# "Down stairs at Danny's All Star Joint **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-stairs-at-dannys-all-star-joint/489712 "2009-03-17T02:25:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-stairs-at-dannys-all-star-joint/489712/1 "2009-03-17T02:25:40Z")
They got a juke box that goes [doyt doyt](http://www.rickieleejones.com/lyrics/rljdannysallstar.htm)." Is this song anything other than authentic frontier gibberish? > [@Rickie Lee Jones](#): > > He knows all the under-riders on the boulevard > They got to barefoot cruise when it’s forty-weight hard I mean really. :rolleyes: Can someone help me out with this? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-stairs-at-dannys-all-star-joint/489712/2 "2009-03-17T02:59:39Z")
Don’t look at me. (well, he was looking my way) 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-stairs-at-dannys-all-star-joint/489712/3 "2009-03-17T05:37:29Z")
Tom Waits knows. (“walking Spanish down the hall.”) Ooooh, wait a minute – “under-riders” would be prostitutes, right? Pun on “underwriters.” Now, “bareback” is sex without a condom; “barefoot cruise” could be a variation thereof. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-stairs-at-dannys-all-star-joint/489712/4 "2009-03-17T07:15:35Z")
“[Danny’s All-Stair Joint](http://www.rickieleejones.com/lyrics/rljdannysallstar.htm)” was written in the '70s before the AIDS-era concept, or the term, “bareback sex” existed. So “barefoot cruise” does not refer to that. My guess is that “under-riders” does refer to prostitutes (they work _under_ their customers), and is a pun on the “[low-rider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowrider)” cars that also cruise the boulevards. “Forty-weight” is a viscosity grade of engine oil, a thicker than average oil good at high temperatures. Without getting into the technicalities of oil grades, by “forty-weight hard” I think Ricky Lee means “when it’s hot out”. Rickie Lee Jones, like Bruce Springsteen, enjoys using automotive metaphors in lyrics. See also “[The Last Chance Texaco](http://www.rickieleejones.com/lyrics/rljlastchtexaco.htm)”. ---
**Author:** ![dune50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@dune50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dune50)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-stairs-at-dannys-all-star-joint/489712/5 "2018-07-07T01:07:25Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > “[Danny’s All-Stair Joint](http://www.rickieleejones.com/lyrics/rljdannysallstar.htm)” was written in the '70s before the AIDS-era concept, or the term, “bareback sex” existed. So “barefoot cruise” does not refer to that. > > My guess is that “under-riders” does refer to prostitutes (they work _under_ their customers), and is a pun on the “[low-rider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowrider)” cars that also cruise the boulevards. “Forty-weight” is a viscosity grade of engine oil, a thicker than average oil good at high temperatures. Without getting into the technicalities of oil grades, by “forty-weight hard” I think Ricky Lee means “when it’s hot out”. > > Rickie Lee Jones, like Bruce Springsteen, enjoys using automotive metaphors in lyrics. See also “[The Last Chance Texaco](http://www.rickieleejones.com/lyrics/rljlastchtexaco.htm)”. Actually Bareback came into use in the 60s and according to wiki refers to sex between two men usually. The 40 weight hard could mean that they take their sex where they can find it. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-stairs-at-dannys-all-star-joint/489712/6 "2018-07-07T01:47:22Z")
for OGs sake…post a freaking link to the original song if you wanna talk about it!!! All star Danny...aka LtD...aka tsfr ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-stairs-at-dannys-all-star-joint/489712/7 "2018-07-07T02:59:14Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Tom Waits knows. (“walking Spanish down the hall.”) . . . I’m pretty sure Waits’ song is about a prisoner walking down the hallway to his execution. Not sure of the relevance here.