ZZ Top – Goin’ Down To Mexico

That Lil Ol’ Band from Texas. I loved it when Billy Gibbons had this tone on his guitar. This was pre-Eliminator and his tone was just perfect. They sound loose in this but the music is tight. It’s classic ZZ Top. A buddy of mine had most of their albums and played this one a lot and Fandango.

I saw them on the Eliminator tour and they were fantastic. They had Sammy Hagar opening up for them after he released Three Lock Box. ZZ Top had the best lighting show I’ve ever seen to this day.

This song has the entire band credited. Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard. This song was on their debut album ZZ Top’s First Album released in 1970. That is an easy way of remembering it.

This album isn’t as polished as some of their others, but it previews exactly what sound you would get until Eliminator. ZZ Top was formed in 1969, with Billy Gibbons (guitar and vocals), Dusty Hill (bass), and Frank Beard (drums). Before forming ZZ Top, Billy Gibbons played in various bands, most notably The Moving Sidewalks, which opened for Jimi Hendrix during his 1968 tour.

The album didn’t make a huge splash commercially, but it helped establish the band as a powerful live act. The album was produced by Bill Ham, who became a key figure in shaping ZZ Top’s sound. He would go on to produce their subsequent albums and manage the band for decades. Ham produced or co-produced all of their albums up through 1996’s Rhythmeen as well as being their manager. They parted ways in 2006. He passed away in 2016 at 79.

Going Down to Mexico

I was on my way down to MexicoThere was trouble on the riseIt was nothin’ more than I’d left behindWhich was much to my surpriseI turned around and lit a cigaretteWiped the dust off of my bootsWhen up ahead I saw the crowdI knew it was no use

It’s been the same way for oh so longIt looks like I’m singin’ the same old song

A fine and fancy man was heDoin’ good things for the poorGivin’ rides in his rocket 88 for freeThey could not hope for moreWhen it came my turn, he said to me“Have I seen your face before?”I said, “Oh no, you must be wrongI’m from a distant shore”

So if you don’t mind, I’ll just move alongBut it looks like I’m singin’ the same old song

A 1940 movie starWith a long-forgotten nameShe was a sexy mess in her beaded dressStill hangin’ on to fameWith forgotten lines, she missed her cueAnd left her glass of wine at homeShe was singin’ the same song that I wasCould we both be wrong?

So hand in hand we walked alongEach of us singin’ the same old song

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

28 thoughts on “ZZ Top – Goin’ Down To Mexico”

  2. Thanks for featuring these guys Max! Love me some ‘ZZ Top’…when I got out of the Coast Guard a month later my buddies treated me to their concert at the ISU Minidome in the summer of ’86…Idaho State in Pocatello, Idaho. I’ll never forgotten it, they played all their hits & it was just those 3 (if my memory serves)…they weren’t fake & it was AWESOME! They started out with ‘Under Pressure’ & played it for about 8 minutes…we were jammin’.

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    1. Thanks Carl…Oh yea I loved them live as well. The show was really cool that they put on along with the music. I like putting on one of their albums every now and then….

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      1. Ya’ Max…we loved ’em…those of us older ‘Gen X’rs’…they were one of those groups that went across racial & cultural lines like the Eagles, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Commodores, Steely Dan etc.

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      2. Earth Wind and Fire…the first time I heard of them…I was around 8 or 9 and I saw a poster in Thelma’s room on Good Times…I started to listen and liked them ever since.

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      3. I was 9 when I heard something off of their 1st successful album in ’73…they took off after that. A lot of my friends in Idaho were fans of Earth, Wind & Fire…that was probably the only non rock & roll group that all of them liked.

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  4. back when they probably didn’t even have beards (except Frank the drummer, who ironically never sported one). Kind of set the standard for Texas Blues-rock in the ’70s I think

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    1. Yea I love this sound… I also liked Eliminator…I just didn’t like Eliminator 2, 3, 4, 5… they fell in love with that sound and would not let it go until a lot later.

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    1. Best light show ever…it felt and looked like the stage was shaking and they had a realistic dummy fall out of the lights….it was really cool.

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  9. I’m not super knowledgeable about all of their music, but I know the tried and true. I like this, I must dig deeper into their catalog. I love Billy Gibbons’ attitude. In all of the interviews I’ve ever heard or read with him, he is always so reverential of all the blues masters. I feel that he considers himself the caretaker of the music and traditions of the blues until he’s gone.

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    1. He does seem like he does it for the love of it more than anything. He doesn’t need money at this point. This early stuff is really good. Some only knows of the 80s hits.

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  10. While I can’t deny rotating guitars covered in white fur and that 1933 Ford Eliminator Coupe were fun, I generally prefer the earlier ZZ Top. “Goin’ Down to Mexico” is cool stuff. The one track I remember from their first album I really dig is “Brown Sugar.”

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    1. Gibbons has a great sound in these early recordings… Sorry that I’m late man…I think you know why…One more game.

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