Down to Zero

"Down to Zero" is a 1976 song by British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading. It features pedal steel guitar by B. J. Cole and drums by Kenney Jones of the Faces.

History

The song first appeared on Armatrading's 1976 album Joan Armatrading, which was produced and engineered by Glyn Johns and recorded at the independent Olympic Studios in Barnes, London. It was the first song to be recorded for the album. "Down To Zero" was released as a single, also in 1976, by A&M ("Down to Zero/Like Fire" – AMS 7270), and followed the success of the single "Love and Affection" which had been released in August 1976.

In his review of the album on AllMusic, Dave Connolly cites "Down to Zero" as "[one of] the album's most memorable tracks". Women's music writer Lucy O'Brien described the song as "a full-tilt rollercoaster ... a masterly analysis of rejection." Critic Wilfrid Mellers, in his book Angels of the Night, praised the song's "jazz intensity", achieved he says, through its "triplet cross-rhythms".