La Grange

"La Grange"
Single by ZZ Top
from the album Tres Hombres
B-side	"Just Got Paid"
Released	1973
Format	7"
Recorded	Brian Studios Ardent Studios Memphis, Tennessee
Genre	Hard rock, blues-rock
Length	3:51
Label	London
Writer(s)	Billy Gibbons Dusty Hill Frank Beard
Producer	Bill Ham
ZZ Top singles chronology
"Waitin' for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago" (1973) "La Grange" (1973) "Tush" (1975)

"La Grange" is a song by the rock group ZZ Top from their album Tres Hombres, released in 1973. Considered to be almost a "one-chord blues", it is one of their most successful songs. It was released in 1973 and received extensive radio play, rising to #41 in the Billboard Pop Singles list in 1974. The song refers to a bordello on the outskirts of La Grange, Texas (later notoriously known as the "Chicken Ranch"). This brothel is also the subject of the Broadway play and film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the latter starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds.

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "La Grange" at number 92 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.^{[citation needed]}. The song is also ranked number 74 on Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" ^[1]. The song was also included as a playable song in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Billy Gibbons indicated in Guitar World, Guitar Legends, that the lead was played with a 1955 Stratocaster with a stop tailpiece through a Marshall Super Lead 100 with Celestion greenback speakers.

In recent years, when the band played the song in concert, it has become a tradition for them to abruptly stop playing in the middle of it, at which point Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill shout out, "Hell yeah!" before resuming the song.

The initial groove of the song is based on a traditional blues lick also used by John Lee Hooker in his "Boogie Chillen" and Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips."^{[citation needed]}

Appearances and Covers

• The song's main riff is very similar to the earlier song Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum released in 1969.
• The song was licensed for use as the title track in the 1992 pinball machine "The Getaway: High Speed II".
• It has been used in many movies, including: Shanghai Noon, Striptease, Armageddon, Man of the House, The Dukes of Hazzard, Dogtown and Z-Boys, and the trailer for Planet 51. A modified version of the song appears in the 2004 remake of Walking Tall.
• A cover of the song by Junkie XL appears in the Xbox game Forza Motorsport.
• A cover of this song, with an extended solo in the later part of the song (in order to cover up the final fade-out), was used for the music video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and Guitar Hero: On Tour.
• The song has been played multiple times on the G3 tour. One of these performances was recorded on G3: Live in Tokyo, featuring Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and John Petrucci.
• The song is covered by the French artist Renaud Papillon Paravel as well as by Hank Williams Jr.
• The song was covered by Crazy Backwards Alphabet on their lone album.
• Tracy Byrd released a country version of the song in 2002 for the album Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top.
• The song's riff was mashed with Mexican band El Tri's Perro Negro to produce Perro Negro Callejero - a track in Molotov's cover album Con Todo Respeto.
• Professional wrestler David Von Erich and his brother Kerry used this as his theme song in World Class Championship Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling.
• Professional wrestler Barry Windham used an instrumental cover of "La Grange" as his theme music in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions territory and its successor, World Championship Wrestling.
• The band Phish covered it often in their early career, especially the late 80's and 1990, but was almost completely dropped from rotation after 1991, appearing only sparsely throughout their extensive touring schedule.
• In 2009, it was heard in a TV commercial for Samsung widescreen TVs.

Personnel

• Billy Gibbons - guitar, vocals
• Dusty Hill - bass
• Frank Beard - drums

References

1. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527/page/31

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