December 13, 2024 • 18 mins
Lonnie Jordan, original member and lead vocalist/keyboardist for the legendary music group WAR, and Jerry Goldstein, founder and longtime producer/manager for the group, join Ryan to discuss their new holiday single "(Yes It's) Christmas."
https://open.spotify.com/track/0osxc5lRdrO4KPR3XiYpXE?si=20777a2a9e8a4217
The track offers an irresistibly funky groove that radiates sunny vibes and the holiday spirit. Like many of the offerings from the multi-platinum-selling band, the song began as an extended jam, which producer Jerry Goldstein sculpted into the final song. Frontman Lonnie Jordan’s lyrics manifest a laid-back, warm-weather Christmas, where kids from all types of neighborhoods dream of Santa dropping off his goodies just for them and the joy of the season. Fans will hear seasonal staples like bells while also being treated to WAR’s unique instrumentation, including a guiro that makes this new holiday favorite instantly recognizable as a WAR tune.
Over the years, WAR has charted 16 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including a dozen Top 40 hits - 7 of which reached the Top 10, including: "Spill The Wine," "The World Is A Ghetto," "The Cisco Kid," "Gypsy Man," "Why Can't We Be Friends," "Low Rider" and "Summer".
WAR
https://open.spotify.com/track/0osxc5lRdrO4KPR3XiYpXE?si=20777a2a9e8a4217
The track offers an irresistibly funky groove that radiates sunny vibes and the holiday spirit. Like many of the offerings from the multi-platinum-selling band, the song began as an extended jam, which producer Jerry Goldstein sculpted into the final song. Frontman Lonnie Jordan’s lyrics manifest a laid-back, warm-weather Christmas, where kids from all types of neighborhoods dream of Santa dropping off his goodies just for them and the joy of the season. Fans will hear seasonal staples like bells while also being treated to WAR’s unique instrumentation, including a guiro that makes this new holiday favorite instantly recognizable as a WAR tune.
Over the years, WAR has charted 16 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including a dozen Top 40 hits - 7 of which reached the Top 10, including: "Spill The Wine," "The World Is A Ghetto," "The Cisco Kid," "Gypsy Man," "Why Can't We Be Friends," "Low Rider" and "Summer".
WAR
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Chris.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yes, it's Christmas and that's not just a statement. That's
the name of the song. Back here on Ryan Schuling
Live and the sounds that you're hearing are from War,
that's right, the all time great group and I'll talk
about this in a moment. They should be in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in my opinion, and
joining us now one of the founding members. He is
also the lead vocalist and keyboardist Lonnie Jordan, a legend
(00:40):
in his own right, and Jerry Goldstein. He has done
so much in the world of music, including helping conceive
of the band War. He remains their manager and producer
and one that helped shape this song that you just heard,
and they both joined me now. Lonnie, Jerry, thank you
so much for your time. You Jerry, I'm going to
start with you and where this all began, for War,
(01:03):
for you, for Lonnie, and if you could take us
back to that point in time and what was the
magic that you saw.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Well, it's really they were a jam band from the
beginning and could play any kind of music. I mean
when I first met them, they were doing Latin jazz,
phone you know, blues, R and B. You know, can
you name it? They could play it, and I really
didn't know what to do with you know, I was
(01:30):
kind of scratching my head, going I've got to figure out.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
What to do.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
So we got on a rehearsal studio and they were
and I said, keep working on some stuff. Let me
know when you got something worth listening to. And while
this was going on, Eric Burden showed up in my
office one day. The last group of Animals had disbanded.
He was on his way back to Newcastle and he
didn't really want to do this anymore, and I said,
(01:54):
you know, I got a group that I don't know
what to do with, but you might really like to
work with them because they were really brilliant musicians and
they play anything, you know, and you know, you could
sing anything, so you know this might work. And they
were at the time backing up this football player Deacon Jones,
who is you know, world class, big time football player
(02:16):
from the Rams, and he was singing the Blues and
doing one handed push ups while he was doing it.
