‘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. ‘Tush’ peaked at number twenty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In Chicago, ‘Tush’ peaked at number five on WLS.
Bassist Dusty Hill has said the song was written at a sound check in about ten minutes. 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. 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."
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." Record World said the song "comes in a tight little hard rock package, just waiting to be let loose to boogie, boogie, boogie!"
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.
Label – London
Songwriters – Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard
Producer – Bill Ham
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]Yeah
[Verse 1]
I been up, I been down
Take my word, my way around
I ain't asking for much
I said, Lord, take me downtown
I'm just looking for some tush
[Verse 2]
I been bad, I been good
Dallas, Texas, Hollywood
I ain't asking for much
I said, Lord, take me downtown
I'm just looking for some tush
Yeah!
[Instrumental Break 0:48-1:28]
[Outro]
Take me back, way back home
Not by myself, not alone
I ain't asking for much
I said, Lord, take me downtown
I'm just looking for some tush