"Low" is a song by American rock band
Cracker
Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to:
Animals
* ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies
* '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker"
Arts and entertainment Films ...
. It appears on their 1993 album, ''
Kerosene Hat''. "Low", a
sleeper hit, reached number 64 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in May 1994. The song's biggest success was on the rock charts, reaching number three on the ''Billboard''
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
chart in November 1993 and number five on the ''Billboard''
Album Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...
chart in March 1994. The music video, directed by Carlos Grasso, portrays Lowery badly losing a boxing match with actress/comedian
Sandra Bernhard
Sandra Bernhard (born June 6, 1955) is an American actress, singer, comedian and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy, where she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures.
She is perhaps b ...
.
Lead singer
David Lowery has said that the band's label made him write a letter to radio stations denying that the song was about drugs, claiming that the repeated phrase "being stoned" was really "being stone." Lowery paraphrased a label executive as telling him, “I don’t believe you and neither will anyone else, but there needs to be deniability and this is what we’re gonna say.”
The song was featured in the film ''
The Perks of Being a Wallflower'' and its accompanying soundtrack in addition to ''
The Wolverine'' and an episode of ''
Hindsight'' and ''
Rectify
''Rectify'' is an American television drama series exploring the life of a man after he is released from prison after nearly 20 years on death row following a wrongful conviction. It was created by Ray McKinnon and is the first original series f ...
''. B-side track "Whole Lotta Trouble" was featured on the soundtrack of the 1995 film ''
Empire Records''.
In 2013, Lowery posted an essay on his Trichordist site focused on "Low" in the era of streaming music. The headline was "My Song Got Played on Pandora 1 Million Times and All I Got Was $16.89, Less Than What I Make From a Single T-Shirt Sale!" The post went viral and continues to be a reference point in the debate over the economics of streaming music.
Track listing
UK CD single
#"Low" – 4:36
#"I Ride My Bike" – 6:32
#"Sunday Train" – 3:42
#"Whole Lotta Trouble" – 2:26
US CD single
#"Low" – 4:35
#"Sunday Train" – 3:42
#"Whole Lotta Trouble" – 2:26
#"I See The Light" – 5:13
#"Steve's Hornpipe" – 2:13
Charts
Cover versions
In 2017,
Lydia Lunch and
Cypress Grove covered the song on their album ''Under the Covers''.
References
{{Authority control
1993 singles
1993 songs
Black-and-white music videos
Cracker (band) songs
Virgin Records singles