What Can I Say? by Boz Scaggs

Album: Silk Degrees (1976)

Charted: 10 42

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Songfacts®:

Boz Scaggs wrote this with David Paich, who played keyboard on Silk Degrees and later became a key member of Toto. The song is about a guy who is trying to convince a girl to give him a chance. He comes off a little desperate, but lust does that to people.

The song was the third single from the album, which was Scaggs' breakthrough.

Comments: 6

Melinda from AustraliaKevin from Reading.

Love that song, ‘ It’s Over ‘. Wonder why it isn’t here.
What’s also impressive about Boz Scaggs is when he performed. He had a full orchestra.
Don’t know if he always insisted on that.
But a lot of his music seemed to require it.

Love the catch phrases he used in his songs too.
Scott from Palm Desert, agree.
The line ‘stop making like a little school girl’ was a classic.
That’s the sort of thing a guy could say to you back then.
Especially if you were trying to play hard to get. Flirting. But not responding in a mature way.
Boz Scaggs sung about ‘game players’ a lot. And fairness in relationships.
I think he wrote music for grown up relationships.
And everyone got it.
That’s why he was successful.
Mike from Liverpool EnglandAs a radio presenter and producer, Boz songs from Silk Degrees are often asked for.
Melinda from AustraliaLove this song. The ultimate 70’s song. Almost every song off Silk Degrees Album is a classic of that era. Shame they don’t have his Silk Degrees song Georgia on this site. That song is really good. I always wondered if it was written about a particular girl. I think it was.

But the subject of Georgia seems from the lyrics to be about a real young girl and he’s gone to jail for sleeping with her. Either way like all Boz Scaggs songs ..it’s a brutally honest male description of relationships. I tend to think thats what we loved about his music. And melody.

They were gritty but sophisticated stories of the struggle of sex, losing girls, reminiscing, livin on the edge, girls playin hard to get, as in ‘What Can I Say’. Yes, the world took a long time to find the American Boz Scaggs. But when we did, it was a revelation. Silk Degrees sold big in Australia. And the UK.
Sara from Silver Spring, MdI think the song you're talking about that Rita Coolidge recorded is "We're All Alone".
Kevin from Reading , PaScaggs was hot for a couple years before dropping away from the scene. All of his well-known songs are on either Silk Degrees or the follow-up. My favorite of them all is "It's Over," a great song but only a minor hit from "Silk Degrees."
Scott from Palm Desert, CaAlthough it was't a big hit this is my favorite Boz Scaggs song. Love it when he sings "Stop making like a little School girl".

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