Behind the Meaning of “Slow Ride” by Foghat

“Slow Ride” became a massive hit for U.K. rockers Foghat in 1975. Still, their signature hit is a sleazy, sexy rock anthem through and through. It doesn’t take a music scholar to uncover the meaning behind this Foghat hit, but just in case you need help reading between the lines, we uncovered the inspiration behind the track in the band’s own words, below.

Behind the Meaning

Slow ride
Take it easy

I’m in the mood
The rhythm is right
Move to the music
We can roll all night

The lyrics lay out the meaning behind this song in plain language. Singer Dave Peverett begs for his romantic interest to slow things down for a minute—Take it easy—and roll with the rhythm of the music for the night.

“Of course, Slow Ride is about sex,” drummer Roger Earl once said. “All rock’n’roll songs are about sex, aren’t they? It’s either ‘I’ve just done it’ or ‘I’m thinking about doing it’ or ‘Thank you for letting me do it.’ It was inspired by women. We were very popular back then. It was the middle of the ’70s, the band was doing really well and we had more money than sense.”

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New Lineup

“Slow Ride” came at a time when Foghat was experiencing some lineup changes. Bassist Tony Stevens had decided the life of a rockstar wasn’t for him and announced his departure from the group shortly before “Slow Ride” was written.

To replace him in the rhythm section, the band brought in producer Nick Jameson. “Nick Jameson had played bass in his first band, so I said, ‘You want to join a band?” Earl explained. “We drove down to the house that I shared with [guitarist] Rod Price on Long Island, and Slow Ride came from a jam in the basement.”

Unlike the sentiment in the lyrics, “Slow Ride” is played fast and loose. The track is made all the more sex-focused with the sound of a headboard banging in the beginning.

“We played for five or six hours that day,” Earl continued. “If anybody should get something, Nick should, because he wrote the middle-eight and all the bass parts, and said, ‘Go bang at the start, Rog.’ He’s a talented bastard.”

“Slow Ride” changed Foghat’s career immensely. Despite being released at the height of disco, this driving, rock anthem seemed to excite audiences enough to land the band in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100—their highest charting single in the U.S. and back home.

Photo by GAB Archive/Redferns