ZZ Top, ‘La Grange’ – Butch’s Way Back Wednesday

As a music fan there is always something new and great, but there really is something special about the songs you grew up listening to. For me, that was 70′s and 80′s classic rock. If I am in a shi**y mood, I throw in a little Zeppelin or Rush and take a trip back to rolling in my mom’s T-Bird. Now every Wednesday you get to take that trip with me. It’s Way Back Wednesday with Butch, and today’s feature is a song we first heard this month exactly 40 years ago… ZZ Top’s, “La Grange.”

“La Grange” is from the bands third album Tres Hombres, released in July of 1973. One of their most successful songs, it was released in 1973 and received extensive radio play, rising to number 41 in the Billboard Pop Singles list in 1974. This was ZZ Top's biggest hit at the time. They were big in Texas, but it would be a few years before they became nationally known.

The song refers to a bordello on the outskirts of La Grange, Texas (later called 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 92nd of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The song is also ranked number 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."

Now take a trip back 40 years to 1973 with us here...