John Lee Hooker could be said to embody his own unique genre of the blues, often incorporating the boogie-woogie piano style and a driving rhythm into his masterful and idiosyncratic blues guitar and singing. His best known songs include "Boogie Chillen" (1948) and "Boom Boom" (1962).
There is some debate as to the year of John Lee Hooker's birth, 1915, 1917, 1920, and 1923 have all been cited, 1917 (the date on his grave marker in Oakland, California) is the one most commonly cited although Hooker himself claimed, at times, 1920.
Hooker was the youngest of the eleven children of William Hooker (1871–1923), a sharecropper and a Baptist preacher, and Minnie Ramsey (1875–?).
Hooker and his siblings were home-schooled. They were permitted to listen only to religious songs, with his earliest musical exposure being the spirituals sung in church.
In 1921, his parents separated. The next year, his mother married William Moore, a blues singer who provided John's first introduction to the guitar (and whom John would later credit for his distinctive playing style). The year after that (1923), John's natural father died; and at age 15, John ran away from home, never to see his mother and stepfather again.
He was a cousin of Earl Hooker,
Throughout the 1930s, Hooker lived in Memphis where he worked on Beale Street and occasionally performed at house parties. He worked in factories in various cities during World War II, drifting until he found himself in Detroit in 1948 working at Ford Motor Company. He felt right at home near the blues venues and saloons on Hastings Street, the heart of black entertainment on Detroit's east side. In a city noted for its piano players, guitar players were scarce. Performing in Detroit clubs, his popularity grew quickly, and seeking a louder instrument than his crude acoustic guitar, he bought his first electric guitar.
Though he stuttered slightly in his normal speech, he performed in a half-spoken style that became his trademark. Rhythmically, his music was free, a property common with early acoustic Delta blues musicians. His vocal phrasing was less closely tied to specific bars than most blues singers'. This casual, rambling style had been gradually diminishing with the onset of electric blues bands from Chicago but, even when not playing solo, Hooker retained it in his sound.
Hooker's recording career began in 1948 with the hit single, "Boogie Chillen" cut in a studio near Wayne State University.
Despite being illiterate, he was a prolific lyricist. In addition to adapting the occasionally traditional blues lyric (such as "if I was chief of police, I would run her right out of town"), he freely invented many of his songs from scratch. Recording studios in the 50s rarely paid black musicians more than a pittance, so Hooker would spend the night wandering from studio to studio, coming up with new songs or variations on his songs for each studio. Due to his recording contract, he would record these songs under obvious pseudonyms such as "John Lee Booker," "Johnny Hooker", or "John Cooker".
His early solo songs were recorded under Bernie Besman.
John Lee Hooker rarely played on a standard beat, changing tempo to fit the needs of the song. This made it nearly impossible to add backing tracks. As a result, Besman would record Hooker, in addition to playing guitar and singing, stomping along with the music on a wooden palette.
John Lee Hooker's guitar playing is closely aligned with piano Boogie Woogie. He would play the walking bass pattern with his thumb, stopping to emphasize the end of a line with a series of trills, done by rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs. The songs that most epitomize his early sound are "Boogie Chillen," about being 17 and wanting to go out to dance at the Boogie clubs, "Baby Please Don't Go," a more typical blues song, summed up by its title, and "Tupelo," a stunningly sad song about the flooding of Tupelo, Mississippi.
He maintained a solo career, popular with blues and folk music fans of the early 1960s and crossed over to white audiences, giving an early opportunity to the young Bob Dylan. As he got older, he added more and more people to his band, changing his live show from simply Hooker with his guitar to a large band, with Hooker singing.
In 1989 he joined with a number of musicians, including Keith Richards and Carlos Santana to record The Healer, which won a Grammy award — one of many awards.
He fell ill just before a tour of Europe in 2001 and died soon afterwards at the age of 83.
Hooker recorded over 100 albums and lived the last years of his life in San Francisco, California, where he licensed a nightclub to use the name Boom Boom Room, after one of his hits.
Among his many awards, John Lee Hooker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1991 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Two of his songs, "Boogie Chillen" and "Boom Boom" were named to the list of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
John Lee recorded several songs with Van Morrison, including "Never Get Out of These Blues Alive", "The Healing Game" and "I Cover the Waterfront". He also appeared on stage with Van Morrison several times, some of which was released on the live album "A Night in San Francisco".
John Lee also recorded in the sixties with british blues band The Groundhogs. These recordings are still available as a CD "John Lee Hooker with The Groundhogs". More importantly, Hooker recorded with the Blues-rock outfit Canned Heat, delivering the album 'Hooker N' Heat' in 1971. Hooker was influential and topical even in his lifetime, as evidenced in the MC5 cover of "Motor City's Burning" on their first album, recorded almost immediately after the riots which are the song's topic.
Annie Mae
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Annie Mae, Annie Mae, I want you for my own Annie Mae.
Annie Mae, Annie Mae
Don?t ever leave me by myself
Don?t leave me here to cry
You you you leave me leave me
I believe I would die.
