![]() ![]() Tush is slang for both the buttocks, and luxurious or lavish. The genius of the lyrics is the double entrendre. One of the flip-side songs was “Tush.” Pronounced so that it rhymes with rush, the lyric was often misheard as touch. In 1975, ZZ Top released the album Fandago! Side-A had various live tracks, while the B-side had new studio material. From the 1973 album Tres Hombres, “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” segues seamlessly from the albums opening track, “Waitin’ For the Bus.” Gibbons never forgot it, and turned it into a Robert Johnson influenced 12-bar blues number. Known as R&B Jr., and famous among friends for his colloquialisms, he blurted out the phrase during a phone conversation. “Jesus Just Left Chicago” can be attributed to a teenage friend of Gibbons. It not only inspired the 1973 ZZ Top hit, but also the Broadway and film adaptations of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. A simple farmhouse with no signs advertising its purpose, the Chicken Ranch ran with the knowledge, if not the blessing, of local politicians and law enforcement. “La Grange,” for example, is a little ditty about a “shack outside La Grange.” Mostly known as the Chicken Ranch, it was a Texas brothel open from 1905 to 1973. Combining a mix of humor, storytelling, and Texanisms, he paints a vivid portrait of places, people, and events that would otherwise fly under the radar of the populace. ZZ Top’s main lyricist is guitar-wielding vocalist Billy Gibbons. Their early hit song, “ La Grange,” drew worldwide attention to the town of La Grange, Texas. Or more to the point, one of La Grange’s attractions. ![]() That little ol’ band from Texas, ZZ Top, are well known for their humorous lyrics. In the least, it has a very deconstructive bent.ZZ Top at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas 2015. And when the song is played live, the second verse about water & wine is always replaced with, "Took a trip down through _ / He'll sure make you feel fine." Hardly a religious sentiment. The third stanza, "You might not see him in person /But he'll see you just the same /You don't have to worry /'Cause takin' care of business is his name." is not a way any bluesman ever referred to ol' J.C. In the early 1900s, many of the narcotics used in the South came from up North. Willie from Scottsdale, AzI have read the song is more about drug dealers than spirituality.The line about "the forests and the pines" in CA always seemed cryptic, but it may refer to Humboldt or Mendocino Counties. The title character's name may be better pronounced Hey-Zeus. Jim from Pleasant Hill, CaWillie, as much as I'm weary of songs about drugs and other vices, that analysis makes more sense than some quirky angle on religion.Who's more honest and hardworking than the Lord? ZZ Top talk many times of honest, hardworking folk in their songs. to get himself some comfort? R&R? BBQ? Though he keeps working at each point in between. I like to think that Jesus left Chicago full of blues and headed down to N.O. New Orleans is a city of recreation and sin, it's also home to a lesser known kind of blues.īoth of these before Blagojevich and Katrina, of course. J from Lx, PortugalChicago is home to a special kind of blues.Jim from ChicagoThe song was about radio waves coming out of Chicago from WLS. ![]() Demento from TexasThere's more soul in New Orleans, and the "forest and the pines" are as likely a ref to East Texas, not far from New Orleans, as to anywhere in California.There is also a nod to "Aw, take me witcha man, when you go", a Little Walter shout from Waters' seminal "Louisiana Blues". Johnsson from WisconsinJJLC is about Muddy Waters who, as blues listeners know, went down to New Orleans to "get me a mojo hand". ![]()
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