Got Me Under Pressure Waitin' For The Bus Jesus Just Left Chicago My Head's In Mississippi

Got Me Under Pressure Album: Eliminator (1983)
Waitin' For The Bus Album: Tres Hombres (1973)
Jesus Just Left Chicago Album: Tres Hombres (1973)
My Head's In Mississippi Album: Recycler (1990)
Thank You Album: Degüello (1979)
by ZZ Top

In a 1985 interview with Spin magazine, ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons explained: "Everybody asks if 'Under Pressure' was about a girlfriend of mine. And if not, whose was it? Well, fortunately that kind of pressure we're not under. Maybe it's just because we got out of town on time. I just don't know."

Got Me Under Pressure was used in a 2008 Pennzoil commercial.

An early ZZ Top track, Waitin' For The Bus kicks off the album Tres Hombres. For years, radio stations played it along with the following track, "Jesus Just Left Chicago," keeping the natural segue on the album. This was an early casualty of automated corporate radio, as stations now rarely let one song flow into another like they do on the album.

In a 1985 interview with Spin magazine, ZZ Top bass player Dusty Hill said: "I've always liked that song [Waitin' For The Bus]. It's a working man's song. It's been a couple of years, but I went to Austin from Houston and I decided, hell, I'll ride the bus. I hadn't done it in a long time. And you can meet some very unique people on a bus and in a bus station. I like to people watch. I love bus stations and train stations. The thing about a bus is who you have to sit beside. If the guy's got good wine, it's OK."

Also alluded to as "Jesus Done Left Chicago," this track follows on from "Waitin' for the Bus" on the Tres Hombres album which is why radio stations often play the songs together. On the album, there is not a "break" between songs.

In an interview with Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited, lead guitarist Billy Gibbons explained: "The two songs ["Waitin' For The Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago"] were written separately during sessions that were not too far apart. We were in the process of compiling the tracks for the album Tres Hombres, and that segue was a fortunate miscalculation by the engineer. He had been attempting to splice out some blank tape, and the result is that the two come off as a single work. It just seemed to work."

The Deep South is noted for its Christian roots, and in spite of the hostile reception rock 'n' roll received from the Bible Belt when it first reared its head, many contemporary musicians began their musical careers in or around the church. The most famous white rock 'n' roller from the Deep South to combine the two was of course Elvis Presley, who recorded the odd religious song.

Although "Jesus Just Left Chicago" isn't exactly a hymn, it does have a spiritual dimension, and is written more in the style of Black Christian music, adhering to a strict blues format. And Gibbons is actually known as Reverend Billy Gibbons!

According to Billy Gibbons, he got the idea for Jesus Just Left Chicago when he was a teenager. He was talking on the phone to a friend who was known as "R&B Jr," who had lots of strange sayings in his lexicon. One day Billy was talking to him on the phone when he blurted out, "Jesus Just Left Chicago!"

Talking about Jesus Just Left Chicago with Rolling Stone, Gibbons explained: "We took what could have been an easy 12-bar blues and made it more interesting by adding those odd extra measures. It's the same chords as "La Grange" with the Robert Johnson lick, but weirder. Robert Johnson was country blues - not that shiny hot-rod electric stuff. But there was a magnetic appeal: 'What can we take and interpret in some way?'"

"My Head's In Mississippi" is a song by ZZ Top from their album Recycler. The song was produced by band manager Bill Ham, and recorded and mixed by Terry Manning. In December 1990, the song reached number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and number 166 in Australia.

In 2015, Gibbons said of My Head's In Mississippi "My buddy Walter Baldwin spoke in the most poetic way. Every sentence was a visual awakening. His dad was the editor of the Houston Post. We grew up in a neighborhood where the last thing you would say is, 'These teenagers know what blues is.' But our appreciation dragged us in. Years later, we were sitting in a tavern in Memphis called Sleep Out Louie's — you could see the Mississippi River. Walter said, 'We didn't grow up pickin' cotton. We weren't field hands in Mississippi. But my head's there.' Our platform, in ZZ Top, was we'd be the Salvador Dalí of the Delta. It was a surrealist take. This song was not a big radio hit. But we still play it live, even if it's just the opening bit."

In 2008, Gibbons stated, "'My Head’s in Mississippi,' which was one of the first completed tracks on the album, is a great example of how we mixed the new with the old. Initially, it was a straight-ahead boogie-woogie. Then Frank stepped in and threw in those highly gated electronic drum fills, which modernized the track."

My Head's In Mississippi showcases the renewed blues influence on Recycler. Its style has been described as "guitar-driven electric boogie blues". The song was very popular with ZZ Top fans and topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, though none of the singles made it to the Top 40.

"I Thank You" is a song written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes originally recorded by Sam & Dave, released in early 1968. The single was Sam & Dave's final release on Stax Records, reaching No. 9 on the Billboard Pop singles chart and No. 4 on the R&B chart.[2] Shortly after its release, Stax severed its distribution deal with Atlantic Records and Sam & Dave, who were actually signed to Atlantic and loaned out to Stax, began recording for Atlantic proper. The song begins with Sam's spoken introduction that goes: "I want everybody to get off your seat,/ And get your arms together,/ And your hands together,/ And give me some of that old soul clapping". First, Sam sings the refrain, plus the first verse, and the refrain, while Dave sings the second verse, the refrain, and the third verse, with both Sam and Dave sharing on the repeated "Thank Yous" portion. Following a brief instrumental, Sam sings the refrain, with Dave, joining him, on the Coda with the repeated "thank yous".

ZZ Top covered the song on their 1979 album Degüello. The band released the song as a single the next year, and it reached No. 34 on the singles chart, becoming the band's second top 40 hit (after "Tush", four years earlier).

other covers of I Thank You include
Bonnie Raitt covered the song on her album The Glow in 1979.
Phil Vassar released a country version of the song in 2002 for the album Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top.
John Farnham also released a cover on his album 33⅓.
Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra commonly played this song between commercial breaks on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Australian band The Casanovas recorded a version for their second album All Night Long. It is generally considered to be in recognition of former Australian act The Powder Monkeys who used to regularly play the song live and were a significant influence on the group.
In April 2009 Tower of Power released Great American Soulbook featuring personal favorite cover songs of the band. Blending soul, funk, jazz, Tower of Power funkified each tune including their version of "I Thank You". Sam Moore sang on "Mr. Pitiful" while Tom Jones guested on "I Thank You".
Bon Jovi covered the song which appeared on a special 2-disc version of their album These Days.
Classic rock singer Paul Rodgers included his version of the song on his 2014 cover album of soul classics The Royal Sessions.
Robert Randolph and the Family Band cover the song on the 2017 album Got Soul with the help of Cory Henry.
Tom Jones covered the song in 1970 on his album Tom.
The European candy company Storck has used the song in American television advertisements for their Merci chocolates, with the lyrics being paraphrased to convey the singer giving thanks to the recipient of the candy for various things they had done.
The song features in the 2017 film A Dog's Purpose.
Sam Moore's spoken introduction is adapted by the British ska band Symarip in the introduction to their 1970 hit single "Skinhead Moonstomp".
A version of the song appears on The Commitments, Vol. 2: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack performed by the film's eponymous band.
Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys performed the song live on several occasions during his solo performances.