Boz Scaggs -- "Miss Sun" (1981)

Silk Degrees was just a magical album where the merging of Boz Scaggs and the songwriting/musicianship of the rock band Toto shook this obscure blues singer out of anonymity and turned him into the blue-eyes soul boy of the 70's, selling albums by the truckload.

For some reason, with each successive album, he switched collaborators and producers -- first with Down Two Then Left (Michael Omartian) and then Middle Man (David Foster). While both of those albums were vastly underrated yet still very fine, they didn't sell anywhere near the exalted Silk Degrees.

For his first greatest hits album, trying to ensure a single that would put him back on top, he went back to the Toto well -- specifically keyboardist David Paich -- and delivered a smash that sounded less like Silk Degrees and more like, well, Toto with soul.

"Miss Sun" had a funky edge, a groovin' fat synth bass, a smoky B-3 organ, a brief bluesy Wurlitzer electric piano solo, and a spotlight on one of the background singers for the song's lengthy mostly instrumental conclusion. If the song was on Silk Degrees, it probably would have had live electric bass and a dominant string arrangement, but this sounded a little more raw and live. It ramps up a few keys towards the end, almost sounding like the opening build-up of Rufus' "Once You Get Started," synth horns slamming hard.

You can tell the song is Paich-style all the way, if you've listened through to Silk Degrees or early Toto albums -- the clever use of minor chords to transition into different keys in the chorus, and verses that almost sound like they shouldn't work, but they do. What do I mean by that? Paich's chords "strain" to connect, and somehow they do, it's a vibe thing, and that's the best way I can describe it.


Been thinkin' 'bout you all night
Guess you got me in your spell
But I think that I'll be all right
Even if I don't get well

Hey, Miss Sun
What could I say
I tried to hold you
but the moon got in the way
It won't be long before the morning
Has you back in my arms

I can still remember
What you told me with your eyes
One kiss
Now it's down to this
Guess it's time you realize

Hey, Miss Sun
What could I say
I tried to hold you
But the moon got in the way
It won't be long before the morning
Has you back in my arms
Has you back in my arms


Here's Boz and his band performing "Miss Sun" live in 1985 in Japan, a country where he has never lost his great popularity. Notice the smoke coming out of his mouth when he's singing -- perhaps a chilly night?