We’re Missing Dusty With ZZ Top’s 2007 Live Performance Of “Pearl Necklace”

Almost two years have passed since the tragic loss of Dusty Hill. The 1/3 of our favorite blues-rock band ZZ Top, Hill served as the bassist of the group for over 50 years. That commitment alone for a single band is worthy to be noted.

We’re digging some of ZZ Top’s finest performances, in case you’re missing Dusty for a little bit more. The video shows the band in 2007 performing one of their well-known songs, “Pearl Necklace.”

ZZ Top’s “Pearl Necklace” is released on their album El Loco in 1981. Despite not being issued as a single, the song peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard Rock Tracks list, proof that if it’s a ZZ Top song, it’ll guarantee success.

Lyrically, the song alludes to a sexual act wherein a woman orally pleases her male partner. When he is done, she wears a “pearl necklace” around her neck. Billy Gibbons believes he knows why ZZ Top is able to get away with such blatantly obscene music. “There is an advantage to being last in the record bin. I think when Tipper Gore got to Zappa, she just got so disgusted she didn’t go any further,” he said.

Sing along to the song’s lyrics below.

+ Pearl Necklace +

[Verse 1]
She’s really upset with me again
I didn’t give her what she likes
I don’t know what to tell her
Don’t know what to say
Everything got funky last night

[Chorus]
She was really bombed
And I was really blown away
And when I asked her what she wanted
And this is what she had to say
A pearl necklace
She want a pearl necklace
She want a pearl necklace

[Verse 2]
She gets a charge out of being so weird
Digs getting downright strange
But I can keep a handle on anything
Just this side of deranged

[Chorus]
She was gettin’ bombed
And I was gettin’ blown away
And she knew it in her head
And this is what she had to say
A pearl necklace
She want a pearl necklace
She want a pearl necklace
She want a pearl necklace

[Verse 3]
She is so tough
And pure as the driven slush
And that’s not jewelry she’s talking ’bout
It really don’t cost that much

[Chorus]
She was gettin’ bombed
And I was gettin’ blown away
And she knew it in her head
And this is what she had to say
A pearl necklace
She want a pearl necklace
She want a pearl necklace
She want a pearl necklace