"Sharp Dressed Man" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by ZZ Top | ||||
from the album Eliminator | ||||
B-side | "I Got the Six" | |||
Released | 1983 | |||
Format | 7" | |||
Recorded | 1982 | |||
Genre | Hard rock | |||
Length | 4:13 (album) 3:01 (single edit) |
|||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Writer(s) | Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Frank Beard | |||
Producer(s) | Bill Ham | |||
ZZ Top singles chronology | ||||
|
"Sharp Dressed Man" is a song performed by ZZ Top from their 1983 album Eliminator. The song was produced by band manager Bill Ham, and recorded and mixed by Terry Manning. Pre-production recording engineer Linden Hudson was very involved in the early stages of this song's production.
At 2007's VH1 Rock Honors, Nickelback covered the song as a tribute (Billy Gibbons had earlier made a guest appearance on Nickelback's own song "Rockstar" & "Follow You Home"). ZZ Top played this song at halftime of the 2008 FedEx Orange Bowl.
The video for "Sharp Dressed Man" continues the "male fantasy come to life" of the "Gimme All Your Lovin'" video released earlier in 1983. As in the previous video, an attractive man (dancer/model Peter Tramm) who is experiencing frustration in his menial job is assisted in gaining social stature and prowess by a triad of very attractive and somewhat mysterious women traveling in ZZ Top's signature red car. ZZ Top themselves play a role in the narrative, both by playing themselves as performing band members and as rather ethereal spirits who encourage and assist the young man by providing him with the car keys that enable him to go for a very long drive with the women. The young man returns to the site of his previous frustration (his workplace, a nightclub) and empowered both by his new-found status and by both the women's and ZZ Top's encouragement, embarks on a new romantic adventure with another attractive young woman who has previously abandoned her date.
Directed by Tim Newman
This is the only video in the trilogy that does not have an intro.