This was probably first discussed sometime in the 1970s, but it’s new to me…
The two songs in the OP are virtually identical. Same rhythm, same harmony, same ticky-ticky drumbeat on the rims.
Did ZZTop steal it from the Stones? Or are they both based on some prior source – having something to do with Slim Harpo?
Slim Harpo’s version appears to have come out in 1970. The Stones did it in 1972. “La Grange” came out in 1973.
I would venture that, if anything, Frank Beard heard both versions and was “inspired” to write “La Grange”
Seems to me that John Lee Hooker is your man; his 1949 tune Boogie Chillen’ is a probable antecedent of La Grange.
See here, for example.
Shake ya hips
Watch yaself
Shake ya hips
Show us whatcha workin with
Clearly the Stones were listening to rap when they wrote their song.
Interesting to see on the link that John Lee Hooker & Canned Heat worked together, since the two songs in the OP also both sound like Canned Heat’s Fried Hockey Boogie. I think there’s a general Boogie thing going on here (but it’s more than that – Shake Your Hips and La Grange are really, really similar.)
Surely the Stones themselves credited “Shake Your Hips” to Slim Harpo, didn’t they? Or is this a case, like “Love In Vain” and “Prodigal Son,” where some copies of the record credit the original source and others don’t? I’ll have to check my LP and CD when I get home.
Yep, “James Moore aka Slim Harpo” is credited on both the Exile LP and CD.
OK, let’s consolidate what we’ve learned:
John Lee Hooker invents Boogie.
JLH influences/inspires Slim Harpo (and Canned Heat, tangentially.)
Stones cover Slim Harpo, giving him credit.
ZZ Top rips off Stones and/or Slim Harpo.
Should’ve done this sooner: looks like someone else in the past noticed a similarity between La Grange and Boogie Chillen – lawsuit
Followed a dozen years later with 3 ex-Yardbirds (Dreja, Samwell-Smith & McCarty) trying to revive & update that boogie lick on Back Where I Started from their self-entitiled debut album, Box Of Frogs