Annie Mae, Annie Mae
I can?t live without you
You, you, you, you
I can?t live without you
(And then I told her)
Annie Mae, I want you for my own Annie Mae
Oh Annie Mae, Annie Mae, Annie Mae
My own, my own, Annie Mae.
Now, now when you?re gone, when you?re gone
I can?t sleep, ?til you get back home
Annie Mae, Annie Mae
I can?t sleep ?til you get back home, get back home
I know it ain?t right.
(Now Charles, give it a little bit)
(Make it funky)
You, you, you, you, Annie Mae
You?re my pride and joy, yes she is
you, you, you, you, you, you?re my pride and joy
you, you I don?t want,
No one but you, you, you, Annie Mae, Annie Mae
Annie Mae (heh, heh, heh, heh)
I?m going tell you one more time one, more time, Annie Mae
You, you, you, you?re my pride and joy, each year
You, you, you you?re my pride and joy
(Better go now)
You, you, you
My pride and joy
You, you, you,
My pride and joy.
The song "Annie Mae" by John Lee Hooker is a love song about a man named John Lee who is deeply in love with a woman named Annie Mae. Throughout the song, John Lee expresses how much he needs and desires Annie Mae, stating that he cannot live without her, and he would die if she ever left him. He also mentions that he cannot sleep when she is not with him, emphasizing how much he relies on her presence.
The repetition of Annie Mae's name throughout the song is a way to emphasize the importance of the woman in John Lee's life. By repeating her name multiple times, he is showing that she is always on his mind and that he cannot think of anyone else but her. The lyrics also create a sense of urgency and desperation, as John Lee pleads for Annie Mae not to leave him and expresses how lost he would be without her.
Overall, "Annie Mae" is a powerful love song that captures the intensity of romantic love and the importance of having someone to rely on. Through its repetitive lyrics and emotional performance, the song expresses the depth of John Lee's feelings for Annie Mae.
Line by Line Meaning
Annie Mae, I need you night and day, Annie Mae
I cannot survive without your companionship, Annie Mae. I require your presence always and indefinitely.
Annie Mae, Annie Mae, I want you for my own Annie Mae.
I yearn to take up permanent residence in your heart, Annie Mae. I desire to be irrevocably and entirely yours.
Don?t ever leave me by myself
Please, Annie Mae, never grow distant from me. Don't forsake me to my loneliness.
Don?t leave me here to cry
I cannot bear abandonment, Annie Mae. I implore you, don't allow tears to wet my face without your comforting presence.
You you you leave me leave me
The mere thought of your separation from me completely devastates me, Annie Mae. Please don't put me through such a trauma.
I believe I would die.
The absence of your attention and care could lead me down a path of hopelessness and utter desolation. It would not be an overstatement to say that it could mean death for me, Annie Mae.
I can?t live without you
It is impossible for me to exist without you, Annie Mae. I depend on your sustaining presence.
(And then I told her)
Annie Mae, I want you for my own Annie Mae
Oh Annie Mae, Annie Mae, Annie Mae
My own, my own, Annie Mae.
I expressed my heart's desire to make Annie Mae mine definitively. She is my one true love and I commit myself to exclusively and entirely love and care for her.
Now, now when you?re gone, when you?re gone
I can?t sleep, ?til you get back home
Annie Mae, Annie Mae
I can?t sleep ?til you get back home, get back home
I know it ain?t right.
The separation from your presence disturbs my peace and prevents me from even closing my eyes in slumber, Annie Mae. I acknowledge that my dependence on you is excessive and unreasonable.
You, you, you, you, Annie Mae
You?re my pride and joy, yes she is
you, you, you, you, you, you?re my pride and joy
you, you I don?t want,
No one but you, you, you, Annie Mae, Annie Mae
You are my greatest source of happiness, Annie Mae. My heart swells with pride to be associated with you. There is no doubt in my mind that you are the only one for me, Annie Mae.
Annie Mae (heh, heh, heh, heh)
I?m going tell you one more time one, more time, Annie Mae
You, you, you, you?re my pride and joy, each year
You, you, you you?re my pride and joy
I take enormous delight in addressing Annie Mae. Allow me to reiterate how special you are to me, Annie Mae. Each passing year only heightens my adoration of you.
(Better go now)
You, you, you
My pride and joy
You, you, you,
My pride and joy.
I must leave now, Annie Mae. But before I do, let me reaffirm that you, and only you, fill me with pride and bring me joy. You are my everything, Annie Mae.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management
Written by: JOHN LEE HOOKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@SuperStickmanZZ
I have to come back to this every couple of years just to convince myself this actually exists.
@HeraldOD
It's so surreal
@halffasthaiku7526
I’m right there with you.
@ianrennie7728
I feel you, John. I like anime too.
@DaMominator
💯☝️😂
@farhanrajuli1885
@@DaMominator omggggg hahahaha
@muntazam
isn't she enemy?
@1.4142
First one to make the joke
@LHMOM.8610
😂
@Nikitas3961
Fucking sick piano solo. What a great band.