And they were rehearsing for a Las Vegas review that
Deacon was going to headline. And they were playing in
a club called the Rag Doll in the valley, and
I told Eric, come on, let's go out to the
rag Doll and see this group tonight.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And he did.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
And Lee Osca, the eventual harmonica player in law, was
living with Eric, you.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Know, staying at his house.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
So then he came down and the group played their
set with Deacon Jones, and then they played a jam
after they started the jam, and Lee got up in
jam with him. And the next day I called Eric
and I asked him, well, what do you think of
the band? He says, we're rehearsing at four o'clock, and
you know, he then fired most of the horn players
and just kept Joles the sax player, and put Lee
(03:06):
as the harmonicas you know, making the horn section, which
I thought was kind of interesting but different. And four
weeks later we did our first gig at Devon should
Downs Pop Festival, starring Jimi Hendricks and everybody, and we
followed Creeden's Clearwater, who was the first Eric Gordon and
War gig, and after that it was just history, and.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
It's history that goes until this day present day, twenty
twenty four, you might recall, and I saw them in
the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade just this year and featuring
this song the voice you heard. Jerry Goldstein, long time
record producer, such great songs that you'll remember, like My
Boyfriend's Back, hang On, Sloopy, I Want Candy. And also
joining us Lonnie Jordan, the frontman for War and he
(03:49):
has been all these years. Lonnie, as Jerry just described,
you have this unique kind of combination. And I'll make
this comparison George Martin and the Beatles. He would bring
them together, he would have a vision for a song,
he would hear them playing and then put it all together.
How did this song come together in that same kind
of formulaic way for you and the band?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Well, different from the Beatles all though Jerry used to
call us the Black Beatles the day back in the
early days.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
He did, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
The difference with us and George Martin and the Beatles
is the fact that Jerry was a button pusher. If
he didn't push the button while we were jamming for
an hour or two or three, then everything was lost,
forgotten and never to be remembered again. And so that's
basically how we created on music. And then Jerry would
(04:45):
take those long versions of the tape, sit down and
listen to it and do some edits and edit somewhere
in the middle and find something interesting, and then we
would come up with a theme titled for UH for
that particular part. And the next thing, you know, we
(05:06):
start UH the bang, the vocals doing some vocal ideas
and stuff, and just the melody ideas, and just we
just go from there, just keep going, keep jamming. Even
with those ideas, we would just get on the mic
and jamming. We didn't write down much of anything. If
we did, there was a few scribbles here and there
(05:30):
thrown away, people thrown away. But we tried to remember
most of what we wanted to do because it all
came from field. You know. We want to feel it
for real, organically comes. If we read too much of it,
then you could pretty much feel the mechanical, uh, the
(05:53):
technical feel instead of the real organic feel. And that's
that's what we did and we still do it to
this very day.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Lonnie Jordan, the voice you're hearing is the lead vocalist,
the keyboard. It's the front man for Ward has been
all these years. It's so difficult use that word feel, Lonnie.
I want to follow up on that to write a
Christmas song that really pops, that really stands out, and
this has that feel of Christmas with War's unique kind
of take on it. Where did this come from, this
(06:22):
idea for this song.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Well, well, originally it was Summer the song Summer called
His Some, which.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Was a big hit rock seven I think something like that.
I can't remember. It was too long ago. It wasn't yesterday,
I can't remember. But other than that, Jerry, it was
really Jerry's idea after being bugged by the record label
to come out with the Christmas song, and we decided
(07:09):
we did not want to put out Joy to the
World or Silent Night and and and try to create
an up temple beat or something like that. So so
we just said, why don't we take one of our
ancient history songs organically and just take it and remix
(07:30):
it and put the Christmas Well, Jerry wrote the Christmas
lyrics and I redid the vocal and and we put
some little amenities on there, like you know, some Christmas bells,
cupcakes and cakes and candy on there, and and uh
and it was all history after that.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Here we are to.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
The record company and they flipped out and they said, Okay,
let's make.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
A video, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So we made the video and here we are.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yes it's Christmas and you can find it on Spotify,
all the major platforms. And yes It's Christmas. Is the
title War. The group and the two that we're talking
to a dynamic duo. Lonnie Jordan, who you just heard,
the frontman for War, and Jerry Goldstein, the man that
makes things happen behind the scenes. And Jerry, I want
to turn to you. You have such a great picture
of the history of this band, but you really need
(08:25):
to reboot it at one point where Lonnie was the
only remaining original member and then you launch into what
I would call War two point zero and how it's
been able to survive and evolve over all these years.
How did you get through that with Lonnie?
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Are you sure you're not a lawyer? Somebody your words,
somebody your words are scaring me.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
No, it's just not tell the story. That's all.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
It evolved, evolved it It actually evolved itself, and people
came in and out, you know, and and Lennie just
you know, was the constant that was there all the
time and all exa people came in. He would you know,
assimilate them into the band and they'd learn how to
(09:12):
do what they had to do. And you know, I
helped where I could, and it just evolved. It teams
evolving well.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I kept.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
One of the main things is that any new member
that came in the band had to pretty much not think.
