Tube Snake Boogie

Album: El Loco (1981)
Play Video
  • I got a girl she lives cross town
    She's the one that really gets down when she boogie
    She do the tube snake boogie
    Well now, boogie, little baby
    Boogie-woogie all night long

    I got a gal, she lives on the block
    She kinda funky with her pink and black socks, she likes to boogie
    She do the tube snake boogie
    Well now, boogie-woogie baby
    Boogie-woogie all night long

    I got a girl, she lives on the hill
    She won't do it but her sister will when she boogie
    She do the tube snake boogie
    Well now, boogie, little baby
    Boogie-woogie all night long
    Blow your top, blow your top, blow your top! Writer/s: BILLY GIBBONS, DUSTY HILL, FRANK BEARD
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 8

  • Owen from Arlington Heights, IllinoisYou had me at “She won’t do it but her sister will”.
  • Greg from America ZZ Top claims the “tube snake” is a surfboard in its liner notes. But we all know it’s a man’s penis. After all, how many people surf “all night long”?
  • Jack from The State Of BewildermentTiff, don't you be so naive. Lots of ZZ Top music has lyrics about sex or with innuendo. Pearl Necklace is a particularly raunchy example. La Grange is about a whorehouse. Mexican Blackbird is about a Mexican whore (everyone calls her puta, cause no one really knows her name), Bedroom Thang is about an underage runaway. In the verse he wants her to leave him alone, but in the chorus it's a different story.. She loves my Automobile. Etc Songs like Tush and Tube Snake Boogie may not literally mean anything naughty, but I wouldn't be surprised if they wrote them with a sort of double entendre in mind (and if you read the quote from Billy Gibbons here on Songfacts, he said that Tube Snake originally meant a surfboard, that a friend liked the sound of the name "for obvious reasons," and that it's a first cousin of Tube Steak. So Billy himself saw the connection). No one told them to do these songs because "sex sells," and I seriously doubt anyone could have made them do something they didn't want to do. These guys are Texans, and in my experience Texans aren't so easily pushed around.
  • Jadk from The State Of BewildermentYeah, guys, I'm sure they knew what a tube steak is (I've known it since I was a child, before that album came out). But the song is Tube SNAKE Boogie, not Tube Steak Boogie.
  • Tiff from Michigan If you EVER heard the explanation of the band and WHAT they wrote about it was ACTUALLY writing about SURFING/BOOGIE BOARDING. Don’t be so naive! ZZTop had all the hot chicks etc bc some video production ‘expert’ said “sex sells” and had the videos made that way. NOT THE BAND!
  • Seventhmist from 7th HeavenQuite right, George. Considering what ZZ usually sang about, that's the only conclusion to draw.
  • George from Vancouver, CanadaConsidering other lyrics, I think they knew tube steak is a slang term for a penis, sexually speaking. It's also a slang term for a frankfurter (also used sexually often)
  • Cyberpope from Richmond, Canada&, of course, a tube steak is a man's erection -- just one more of the many sexual central themes in ZZ Top songs!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)Songwriter Interviews

The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.

Women Who Rock

Women Who RockSong Writing

Evelyn McDonnell, editor of the book Women Who Rock, on why the Supremes are just as important as Bob Dylan.

Tom Johnston from The Doobie Brothers

Tom Johnston from The Doobie BrothersSongwriter Interviews

The Doobies guitarist and lead singer, Tom wrote the classics "Listen To The Music," "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove."

Evolution Of The Prince Symbol

Evolution Of The Prince SymbolSong Writing

The evolution of the symbol that was Prince's name from 1993-2000.

Pete Anderson

Pete AndersonSongwriter Interviews

Pete produced Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Meat Puppets, and a very memorable track for Roy Orbison.