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.
Crawlin’ Kingsnake
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You know I'm a crawlin' kingsnake baby, and I rules my den
I don't want you hangin' around my mate, wanna use her for myself
You know you caught me crawlin' baby when the, when the grass was very high
I'm just gonna keep on crawlin' now baby until the day I die,
because I'm a crawlin' kingsnake baby, and I rules my den
Don't you hangin' around my mate, wanna use her for myself
You know I'm gon' crawl up to your window baby,
wanna crawl up on your floor
Because I'm a crawlin' king snake baby, and I rules my den
You know you caught me crawlin' baby when the, when the grass was very high
I'm just gonna keep on crawlin' now baby until the day I die,
because I'm a crawlin' kingsnake baby, and I rules my den
I don't want you hangin' around my mate, wanna use her for myself
In John Lee Hooker's song "Crawlin' Kingsnake," the lyrics depict a powerful and dominant persona. The singer identifies themselves as a crawling kingsnake, metaphorically referring to their confidence and control. They rule their den, emphasizing their authority and possessiveness over their territory. The mention of not wanting others to hang around their mate suggests a possessive nature and a desire to keep their partner exclusively for themselves. The overall tone of the song conveys a sense of assertiveness and determination, with the singer asserting their dominance and making it clear that they will continue to assert their power until the end of their days.
The repeated line "You know you caught me crawlin' baby when the grass was very high," suggests that the singer's presence and actions may not always be obvious or easily detected. They may operate in a covert or subtle manner, waiting for the right moment to strike or assert themselves. The crawling motif throughout the song signifies the singer's persistence and relentlessness. They will stop at nothing to achieve their desires and maintain control over their domain.
Line by Line Meaning
You know I'm a crawlin' kingsnake baby, and I rules my den
I am a dominant and powerful figure, likened to a crawling kingsnake, and I have full control over my territory
I don't want you hangin' around my mate, wanna use her for myself
I do not want you engaging with my partner, as I desire exclusive possession of her
You know you caught me crawlin' baby when the, when the grass was very high
You witnessed me in a vulnerable state, crawling discreetly when the surroundings provided ample cover
I'm just gonna keep on crawlin' now baby until the day I die
I will continue to navigate my path, persistently and unwaveringly, until my last breath
Don't you hangin' around my mate, wanna use her for myself
I forbid your presence near my partner, as I intend to monopolize her for my own desires
You know I'm gon' crawl up to your window baby, wanna crawl up to your door
I am determined to infiltrate your personal space, approaching through any means necessary, be it window or door
You got anything I want baby, wanna crawl up on your floor
You possess something of great value to me, and I am willing to invade your personal space to obtain it, even reaching your very floor
Because I'm a crawlin' king snake baby, and I rules my den
This repetition reaffirms my dominant and controlling nature, emphasizing my authority within my domain
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Alexphilosophus
An amazing blues song! I love it!
@harrisonmccartney4878
If you can play rhythms like John Lee Hooker and solo like B.B. King, you'd be the greatest blues player of all time. The swagger and attitude in Hooker's playing is unmatched, and the soul of B.B. King's playing is always beautiful.
@dontgoout1434
Bb King sucks
@JokersWild70
Absolutely filled with soul and emotion. There's not much better.
@santiagosanchezblanco9430
El blues más esquemático pero por eso,el más profundo.Very,very deep.
@redcastlefan
There aren't any comments here not because nobody cares, But because there's nothing to be said. Its just good music.
@andrebanville2343
It's like when the food is good, no one is talking.
@TheUnwritersOfficialChannel
Word!!
@heidihemore7812
Amen
@Deano_77
And you're comment doesn't have many comments or likes ,not because nobody thinks is bad , but because there's nothing much to be said. It's just a great comment.