Do not come in this band and start thinking. Do
not come in this band and start trying to be
so perfect and professional that you tune up so well
(09:41):
until you make everyone else look bad. Do not do
that stuff. Just come in play like as if you
were just learning how to play your instrument. And yeah,
and let's just jam. Look at the people because they
don't care if you tune up. They know nothing about
tuning up. All they want to do is saying the melodies, move,
(10:06):
dance and just feel good, you know. And we are
a reflection of our fans. And I always say our
fans are our rock and roll Hall of fans, and
they put us here and they can take us out.
And I have high respects for our fans. They are
so important and that's what's kept us here and kept
(10:29):
the fire burning all this time.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
As our fans dating back fifty five years to nineteen
sixty nine, both Lonnie Jordan and Jerry Goldstein joining us
here on Ryan Schuling Live. There'll be touring throughout the
early portion of twenty twenty five. Hopefully at some point
they might come here to Denver, Colorado. We'll keep tabs
on that. But a question that I had for you, Lonnie,
over all these years, I feel that War is a
(10:52):
rock and roll Hall of Fame type band, and you
have songs that have lasted in the American consciousness for
so long. School Kid, Gypsy Man, the World is a
ghetto Spill the Wine. But the two that stand out
to me along with Summer, which has evolved into this song,
Yes it's Christmas Lowrider. Why can't we be friends? I mean,
these are iconic classics. Is there a particular song that
(11:14):
stands out to either one of you as the iconic
definitive song or a favorite of yours that you think
fans should know about?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Uh? Yeah, I would say, uh, Me and Baby Brother
Slipping It in the Darkness.
Speaker 7 (11:38):
Ben in the Darkness, Big.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Build the Wine.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I mean, should I go on?
Speaker 7 (12:17):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Well, I can't remember half of them. Gypsy Man, I
don't think, and look.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
To me Lowrit Lowrider is probably our signature song, you
know all.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
My rings No Rider, let Go Ride.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
At because of how many uses it's been.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And you know that Cheech and Sean came along and
asked us to put it as their feature song, and
Up and Smoke. George Lopez asked to use it as
his theme song in his sitcom which lasted six years
on network television, and you know, the Beastie Boys and
Slow Ride, and you know, it's been one of those
(13:31):
songs that you know, it's it's created an image for lowriders.
I mean, we took the Lowrider pictures and images all
over the world because people bought the record and was
a hit everywhere, but they didn't even know what a
lowrider was, you know, other than how we described them
in the song. And so when we went on the road,
(13:54):
we had the you know, the film with us, and
we showed them a little writers going up and down
and hopping, you know, whatever they do, you know, And
to this day, like in Japan, there is a low
ride of culture and lower right of car club.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
But at the same time that's we're talking about when
we talk about like songs that that I haven't that
I don't think that's made enough noise, uh that I'm
still thinking about now lowriders for the sellers. Now let's
talk about the women, and one of one of my
(14:32):
favorite is a lot of the slower songs like all
day music, you know that I get.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
Is what we like all the.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
And another one is uh, since You've been gone, Baby's
cold outside.
Speaker 7 (15:18):
Des In' mine.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
Till me side?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Why that one song that you don't hear much, you know,
because there was an album cut or deliver the words,
so make.
Speaker 8 (15:37):
It deliver the world, you know.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
So that's for the women's side of us.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
You know, don't forget, Don't let no One get you?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Yeah, and don't let no One.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Get you? Yeah. Songs like that. Those are songs that
a lot of people put in their foul cabinet in
(16:22):
their minds. That is, when things happen, someone is in
prison or someone passed away. You know. These are songs
that I have to hear a lot from a lot
of people who say, well, that was my favorite song,
or that was my uncle's favorite song before he passed away.
Things like that, you know, and that that like it
(16:47):
doesn't put a load on me. It's just it's very heartfelt,
you know, when I hear people tell me that one
of our songs was part of someone's life when they
were alon and now for their siblings or their children,
is now part of their life.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Lonnie. Final question, I know I got to let you
guys go really appreciate your time. You're a very young
seventy six years old. How much longer can you see
yourself doing this? And would entry into the rock and
Roll Hall of Fame mean a lot to you?
