Origins of La Grange 🤘🎸🔥
“La Grange,” 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. 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.
Many people in Texas knew about it, but when the song was released it drew so much attention to the illegal activities going on there that they had to cease operations. In a 1985 interview with Spin magazine, ZZ Top bass player Dusty Hill explained: "Did you ever see the movie, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas? That's what it's about. I went there when I was 13.
The music is based on a John Lee Hooker song called "Boogie Chillen." Hooker died in 2001 at age 83.
Billy Gibbons explained how he got his guitar sound on this track in a 1995 interview with Guitar World. Said Gibbons:
"That is straight guitar into amp, a 1955 Strat with a stop-tailpiece through a 1969 Marshall Super Lead 100. That fuzz sound in the lead and in the front and back end of the composition is just pure tube distortion. Pickup-setting differentials account for the different tones. The opening part was played on what we used to call 'the mystery setting' in the dark days before the existence of the five-way toggle switch, when finding that perfect 'tweener required dedication."
ZZ Top performing 'La Grange' live from Gruene Hall.
