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.
Blues for Christmas
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I! Aint got a dime
BBBlues for christmas
I! aint got a dime
I'm sitting here wasted
with my head hung down
santa clause
send my baby back
I may not have no money
but she be rich enough
BBlues for christmas
blue as I can be
BBBlues for christmas
blue as I can be
I'm sitting here drainkan
trying to drink my baby back
Doo doo do do DDOOOO do doooooo
sad christmas
I'm WA sted
If I don't get my baby
I'll stay blue all the time
Ahhh santy!
I'll stay blue all the time.
Please do me a favor
I can loose
the christmas blues
lyrics transcripted by
-LonelyTRain
In John Lee Hooker's "Blues for Christmas," the singer is experiencing a sense of loss and longing during the holiday season. He starts off by stating that he doesn't have any money, and that he's feeling blue - this could be interpreted as a financial struggle, but it could also indicate a deeper emotional pain. He's sitting alone, presumably in a state of drunkenness or sadness, and he directs his plea towards Santa Claus: he wants his baby back. The use of the word "baby" adds a layer of intimacy and affection to the song, indicating that the singer has lost a person he deeply cares about.
The singer goes on to say that his baby is "rich enough" - this could be interpreted as her being wealthy, but it could also mean that she has qualities that make her valuable to him. The repetition of the line "Blues for Christmas, blue as I can be" emphasizes the sense of sadness and despair the singer is feeling. He's trying to drink his baby back, which could either mean that he's attempting to dull the pain with alcohol, or that he's hoping that the more he drinks, the more his baby will appear.
Overall, "Blues for Christmas" is a heart-wrenching song that showcases John Lee Hooker's ability to convey complex emotions through his music. The lyrics touch on themes of loss, loneliness, and the struggles of the holiday season, making it a relatable and moving song for many listeners.
Line by Line Meaning
BBBBlues for christmas
This song is about the sadness and loneliness of Christmas and how it can cause a person to feel blue.
I! Aint got a dime
I don't have any money to spend on Christmas gifts or celebrations.
BBBlues for christmas
The feeling of sadness and loneliness is reiterated.
I! aint got a dime
The lack of money is once again mentioned, further contributing to the feeling of being down.
I'm sitting here wasted
The artist is sitting around, feeling terrible and possibly drunk.
with my head hung down
The singer is physically and emotionally defeated, unable to lift their head up.
santa clause
The singer is making a plea to Santa Claus for help.
send my baby back
The artist's loneliness is compounded by the absence of a loved one, and they are asking for that person to return.
I may not have no money
The artist is acknowledging once again that they are without money, but they have something else valuable.
but she be rich enough
The artist's partner may not have money either, but their love is enough to make them feel rich.
BBlues for christmas
The feeling of sadness and loneliness is repeated.
blue as I can be
The artist is feeling incredibly blue, which is emphasized by the repetition of 'blue.'
I'm sitting here drainkan
The singer is trying to drown their sorrows with alcohol.
trying to drink my baby back
The singer is hoping that getting drunk will help them forget their loneliness and bring back their loved one.
Doo doo do do DDOOOO do doooooo
This is likely just a musical interlude that doesn't affect the meaning of the lyrics.
sad christmas
The artist is summarizing the main feeling of the song - that Christmas is sad and lonely for them.
I'm WA sted
The artist is once again emphasizing their drunkenness and how it is worsening their sadness.
If I don't get my baby
The singer is acknowledging that only their loved one's return can help them feel better.
I'll stay blue all the time
If they don't get their loved one back, they'll continue to feel sad and lonely indefinitely.
Ahhh santy!
The artist is once again making a plea to Santa Claus for help.
I'll stay blue all the time.
The artist is repeating the idea that only their loved one's return can cure their blues.
Please do me a favor
The artist is once again begging for help.
I can loose
If Santa Claus can bring their loved one back, the singer's sadness will go away.
the christmas blues
The artist is hoping to be cured of their feelings of sadness and loneliness during the Christmas season.
lyrics transcripted by -LonelyTRain
This is just a credit to the individual who transcribed the lyrics.
Contributed by Adrian G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.