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah? Another seventy six years, yeah, I will definitely. It
means it means a lot the rock and Roll Hall
of Fame, But what means more to me is my
rock and roll Hall of fans. They mean more to me.
That's my personal opinion. Now, don't get me wrong. I
(17:43):
will accept a trophy, you know, for the Rock and
Roll Hall of Saying, but I am not in competition.
I'm not one of those kind of people. I'm not
in the band to compete with any other bands. This band,
along with all other bands, re entertain the people, and
(18:04):
that's what it's all about, is entertaining the fans, not competing.
That's my personal opinion.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And a reason why they've lasted fifty five years and
are still going Strong. That's War. The song Yes It's Christmas,
Available now, Amazon dot Com or Spotify, all the major platforms.
You can find them on streaming services there. So glad
to be joined by Lonnie Jordan, the lead vocalist, keyboardist,
original member of War, founding member of the group, and
Jerry Goldstein, the magic behind the scenes he conceived of
(18:31):
the group, longtime manager and producer. Gentlemen, thank you so
much for joining us here on Ryan Shulding Live.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Thank you Shanks, and Happy Holidays.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, all of the above. War,
Yes It's Christmas.
Chris.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yes, it's Christmas and that's not just a statement. That's
the name of the song. Back here on Ryan Schuling
Live and the sounds that you're hearing are from War,
that's right, the all time great group and I'll talk
about this in a moment. They should be in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in my opinion, and
joining us now one of the founding members. He is
also the lead vocalist and keyboardist Lonnie Jordan, a legend
(00:40):
in his own right, and Jerry Goldstein. He has done
so much in the world of music, including helping conceive
of the band War. He remains their manager and producer
and one that helped shape this song that you just heard,
and they both joined me now. Lonnie, Jerry, thank you
so much for your time. You Jerry, I'm going to
start with you and where this all began, for War,
(01:03):
for you, for Lonnie, and if you could take us
back to that point in time and what was the
magic that you saw.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Well, it's really they were a jam band from the
beginning and could play any kind of music. I mean
when I first met them, they were doing Latin jazz,
phone you know, blues, R and B. You know, can
you name it? They could play it, and I really
didn't know what to do with you know, I was
(01:30):
kind of scratching my head, going I've got to figure out.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
What to do.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
So we got on a rehearsal studio and they were
and I said, keep working on some stuff. Let me
know when you got something worth listening to. And while
this was going on, Eric Burden showed up in my
office one day. The last group of Animals had disbanded.
He was on his way back to Newcastle and he
didn't really want to do this anymore, and I said,
(01:54):
you know, I got a group that I don't know
what to do with, but you might really like to
work with them because they were really brilliant musicians and
they play anything, you know, and you know, you could
sing anything, so you know this might work. And they
were at the time backing up this football player Deacon Jones,
who is you know, world class, big time football player
(02:16):
from the Rams, and he was singing the Blues and
doing one handed push ups while he was doing it.
And they were rehearsing for a Las Vegas review that
Deacon was going to headline. And they were playing in
a club called the Rag Doll in the valley, and
I told Eric, come on, let's go out to the
rag Doll and see this group tonight.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And he did.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
And Lee Osca, the eventual harmonica player in law, was
living with Eric, you.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Know, staying at his house.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
So then he came down and the group played their
set with Deacon Jones, and then they played a jam
after they started the jam, and Lee got up in
jam with him. And the next day I called Eric
and I asked him, well, what do you think of
the band? He says, we're rehearsing at four o'clock, and
you know, he then fired most of the horn players
and just kept Joles the sax player, and put Lee
(03:06):
as the harmonicas you know, making the horn section, which
I thought was kind of interesting but different. And four
weeks later we did our first gig at Devon should
Downs Pop Festival, starring Jimi Hendricks and everybody, and we
followed Creeden's Clearwater, who was the first Eric Gordon and
War gig, and after that it was just history, and.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
It's history that goes until this day present day, twenty
twenty four, you might recall, and I saw them in
the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade just this year and featuring
this song the voice you heard. Jerry Goldstein, long time
record producer, such great songs that you'll remember, like My
Boyfriend's Back, hang On, Sloopy, I Want Candy. And also
joining us Lonnie Jordan, the frontman for War and he
(03:49):
has been all these years. Lonnie, as Jerry just described,
you have this unique kind of combination. And I'll make
this comparison George Martin and the Beatles. He would bring
them together, he would have a vision for a song,
he would hear them playing and then put it all together.
How did this song come together in that same kind
of formulaic way for you and the band?
