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.
Don't You Remember
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And don't you remember me?
Hello, baby
And, baby, don't you remember me?
Yes, I'm the guy, um
That travel both land and sea
Yes, I come to see you, baby
Yes, I come to see you
Lord, 'bout our love affair
Lord, 'cause the past few weeks
Your love ain't been nowhere
Yes, you got another man, baby, um
Please, don't tell me no lie
Yeah, you got another man, baby, mm
And, please, don't tell me no lie
'Cause if I find out, baby
Then you know somebody has got to die
Yes, yes
Lord, fly right, baby, Lord, Lord, Lord
Lord, daddy's come home to stay
Lord, fly right, baby, yes, yes, yes
Lord, daddy's come home to stay
So plan out yo' mind, baby
And see things old Johnny's way
In the song "Don't You Remember" by John Lee Hooker, the singer is addressing his former lover whom he is trying to win back. The opening lines, "Hello, baby, and don't you remember me?," are a plea for recognition and remembrance from the woman whom he feels he had a strong connection with. He presents himself as someone who has traveled far and wide, indicating the lengths he is willing to go to in order to be with her.
He tells her he has come to see her "about their love affair," indicating that he is aware that they had a special relationship in the past. He is concerned that her love has disappeared in recent weeks and he is there to remedy the situation. However, he suspects that she is seeing someone else and pleads with her not to lie about it. He promises that if he finds out she is with someone else, somebody "has got to die."
The chorus, "Lord, fly right, baby" can be interpreted as the singer calling his lover to "fly right" and do the right thing by coming back to him. He tells her that he has come home to stay and wants her to be with him. He asks her to "plan out yo' mind" and consider "things old Johnny's way", suggesting that he has a certain way of doing things that would work for them as a couple.
Line by Line Meaning
Hello, baby
Greeting the audience or the person being talked to.
And don't you remember me?
Asking if the person being talked to recognizes the singer.
And, baby, don't you remember me?
Asking again in a more affectionate tone.
Yes, I'm the guy, um
Introducing himself in a nonchalant way.
That travel both land and sea
Stating that he travels a lot to imply that he is a worldly person.
Yes, I come to see you, baby
Announcing that he came specifically to see the person being talked to.
Lord, 'bout our love affair
Referring to their romantic past.
Yes, I come to see you
Repeating his intent.
Lord, 'bout our love affair
Reiterating the topic that he came to discuss.
Lord, 'cause the past few weeks
Explaining why he came to talk to the person being talked to.
Your love ain't been nowhere
Suggesting that the person being talked to hasn't been showing enough affection lately.
Yes, you got another man, baby, um
Accusing the person being talked to of infidelity.
Please, don't tell me no lie
Asking for honesty.
Yeah, you got another man, baby, mm
Reiterating his suspicion.
And, please, don't tell me no lie
Reemphasizing the importance of honesty.
'Cause if I find out, baby
Threatening to take action if his suspicion is true.
Then you know somebody has got to die
Imploring the gravity of the potential outcome.
Lord, fly right, baby, Lord, Lord, Lord
Advising the person being talked to to be faithful and respectful.
Lord, daddy's come home to stay
Adding that he is here to stay and will not give up easily.
Lord, fly right, baby, yes, yes, yes
Repeating his advice.
So plan out yo' mind, baby
Encouraging the person being talked to to think things through.
And see things old Johnny's way
Asking that the person being talked to take his side.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: TEXAS SLIM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind