Songfacts®:

• This Ratt rocker was the lead single from their second album, Invasion Of Your Privacy. It kept their momentum going from their debut, Out Of The Cellar, which includes the hits "Round And Round" and "Wanted Man." It also became one of their most popular live songs, played at every show.
• The lyrics are a little vague, with Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy addressing a girl he's looking to bed. "The lyrics on that, it could be about anyone calling somebody out, saying, 'Hey, you know you want to lay it down, you know you want to get it on,'" he explained to Songfacts.
• The credits on this one go to four of the five bandmembers: Pearcy, guitarists Robbin Crosby and Warren DeMartini, and bass player Juan Croucier. They wrote it during a break from touring, knowing they needed some songs for their second album.
  
  "It's a Warren-instigated riff," Pearcy explained. "When he brought that riff in, it was all over with. It was just – bam! – strong from the start."
• Unusual for a rock song, there's a bit of whispering in this one when near the end of the song, Pearcy soft speaks the lines:
  
  I know you only want romance
  I'll give you all that I can
• Ratt was big on MTV, especially with their "Round And Round" video that stars comedy legend Milton Berle (the uncle of the band's manager). Their videos typically had skits and storylines with a dollop of puerile humor - the kind MTV's core viewers (teenage boys) loved. The "Lay It Down" video starts with young Stephen Pearcy at his birthday party. Asked to make a wish, he dreams up his present day self as a rock star, getting the grown-up version of the girl he's crushing on at his shindig.
• On Ratt's first album, the cover model is Tawny Kitaen, who was dating Robbin Crosby. She became better known a few years later for appearing in Whitesnake videos. On Invasion Of Your Privacy they used a different babe: Marianne Gravatte, Playboy's Playmate Of The Year in 1983. She's also the girl in the "Lay It Down" video.