"Slow an' Easy" is a song by the English rock band

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...

from their 1984 album ''

Slide It In ''Slide It In'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Whitesnake, released on 30 January 1984 in Europe by Liberty and EMI Records. To cater to the American market, the album was remixed and resequenced, and subsequently released on 16 ...

'', released at the end of May 1984 in the US. The album provided the group with a commercial breakthrough in the United States, and this specific song, which was released as a promo single, became a hit on rock radio. "Slow an' Easy" and " Love Ain't No Stranger" reached #17 and #34 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''s

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart, respectively.

Background

The song was co-written by singer

David Coverdale David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the founder and lead singer of the hard rock band Whitesnake. Coverdale was also the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976; he has had a solo car ...

and guitarist

Micky Moody Michael Joseph Moody (born 30 August 1950) is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden he founde ...

, who was the only original member, besides Coverdale, left in the band. Moody was possibly the one that influenced the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

y style of "Slow An' Easy"; most of the material on ''Slide It In'' took influence from contemporary glam metal in terms of sound, in contrast to the earlier,

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...

based albums of the band. In 25th Anniversary Edition of ''Slide It In'', Coverdale comments on the songs recording by saying:

''"Slow & Easy was recorded at 4 in the morning in Munich after a serious night's partying...Most of the vocals is just a live 'jam' lyric I made up to inspire the band as we recorded...I played around with the lyric later to try and make some sense of it..."''

Although Moody did co-write and play the song, he soon left the band after the album's release. When guitarist

John Sykes John James Sykes (29 July 1959 – December 2024) was an English guitarist and singer, best known as a member of Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Tygers of Pan Tang. He also fronted the hard rock group Blue Murder and released several solo albums. ...

joined the band, Moody's guitars were replaced by Sykes' (along with

Colin Hodgkinson Colin Hodgkinson (born 14 October 1945, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England) is a British rock, jazz and blues bassist, who has been active since the 1960s. Career Hodgkinson played in several bands, but was even more prolific as a sessio ...

's bass tracks being replaced by Neil Murray's, and

Jon Lord John Douglas "Jon" Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English keyboardist and composer. In 1968, Lord co-founded the hard rock band Deep Purple. Lord performed on most of the band's most popular songs; he and drummer Ian Paice were the only ...

's keyboards by Bill Cuomo). The song also features drumming by

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Graham Bonnet, B ...

. Most of the song features him kicking the bass drum, with some fills thrown in between the verses. A more basic drum beat is only prominent in the chorus and during the guitar solo. A music video was also made for the song, which also helped to expose American audiences to Whitesnake. The music video features the band performing the song on a stage, which is inter-cut with scenes of a car crash and a woman whose necklace is strangling her.

Track list

#Slow an' Easy (LP Version) - 6:08 #Slow an' Easy (Edit) - 4:12

Personnel

UK release

– lead vocals *

– guitars *

Mel Galley Melville John Galley (8 March 1948 – 1 July 2008) was an English guitarist, best known for his work with Whitesnake, Trapeze, Finders Keepers and Phenomena. Biography Galley was born in Cannock, Staffordshire on 8 March 1948. While a membe ...

– guitars, backing vocals *

– bass *

– drums *

– keyboards

US release

* David Coverdale – lead vocals *

– guitars * Mel Galley – guitars, backing vocals * Neil Murray – bass * Cozy Powell – drums * Jon Lord – keyboards

Charts

References

{{Authority control Whitesnake songs 1984 songs Song recordings produced by Martin Birch Songs written by Micky Moody Songs written by David Coverdale British blues rock songs Geffen Records singles