La Grange (song)

"La Grange"
Single by ZZ Top
from the album Tres Hombres
B-side	"Just Got Paid"
Released	1973
Format	7"
Recorded	Brian Studios and Ardent Studios, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre	Blues rock[1] boogie rock[2]
Length	3:51
Label	London
Writer(s)	Billy Gibbons Dusty Hill Frank Beard
Producer(s)	Bill Ham
ZZ Top singles chronology
"Waitin' for the Bus"/"Jesus Just Left Chicago" (1973) "La Grange" (1973) "Tush" (1975) Music sample "La Grange"

La Grange is a song by the American rock group ZZ Top, from their 1973 album Tres Hombres. One of ZZ Top's most successful songs, it was released as a single in 1973 and received extensive radio play, rising to No. 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. The song refers to a brothel on the outskirts of La Grange, Texas (later called the "Chicken Ranch"). The 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.

The first time ZZ Top played the song in La Grange, Texas was during the Fayette County Fair on September 5, 2015.^[3]

Information

In March 2005, Q magazine placed La Grange at 92nd of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.^[4] The song is also ranked No. 74 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone called the song, "...a standard for guitarists to show off their chops."^[5]

Billy Gibbons played the lead on a 1955 Fender Stratocaster with a stop tailpiece through a Marshall Super Lead 100 amp with Celestion greenback speakers. The song was produced by Bill Ham and mixed by Terry Manning.

The initial groove of the song is based on a traditional boogie blues rhythm used by John Lee Hooker in "Boogie Chillen'" and by Slim Harpo in "Shake Your Hips". A failed lawsuit by the copyright holder of "Boogie Chillen'" resulted in the court ruling that the rhythm was in the public domain.^[6] The line "a-how-how-how-how" is quoted from John Lee Hooker's song "Boom Boom".

Chart performance

Uses

• 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 trailers for Planet 51, The Rundown and Home on the Range. A modified version of the song appears in the 2004 remake of Walking Tall.
• Professional wrestler David Von Erich and his brother Kerry used this as their 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.
• An instrumental of the song is featured in the South Park episode Poor and Stupid (S14E08) in 2010, as Eric Cartman wreaks havoc in a NASCAR Race.
• This song is also featured in the NASCAR The Game: 2011 soundtrack.
• The beginning of song was played by Billy Gibbons in an episode of Bones named Stargazer in a Puddle.
• When Gibbons and Hill hosted an episode of WWE Raw in 2009, they played this song with Santino Marella (who was substituting for the absent Frank Beard).
• The song is in many Wrangler Jeans commercials with athletes including Brett Favre, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
• The song was in an IMAX movie about NASCAR in 2003.
• This song was also used in two episodes of a German TV Series, Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei.
• The song played at the start of The Blacklist season 2 premiere.

Covers

• The song has been covered by Australian rock band The Angels as a B-Side to their 2015 commemorative re-release of the hit single Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again with the guitar solos completely replaced by harmonica solos from guitarist John Brewster.
• The Mexican rock band El Tri sampled La Grange in the song El Muchacho Chicho, in their 1997 album Cuando Tú No Estás.
• Black Oak Arkansas performs a cover of the song in the album Lynyrd Skynyrd Family & Southern Classics.
• A cover of the song by Junkie XL appears in the Xbox game Forza Motorsport.
• A cover of this song, with an edited 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 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.
• D.O.A. recorded a cover of the song for their 2002 EP Play It Over and Over Again. The liner notes included a comment from lead singer/guitarist Joey "Shithead" Keithley lamenting his inability to find the brothel that inspired the song when D.O.A. were touring through Texas.
• Tracy Byrd released a country version of the song in 2002 for the album Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top.
• The band Phish covered it often in their early career, especially the late 1980s and 1990, but was almost completely dropped from rotation after 1991, appearing only sparsely throughout their extensive touring schedule. It was played for the first time since September 22, 1999 on July 8, 2012 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York as the first-set closer.
• Blues Traveler has covered the song regularly in their live performances since 2013. It is the only song in Blues Traveler's repertoire with lead vocals not handled by frontman John Popper. Keyboardist Ben Wilson handles vocals instead.
• The song was covered by Molotov on their album Con Todo Respeto (Spanish for "with all due respect"), where they changed the lyrics.
• The song was covered live by Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and John Petrucci on the G3: Live in Tokyo concert DVD.

Personnel

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

References

Municipalities and communities of Fayette County, Texas, United States
County seat: La Grange
Cities	Carmine Fayetteville La Grange Schulenburg
Towns	Flatonia Muldoon Round Top
Unincorporated communities	Ammannsville Cistern Dubina Ellinger Engle Freyburg High Hill Holman Hostyn Kirtley Ledbetter Mullins Prairie Nechanitz O'Quinn Oldenburg Park Plum Praha Rabbs Prairie Rek Hill Roznov Rutersville Swiss Alp Waldeck Walhalla Warda Warrenton West Point Willow Springs Winchester Winedale
Ghost Towns	Black Jack Springs Bluff Gay Hill Stella