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.
Big Legs Tight Shirt
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You know they're so tight they can hardly wiggle
Ha, and big legs too you know)
Everywhere I go, there's a mini skirt there
Everywhere I go, there's a mini skirt there
Tight skirts, tight skirts, everywhere
Oh yeah
I go walkin' in the park, there's a mini skirt there
Mini skirt, tight skirts, everywhere
Yeah yeah, mini skirt, mini skirt, way up above the knee
Way up, above the knee, yeah yeah, yeah yeah, above
I go to strollin' in the park, I see mini skirts out there
I go out in the park, I see mini skirts out there
Mini skirts, mini skirts, everywhere
Yeah, look-a here now
I go walking down the avenue, I see out there, mini skirts
Way up 'bove the knee
Mini skirts, mini skirts, everywhere
Yeah, I'm talkin' 'bout, mini skirt
And tight, skirt,
And big legs
Strollin' down the avenue
I can't stand it
The lyrics of John Lee Hooker's song Big Legs Tight Skirt describe a man's obsession with women's fashion and more specifically, mini skirts and tight dresses. He finds himself unable to resist the sight of "big legs" and "tight skirts" everywhere he goes, whether it be in the park or down the avenue. The repetition of the phrases "mini skirts, tight skirts, everywhere" and "mini skirts, mini skirts, way up above the knee" add to the emphasis on the provocative clothing the women are wearing. The explicit nature of the lyrics make it clear that the singer is drawn to the physical features of the women wearing these garments.
However, there is also a sense of frustration in the song as the singer cannot seem to escape the temptation of these women and their clothing. The final line, "I can't stand it," suggests that this constant visual stimulation is becoming overwhelming for him, although it is unclear whether he wants to resist it or not. The song ultimately portrays a man's lustful desires for women's clothing and physical attributes.
Line by Line Meaning
Mini skirts and tight dresses,
Women wearing clothes that are revealing and figure-hugging.
You know they're so tight they can hardly wiggle
The clothing that women wear is so tight-fitting that it restricts their movement.
Ha, and big legs too you know)
In addition, the women have large and shapely legs.
Everywhere I go, there's a mini skirt there
There are women wearing short skirts everywhere I go.
Tight skirts, tight skirts, everywhere
The skirts that women wear are very form-fitting.
I go walkin' in the park, there's a mini skirt there
When I go for a walk in the park, there are women wearing mini-skirts.
Mini skirt, tight skirts, everywhere
The tight-fitting clothing that women wear is ubiquitous.
Yeah yeah, mini skirt, mini skirt, way up above the knee
The mini-skirts are so short, they go way above the knee.
Way up, above the knee, yeah yeah, yeah yeah, above
The skirts are so short they expose a lot of leg (above the knee).
I go to strollin' in the park, I see mini skirts out there
When I take a leisurely walk in the park, I see women wearing mini-skirts.
Mini skirts, mini skirts, everywhere
There are an abundance of mini-skirts being worn by women.
Yeah, look-a here now
Introducing a new idea or topic.
I go walking down the avenue, I see out there, mini skirts
When I walk down the street, I see women wearing mini-skirts.
Way up 'bove the knee
The skirts are so short they expose a lot of leg (above the knee).
Mini skirts, mini skirts, everywhere
Women are wearing mini-skirts all over the place.
Yeah, I'm talkin' 'bout, mini skirt
Emphasizes that the artist is specifically referring to mini-skirts.
And tight, skirt,
The skirts that women wear are tight-fitting.
And big legs
The women wearing these clothes have large and shapely legs.
Strollin' down the avenue
Walking down the street.
I can't stand it
Expressing dissatisfaction or annoyance towards the prevalent style of clothing.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: JOHN LEE HOOKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
BaBa Allen
Look that's blues, I'm out of my mind. Pure genius
Retro Rambles
John Lee and muddy waters had the smoothest voices of all bluesmen
Drexel Marz
Don’t forget Howlin Wolf too!
Retro Rambles
@Drexel Marz I like howlin
He's one of my faves, but he didn't have a smooth voice
Chems Lebou
+ Lightning Hopkins
Francisco Martinez
Exelente musico empese a escucharlo en el radio asta que vi donde tocaba su musica lo bi por medio del Youtube
Neil Davies
Indeed this is proper music as designed by humans
steviedog54
This the real shit!!!
Musicfan Hawk
Cool song!
Adson Silva de Carvalho Junior
è show o tempo todo