Download Instrumental    Sometimes you just have to ROCK!  And when you feel that way, break out a ZZ Top tune.  Bring on the distortion guitars, a heavy bass, and pounding drums – then go for it!  And if you can’t sing all that well – doesn’t matter!  It’s all about the beat…. and the guitars.  Too bad no keyboards.  But wait!  This was the first ZZ Top song that used a keyboard synth… so all is not lost.  What you’ve got here is raw, naked  rock’n’roll with a dose of blues thrown in for good measure… and a keyboard!  I’m sold!  I really like breaking this one out on stage.  The crowd recognizes it immediately and hits the dance floor.  You gotta love that!

I encountered ZZ Top in New Orleans in 1971.  I passed an alley on Bourbon Street and heard a blues guitar coming out of the darkness in the back of the alley.  I don’t remember who I was with, but the two of us walked into that dark (and somewhat scary) place – the music drawing us like moths to a flame.  As we neared the end (it was a long alley), the drums and bass kicked in.  Then… there they were – 3 guys under a dim street light playin’ their hearts out.  I noted the odd name of the band printed on a small piece of cardboard in front of the drums – ZZ Top.  I remember thinking, “What a goofy name.  These guys aren’t going anywhere with a name like that, no matter how good they are..”  Wrong again, Dave…. as usual.

I worked for weeks on this arrangement.  It ain’t easy imitating the sound of a distortion guitar on a keyboard, but I came close.  I toiled far into the night in my dingy little studio – half empty bottle of scotch close at hand, bleary-eyed, starving, blue cigar smoke billowing toward the ceiling, wife pounding on the locked door – but I was willing to sacrifice anything to get this song right.  I fell short, but it was a noble undertaking.

Okay…. maybe I’m exaggerating just a little.  It’s what I do.  Do the song!