La Grange (song)

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La Grange
ZZ top
publication 1973
length 3:52
Genre (s) Blues rock
Author (s) Dusty Hill , Frank Beard , Billy Gibbons
album Tres Hombres

La Grange is a song by the American blues rock band ZZ Top . The three band members Dusty Hill , Frank Beard and Billy Gibbons wrote the song in 1973 as a tribute to a brothel called Chicken Ranch near the Texas town of La Grange . It was released in July 1973 on the third studio album by ZZ Top Tres Hombres .

Emergence

The recordings for the album Tres Hombres in the Ardent Studios were almost complete, only La Grange was still missing. The musicians disagreed about how to play the song and took some time off. After some recovery in the studio, they recorded the song in just one take . Guitarist Billy Gibbons played the lead guitar on an older Fender Stratocaster model because, in his opinion, its sound best suited the melody of the song.

Music and lyrics

The lyrics of the song are about a brothel outside the city limits of La Grange called Chicken Ranch . The brothel had existed for around 100 years and it was tradition for fathers to go there with their sons so that they could have their first sexual experience. At the time the song was written, the establishment was run by Miss Edna, who was respected by everyone, swearing and the consumption of alcoholic beverages were forbidden. The last line of lyrics of the song is inspired by Buddy Holly's play Peggy Sue Got Married . The song is written in 4/4 time , the music is based on a shuffle in E major . The guitar tracks are divided into a rhythm guitar and a lead guitar, which plays the melody and the solos. The main riff always begins with undistorted guitar playing and is based on the 1948 piece Boogie Chillen ' recorded by John Lee Hooker . The rhythm guitar can be broken down into three independent figures , which are constantly repeated.

Effect and copyright dispute

The song was the band's first top 40 hit and is now one of the band's classics. After the song brought conservative media attention to the brothel, the Texas governor closed the establishment. In 1992 there was a copyright battle between ZZ Top and Bernard Besman, the co-author and rights holder of the song Boogie Chillen ' . Besman alleged that because of the similarity of the melody of the two songs, La Grange is a cover version of Boogie Chillen , demanded a share of the previous income from the song and tried to obtain a court ban on La Grange performance . The court ruled that copyright had already expired under a 1909 law for the song published in 1948, which is why it was in the public domain at the time La Grange was made, and dismissed Besman's lawsuit.

In 2008, the music magazine Rolling Stone chose the song at number 74 on its list of the 100 best guitar songs of all time and wrote that La Grange as a rock standard is comparable to the jazz standard Cherokee . The British music magazine Q chose the song in 2005 at number 92 of its 100 best guitar songs of all time .

literature

  • Frank Albrecht: The 500 best songs of all time. 64th place: ZZ TOP - La Grange . In: Rock Hard . No. 290 , July 2011, p. 78 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Billy F Gibbons, Tom Vickers: Rock and Roll Gearhead . MBI Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7603-2269-4 , pp. 37 .
  2. ↑ a b Jeb Wright: From A to Z: An Interview with ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Classic Rock Revisited, archived from the original on January 3, 2010 ; accessed on June 24, 2011 .
  3. ↑ a b c Frank Albrecht: The 500 best songs of all time. 64th place: ZZ TOP - La Grange. In: Rock Hard. No. 290, July 2011, p. 78.
  4. ↑ a b c Aaron Stang: 21st Century Guitar Song Trax 2 . Alfred Music Publishing, 1994, ISBN 978-0-910957-52-6 , pp. 21 .
  5. ^ Philip Alperson: Musical Worlds: New Directions in the Philosophy of Music . Penn State Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-271-01769-3 , pp. 163 .
  6. ↑ Chris Morris: ZZ Top's 'La Grange' Subject of Copyright Suit . In: Billboard Magazine . June 27, 1992, p. 76 .
  7. ^ Mark J. Davis: Legal Issues in the Music Industry . BuzzGig, 2010, ISBN 978-0-615-33686-2 , pp. 134 f .
  8. ↑ The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone, archived from the original on May 31, 2008 ; accessed on June 24, 2011 .
  9. ↑ Q Magazine - 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever! Rocklist.net, accessed June 24, 2011 .