling as though what was lost was something that was once easily within reach.
And baby I lost it
And whatever IT was is gone forever.
Hey hey hey
A refrain that punctuates the emotional weight of the situation.
I lost it
A conclusion that whatever we shared was lost, and coming to terms with that loss.
When I lost you
Affirming that the loss was a result of parting ways with you.
Contributed by Levi T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.