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Well, different from the Beatles all though Jerry used to
call us the Black Beatles the day back in the
early days.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
He did, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
The difference with us and George Martin and the Beatles
is the fact that Jerry was a button pusher. If
he didn't push the button while we were jamming for
an hour or two or three, then everything was lost,
forgotten and never to be remembered again. And so that's
basically how we created on music. And then Jerry would
(04:45):
take those long versions of the tape, sit down and
listen to it and do some edits and edit somewhere
in the middle and find something interesting, and then we
would come up with a theme titled for UH for
that particular part. And the next thing, you know, we
(05:06):
start UH the bang, the vocals doing some vocal ideas
and stuff, and just the melody ideas, and just we
just go from there, just keep going, keep jamming. Even
with those ideas, we would just get on the mic
and jamming. We didn't write down much of anything. If
we did, there was a few scribbles here and there
(05:30):
thrown away, people thrown away. But we tried to remember
most of what we wanted to do because it all
came from field. You know. We want to feel it
for real, organically comes. If we read too much of it,
then you could pretty much feel the mechanical, uh, the
(05:53):
technical feel instead of the real organic feel. And that's
that's what we did and we still do it to
this very day.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Lonnie Jordan, the voice you're hearing is the lead vocalist,
the keyboard. It's the front man for Ward has been
all these years. It's so difficult use that word feel, Lonnie.
I want to follow up on that to write a
Christmas song that really pops, that really stands out, and
this has that feel of Christmas with War's unique kind
of take on it. Where did this come from, this
(06:22):
idea for this song.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Well, well, originally it was Summer the song Summer called
His Some, which.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Was a big hit rock seven I think something like that.
I can't remember. It was too long ago. It wasn't yesterday,
I can't remember. But other than that, Jerry, it was
really Jerry's idea after being bugged by the record label
to come out with the Christmas song, and we decided
(07:09):
we did not want to put out Joy to the
World or Silent Night and and and try to create
an up temple beat or something like that. So so
we just said, why don't we take one of our
ancient history songs organically and just take it and remix
(07:30):
it and put the Christmas Well, Jerry wrote the Christmas
lyrics and I redid the vocal and and we put
some little amenities on there, like you know, some Christmas bells,
cupcakes and cakes and candy on there, and and uh
and it was all history after that.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Here we are to.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
The record company and they flipped out and they said, Okay,
let's make.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
A video, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So we made the video and here we are.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yes it's Christmas and you can find it on Spotify,
all the major platforms. And yes It's Christmas. Is the
title War. The group and the two that we're talking
to a dynamic duo. Lonnie Jordan, who you just heard,
the frontman for War, and Jerry Goldstein, the man that
makes things happen behind the scenes. And Jerry, I want
to turn to you. You have such a great picture
of the history of this band, but you really need
(08:25):
to reboot it at one point where Lonnie was the
only remaining original member and then you launch into what
I would call War two point zero and how it's
been able to survive and evolve over all these years.
How did you get through that with Lonnie?
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Are you sure you're not a lawyer? Somebody your words,
somebody your words are scaring me.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
No, it's just not tell the story. That's all.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
It evolved, evolved it It actually evolved itself, and people
came in and out, you know, and and Lennie just
you know, was the constant that was there all the
time and all exa people came in. He would you know,
assimilate them into the band and they'd learn how to
(09:12):
do what they had to do. And you know, I
helped where I could, and it just evolved. It teams
evolving well.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I kept.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
One of the main things is that any new member
that came in the band had to pretty much not think.
Do not come in this band and start thinking. Do
not come in this band and start trying to be
so perfect and professional that you tune up so well
(09:41):
until you make everyone else look bad. Do not do
that stuff. Just come in play like as if you
were just learning how to play your instrument. And yeah,
and let's just jam. Look at the people because they
don't care if you tune up. They know nothing about
tuning up. All they want to do is saying the melodies, move,
(10:06):
dance and just feel good, you know. And we are
a reflection of our fans. And I always say our
fans are our rock and roll Hall of fans, and
they put us here and they can take us out.
