Tush (ZZ Top song)

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1975 single by ZZ Top

"Tush"

Single by ZZ Top
from the album  Fandango!
B-side| "Blue Jean Blues"
Released| July 1975
Recorded| December 30, 1974 - March 23, 1975
Genre|

* Hard rock[1]
* blues rock[2]
* boogie rock[3]
* Southern rock[3]

Length| 2:15
Label| London
Songwriter(s)|

* Billy Gibbons
* Dusty Hill
* Frank Beard

Producer(s)| Bill Ham
ZZ Top singles chronology
| "La Grange"
(1973)  | "Tush"
(1975)  | "It's Only Love"
(1976)

|
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Audio sample

* file
* help

"Tush" is a song by American blues rock band ZZ Top and was the only single from their fourth album Fandango! The song was named the 67th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.[4]

## Composition

[edit]

The song is a twelve-bar blues in the key of G in standard tuning. Bassist Dusty Hill has said the song was written at a sound check in about ten minutes. The recording was produced by Bill Ham and recorded and mixed by Terry Manning. The title is a double entendre, referring both to slang for buttocks (with the connotation of "a piece of ass"), and slang for "luxurious" or "lavish", according to a 1985 interview with Hill in Spin magazine.[5][better source needed]

Billy Gibbons said, "We were in Florence, Alabama, playing in a rodeo arena with a dirt floor. We decided to play a bit in the afternoon. I hit that opening lick, and Dave Blayney, our lighting director, gave us the hand [twirls a finger in the air]: 'Keep it going.' I leaned over to Dusty and said, 'Call it 'Tush.'

"The Texas singer Roy Head had a flip side in 1966, 'Tush Hog.' Down South, the word meant deluxe, plush. And a tush hog was very deluxe. We had the riff going, Dusty fell in with the vocal, and we wrote it in three minutes. We had the advantage of that dual meaning of the word 'tush' [grins]. It's that secret blues language — saying it without saying it."[6]

## Reception

[edit]

Cash Box said that it has "some slide lead guitar work that'll have 'em bumpin' their 'tushes' from Dallas to L.A." and called the song "super summer dance rock and roll."[7] Record World said the song "comes in a tight little hard rock package, just waiting to be let loose to boogie, boogie, boogie!"[1]

## Hill's death

[edit]

As the closing song in their setlists for many tours "Tush" would be the last song Hill would sing. After the death of Hill in 2021, the band performed the song for the first time on July 30, 2021, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with Gibbons placing Dusty's hat on his microphone then Gibbons taking lead vocals to the song. A few tour dates later on August 6, Gibbons told the crowd “We’re going to have Dusty singing through the magic of Memorex.” The band would now end their concerts by playing the song along to an audio vocal recording from Hill's last performance.[8]

## Chart performance

[edit]

"Tush" peaked at number twenty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.[9] In Chicago, "Tush" peaked at number five on WLS.[10]

Chart (1975)  | Peak
position

|

Australia (Kent Music Report)  | 87
Canada RPM Top Singles[11] | 14
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[9] | 20
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[12] | 12

## Year-end Chart

[edit]

Chart (1975)  | Position

|

Canada Top Singles (RPM)[13] | 126

## Personnel

[edit]

* Billy Gibbons - guitar
* Dusty Hill - bass guitar, vocals
* Frank Beard - drums

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. July 12, 1975. p. 1. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
2. ^ "Ten Great Blues-Rock Songs by Guitar Rockers". Guitar Player. December 16, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
3. ^ a b Matos, Michaelangelo (December 8, 2020). "Radio City Music Hall, New York City: September 14, 1984". Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year. Hachette Books. p. 261\. ISBN 978-0-306-90337-3.
4. ^ "Vh1 Top 100 Hard Rock Songs". Music.Spreadit.org. January 1, 2009. Archived from the original on February 12, 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
5. ^ "Tush by ZZ Top Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
6. ^ Fricke, David (November 10, 2015). "Billy Gibbons: My Life in 15 Songs". Rolling Stone.
7. ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. July 12, 1975. p. 23. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
8. ^ Skipworth, William (August 9, 2021). "ZZ Top wows crowd at Town & Country Fair". emissourian.com.
9. ^ a b Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004
10. ^ "WLS MUSICRADIO SURVEY - SEPTEMBER 13, 1975 VOL. 15, NO. 49". Oldiesloon.com. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
11. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. September 13, 1975. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
12. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles" (PDF). Cash Box. Vol. 37, no. 16\. September 6, 1975. p. 4.
13. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 4057b." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.

## External links

[edit]

* ZZ Top - Tush on YouTube

* v
* t
* e

ZZ Top

* Billy Gibbons
* Frank Beard
* Elwood Francis

* Lanier Greig
* Dan Mitchell
* Billy Ethridge
* Dusty Hill

Studio albums|

* ZZ Top's First Album
* Rio Grande Mud
* Tres Hombres
* Fandango!
* Tejas
* Degüello
* El Loco
* Eliminator
* Afterburner
* Recycler
* Antenna
* Rhythmeen
* XXX
* Mescalero
* La Futura

Compilations|

* The Best of ZZ Top
* Greatest Hits
* One Foot in the Blues
* Rancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top

Live albums|

* Live from Texas

Box sets|

* The Six Pack
* Chrome, Smoke & BBQ

Singles|

* "Francine"
* "La Grange"
* "Tush"
* "It's Only Love"
* "Arrested for Driving While Blind"
* "I Thank You"
* "Cheap Sunglasses"
* "Leila"
* "Tube Snake Boogie"
* "Gimme All Your Lovin'"
* "Sharp Dressed Man"
* "TV Dinners"
* "Legs"
* "Sleeping Bag"
* "Stages"
* "Velcro Fly"
* "Rough Boy"
* "Doubleback"
* "My Head's in Mississippi"
* "Viva Las Vegas"
* "Pincushion"
* "She's Just Killing Me"
* "What's Up with That"

Other songs|

* "Waitin' for the Bus"
* "Jesus Just Left Chicago"
* "Master of Sparks"
* "Pearl Necklace"
* "Got Me Under Pressure"

Video albums|

* Greatest Hits
* Live from Texas
* Live at Montreux 2013

Tours|

* Worldwide Texas Tour
* Recycler Tour
* XXX Tour
* Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers Tour
* Whack Attack Tour
* Hollywood Blues Tour
* El Camino Ocho Tour
* 2010 World Tour
* Gang of Outlaws Tour
* Tonnage Tour

Related articles|

* Discography
* Super Bowl XXXI halftime show
* CadZZilla
* Bill Ham
* Moving Sidewalks
* American Blues
* Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top
* ZZ Top: A Tribute from Friends

* Category

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz work

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