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.
Democrat Man
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
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These crazy women, they vote them out
Democrat put us on our feet
These crazy women, they voted them out
But I don't think they make the same mistake
Won't make the same mistake, no more
They told them, send your sons home
I recommend, they won't make that same mistake, no more
Democrat put us on our feet
These crazy women, they vote them out
I ain't goin' down, I ain't goin' down
No I ain't, I ain't goin' down to the welfare store
It won't be long, the democrats be back in again
I know the girls, I know the girls, I know the girls
You girls ain't gon' make that same mistake again no more
I know you ain't
The men vote them in
And the women, the women vote them out
I ain't got no shoes, no shoes, no shoes don't fit
But I ain't goin' to that welfare store
You know why? It won't be long 'fore election time
Democrats be in
I know I get shoes, I get clothes
When the democrats get back in again
Vote them, they vote them in, in
I'm a democrat man, I'm a democrat man
Please, please, don't be no fool, no more
I ain't goin' down to that welfare store
It won't be long, whoa, yeah
I'm a democrat , I'm a democrat man
And I'll be until the day I'm dying
The lyrics of John Lee Hooker's song "Democrat Man" reflect the political climate of his era. Hooker reflects on the relationship between Democrats and African Americans in the context of civil rights and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The song talks about how Democrats helped African Americans get on their feet, but also warns that they shouldn't make the same mistakes again.
The first verse talks about how Democrats helped African Americans by putting them on their feet. Hooker uses the phrase "crazy women" to refer to the women who voted out the Democratic officials who had helped them. The second verse warns that these women shouldn't make the same mistake again. Hooker believes that they need to remember lessons learned and be smart about voting in the future to avoid having further negative consequences.
In the third verse, Hooker notes that the Democrats were responsible for sending sons home from war, but they returned without any job opportunities. He suggests that the Democrats should take responsibility for this mistake and vow not to repeat it. Hooker repeats the first verse throughout the song to reinforce the idea that Democrats are the ones who can lift up African Americans.
Line by Line Meaning
Democrat put us on our feet
I believe that Democrats have improved our situation
These crazy women, they vote them out
However, sometimes women vote for candidates who are not helpful to us
But I don't think they make the same mistake
I am hopeful that women will make better choices in the future
Won't make the same mistake, no more
They will not repeat their previous mistake
They told them, send your sons home
The Democrats promised to bring our sons home
They did just that, they send them, home to stay without a job
However, they came back to find no work waiting for them
I recommend, they won't make that same mistake, no more
I suggest that Democrats not make this mistake again in the future
I ain't goin' down, I ain't goin' down
I refuse to go down the path of reliance on welfare
No I ain't, I ain't goin' down to the welfare store
I will not accept handouts from the government
It won't be long, the democrats be back in again
I believe the Democratic Party will return to power soon
I know the girls, I know the girls, I know the girls
I understand the mindset of women voters
You girls ain't gon' make that same mistake again no more
I believe that women will learn from their past choices
The men vote them in
Men tend to choose Democratic candidates
And the women, the women vote them out
But sometimes women vote for Republicans who are not helpful to us
I ain't got no shoes, no shoes, no shoes don't fit
I am currently struggling financially
But I ain't goin' to that welfare store
But I refuse to ask the government for help
You know why? It won't be long 'fore election time
I believe that Democrats will soon come back into power
I know I get shoes, I get clothes
When Democrats are in power, I believe I will see an improvement in my financial situation
When the democrats get back in again
I am waiting for the Democratic Party to return to power
Vote them, they vote them in, in
The voters are responsible for electing politicians to office
I'm a democrat man, I'm a democrat man
I strongly align myself with the Democratic Party
Please, please, don't be no fool, no more
I urge voters to make informed choices and avoid being misled
It won't be long, whoa, yeah
I am confident that the Democratic Party will return to power soon
And I'll be until the day I'm dying
I will remain loyal to the Democratic Party for the rest of my life
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: JOHN LEE HOOKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind