Boz Scaggs · 1976 · Behind the Songs
“We’re All Alone” (1976) is the ballad heart of Silk Degrees.
“We’re All Alone” (1976) is the ballad heart of Silk Degrees. Written by Scaggs, it appeared on the 1976 album, and Scaggs’s version was also issued as a B-side and as an Australian single that year. Where “Lowdown” is cool and “Lido Shuffle” is restless, this song is still, tender, and focused entirely on intimacy.
The arrangement is spare by Silk Degrees standards. A gentle piano and soft rhythm leave room for Scaggs’s voice, which stays close and unforced. The song does not build to a big climax; instead, it holds a quiet mood from start to finish, letting the melody and the feeling of closeness carry the track. That restraint is what makes it memorable — it trusts the listener to stay with a slow song.
In Scaggs’s career, “We’re All Alone” proved that his Silk Degrees persona included vulnerability as well as coolness. It also became a song other singers would record, a sign that Scaggs’s writing could stand apart from his own performance. For listeners, it remains the most inward-looking track of his breakthrough period.