And I have high respects for our fans. They are
so important and that's what's kept us here and kept
(10:29):
the fire burning all this time.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
As our fans dating back fifty five years to nineteen
sixty nine, both Lonnie Jordan and Jerry Goldstein joining us
here on Ryan Schuling Live. There'll be touring throughout the
early portion of twenty twenty five. Hopefully at some point
they might come here to Denver, Colorado. We'll keep tabs
on that. But a question that I had for you, Lonnie,
over all these years, I feel that War is a
(10:52):
rock and roll Hall of Fame type band, and you
have songs that have lasted in the American consciousness for
so long. School Kid, Gypsy Man, the World is a
ghetto Spill the Wine. But the two that stand out
to me along with Summer, which has evolved into this song,
Yes it's Christmas Lowrider. Why can't we be friends? I mean,
these are iconic classics. Is there a particular song that
(11:14):
stands out to either one of you as the iconic
definitive song or a favorite of yours that you think
fans should know about?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Uh? Yeah, I would say, uh, Me and Baby Brother
Slipping It in the Darkness.
Speaker 7 (11:38):
Ben in the Darkness, Big.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Build the Wine.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I mean, should I go on?
Speaker 7 (12:17):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Well, I can't remember half of them. Gypsy Man, I
don't think, and look.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
To me Lowrit Lowrider is probably our signature song, you
know all.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
My rings No Rider, let Go Ride.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
At because of how many uses it's been.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And you know that Cheech and Sean came along and
asked us to put it as their feature song, and
Up and Smoke. George Lopez asked to use it as
his theme song in his sitcom which lasted six years
on network television, and you know, the Beastie Boys and
Slow Ride, and you know, it's been one of those
(13:31):
songs that you know, it's it's created an image for lowriders.
I mean, we took the Lowrider pictures and images all
over the world because people bought the record and was
a hit everywhere, but they didn't even know what a
lowrider was, you know, other than how we described them
in the song. And so when we went on the road,
(13:54):
we had the you know, the film with us, and
we showed them a little writers going up and down
and hopping, you know, whatever they do, you know, And
to this day, like in Japan, there is a low
ride of culture and lower right of car club.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
But at the same time that's we're talking about when
we talk about like songs that that I haven't that
I don't think that's made enough noise, uh that I'm
still thinking about now lowriders for the sellers. Now let's
talk about the women, and one of one of my
(14:32):
favorite is a lot of the slower songs like all
day music, you know that I get.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
Is what we like all the.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
And another one is uh, since You've been gone, Baby's
cold outside.
Speaker 7 (15:18):
Des In' mine.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
Till me side?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Why that one song that you don't hear much, you know,
because there was an album cut or deliver the words,
so make.
Speaker 8 (15:37):
It deliver the world, you know.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
So that's for the women's side of us.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
You know, don't forget, Don't let no One get you?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Yeah, and don't let no One.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Get you? Yeah. Songs like that. Those are songs that
a lot of people put in their foul cabinet in
(16:22):
their minds. That is, when things happen, someone is in
prison or someone passed away. You know. These are songs
that I have to hear a lot from a lot
of people who say, well, that was my favorite song,
or that was my uncle's favorite song before he passed away.
Things like that, you know, and that that like it
(16:47):
doesn't put a load on me. It's just it's very heartfelt,
you know, when I hear people tell me that one
of our songs was part of someone's life when they
were alon and now for their siblings or their children,
is now part of their life.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Lonnie. Final question, I know I got to let you
guys go really appreciate your time. You're a very young
seventy six years old. How much longer can you see
yourself doing this? And would entry into the rock and
Roll Hall of Fame mean a lot to you?
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah? Another seventy six years, yeah, I will definitely. It
means it means a lot the rock and Roll Hall
of Fame, But what means more to me is my
rock and roll Hall of fans. They mean more to me.
That's my personal opinion. Now, don't get me wrong. I
(17:43):
will accept a trophy, you know, for the Rock and
Roll Hall of Saying, but I am not in competition.
I'm not one of those kind of people. I'm not
in the band to compete with any other bands. This band,
along with all other bands, re entertain the people, and
(18:04):
that's what it's all about, is entertaining the fans, not competing.
That's my personal opinion.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And a reason why they've lasted fifty five years and
are still going Strong. That's War. The song Yes It's Christmas,
Available now, Amazon dot Com or Spotify, all the major platforms.
You can find them on streaming services there. So glad
to be joined by Lonnie Jordan, the lead vocalist, keyboardist,
original member of War, founding member of the group, and
Jerry Goldstein, the magic behind the scenes he conceived of
(18:31):
the group, longtime manager and producer. Gentlemen, thank you so
much for joining us here on Ryan Shulding Live.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Thank you Shanks, and Happy Holidays.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, all of the above. War,
Yes It's Christmas.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.