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.
Boom
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm gonna shoot you right down
Knock you off of your feet
And take you home with me
Put you in my house
Boom, boom, boom, boom
Ow ow ow ow ow
Hmm hmm hmm hmm
I love to see you strut
Up and down the floor
When you're talking to me
That baby talk
I like it like that
Oh yeah
Talk that talk
Walk that walk
Won't you walk that walk?
And talk that talk
And whisper in my ear
Tell me that you love me
I love that talk
When you talk like that
You knock me out
Right off my feet
Ho ho ho ho
Well, talk that talk
And walk that walk
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Talk that talk, babe
The song "Boom Boom" by John Lee Hooker is a blues staple, released in 1961. The lyrics are simple, but they convey a powerful sense of lust and desire. Hooker's raspy, soulful voice lends itself perfectly to portraying the singer's emotions. The repetitive "boom boom boom" hook serves to heighten the intensity of the song.
The lyrics, "I'm gonna shoot you right down, knock you off of your feet, and take you home with me" are the foundation of the song's message. The singer is declaring his intention to seduce someone, to "put them in his house." He revels in the way the object of his desire walks and talks, and he wants them to whisper sweet nothings into his ear. Hooker's vocal inflection in the lines "I love to see you strut/up and down the floor" conveys a sense of raw desire.
The chorus repeats the refrain "talk that talk and walk that walk," the singer's demand for the object of his desire to follow through on their flirtation. The overall effect of the song is a powerful expression of the thrill of attraction.
Line by Line Meaning
Boom, boom, boom, boom
The singer is announcing their presence and intention to take charge of the situation.
I'm gonna shoot you right down
The singer is going to win over the listener with their charm.
Knock you off of your feet
The singer is going to make such an impact on the listener that they'll be figuratively knocked over.
And take you home with me
The artist wants to take things to the next level with the listener.
Put you in my house
The artist wants the listener to become a permanent fixture in their life.
Ow ow ow ow ow
The singer is expressing their enthusiasm and joy.
Hmm hmm hmm
The singer is humming in appreciation of the listener's appeal.
I love to see you strut
The artist is admiring the listener's confidence and swagger.
Up and down the floor
The artist is enjoying watching the listener move around the space.
When you're talking to me
The artist enjoys listening to the listener's voice.
That baby talk
The singer appreciates the listener's flirtatious tone.
I like it like that
The artist finds the listener's behavior attractive.
Talk that talk
The singer wants the listener to continue speaking flirtatiously.
Walk that walk
The singer appreciates the listener's confident stride.
Won't you walk that walk?
The singer is requesting that the listener maintain their confident posture.
And talk that talk
The artist is asking the listener to maintain their flirtatious tone.
And whisper in my ear
The artist desires intimate conversation with the listener.
Tell me that you love me
The singer wants to hear the listener declare their affection.
I love that talk
The singer finds the listener's flirtatious talk attractive and wants to hear more.
When you talk like that
The artist is specifically referring to the listener's flirtatious tone.
You knock me out
The artist is figuratively overcome by the listener's appeal.
Right off my feet
The artist is seriously attracted to the listener.
Ho ho ho ho
The singer is filled with joy and anticipation.
Well, talk that talk
The artist is asking the listener to maintain their flirtatious tone.
And walk that walk
The singer is asking that the listener maintain their confident posture and stride.
Oh yeah
The singer is enthusiastic about the situation.
Oh yeah
The singer is highly attracted to the listener.
Talk that talk, babe
The artist is requesting that the listener maintain their flirtatious tone.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: John Lee Hooker
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@valerietaylor1708
Dude showed up in my apartment, behind a Blues Bar in Minneapolis one night. We were all goofin around on guitars.
He showed us how it was done, grinned, and left.
What an incredible honor.
@lloydwalters4252
Your shitting me, lol. Jamming next door, he hears ya walks in and sup guys, how cool is that
@doubletappinhillbilly
Lucky doesn't even start 👍!
@tomethen2489
I'm in St Paul. What bar are you referring to??
@kaymiddleton5130
DAMN!!
@sealteamsix1784
holy shit.
@elizabethcsicsery-ronay1633
Walking around in Georgetown, Washington D.C. on a lovely summer evening I bumped into John Lee Hooker. Delighted isn't the right word to describe me. He was always a favorite of mine. I love the blues. We talked for a while. I got an autograph altho he couldn't read or write.
@tomford7567
Slightly concerned that over 800 people reacted with a thumbs down when listening to this. Strange, strange people these are.
@janikanyberg3450
Yes lets fuck em
@marcosfajardo8406
Illinois Nazis...