John Lee Hooker (Coahoma County, Mississippi, August 22, 1917 – Los Altos,… Read Full Bio ↴John Lee Hooker (Coahoma County, Mississippi, August 22, 1917 – Los Altos, California, June 21, 2001) was a highly influential American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter.

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.

Frisco
John Lee Hooker Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I left my heart in San Francisco
I left my heart, people, in San Francisco
High on the hill, at the Golden Gate, 'cross the bay
In San Francisco, on the hill, the mornin' fog
And the cool, cool night
That's where I wanna be: San Francisco
That's where my heart
Up in New York City

I've been to Chicago
But found no place like San Francisco
With the cable car high, high on the hill
In the mornin' fog
The evening breeze
The cool, cool night
Is where I wanna be
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Work, work people, tell me about it
Work out, work out
I got the blues for San Francisco
Yes, yes, yes, yes
My heart is there, high on the hill
Right down by the Golden Gate, 'cross the bay
That's where I wanna be
I left my heart right there in San Francisco
With the mornin' fog and the cool, cool night, the cable cars on the hill

That's where I wanna be, people
My heart is there, my heart is there, in San Francisco

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of John Lee Hooker's "Frisco Blues" express the longing of the singer's heart to be in San Francisco. The opening line, "I left my heart in San Francisco," is a reference to the famous song of the same name by Tony Bennett. The city of San Francisco, with its iconic Golden Gate Bridge and cable cars, holds a special place in the singer's heart. The morning fog and the cool, cool night are also mentioned, evoking the romantic image of the city.

The song contrasts San Francisco with other cities the singer has visited, such as New York City and Chicago. While these cities may have their own unique charms, for the singer, there is no place like San Francisco. The repetition of the phrase "that's where I wanna be" emphasizes the singer's desire to be in the city he loves. The lyrics are delivered with Hooker's signature growling vocals and bluesy guitar riffs, creating a melancholy and soulful atmosphere.

Overall, "Frisco Blues" is a tribute to San Francisco and the special place it holds in the singer's heart. It captures the romantic and dreamy sentiments associated with the city, making it a beloved classic.

Line by Line Meaning

I left my heart in San Francisco
I have a nostalgic feeling about this place that I consider home.

I left my heart, people, in San Francisco
I left behind everything that makes me happy in San Francisco.

High on the hill, at the Golden Gate, 'cross the bay
On a hill in San Francisco, surrounded by the Golden Gate bridge

In San Francisco, on the hill, the mornin' fog
The mornings in San Francisco are covered by a blanket of fog.

And the cool, cool night
The night time in San Francisco is refreshing.

That's where I wanna be: San Francisco
I want to be in San Francisco more than anything else.

That's where my heart
That's where I belong

Up in New York City
I have been to New York City

I've been to Chicago
I have visited Chicago before

But found no place like San Francisco
San Francisco is incomparable to any other place I have visited.

With the cable car high, high on the hill
The cable car is a significant part of San Francisco and it runs on a hill.

In the mornin' fog
The morning fog is a common sight in San Francisco.

The evening breeze
The wind in the evening is very soothing in San Francisco.

The cool, cool night
The nights in San Francisco are fresh and chilly.

Is where I wanna be
I desire to be in San Francisco at all times.

Oh yeah
'Oh yeah' is an exclamation of agreement.

Work, work people, tell me about it
I am asking people about their working experiences.

Work out, work out
Regular exercise is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

I got the blues for San Francisco
I am feeling sad and nostalgic for San Francisco.

Yes, yes, yes, yes
'Yes, yes, yes, yes' is an expression of enthusiasm and agreement.

My heart is there, high on the hill
My true belonging is on the hill in San Francisco.

Right down by the Golden Gate, 'cross the bay
Located by the Golden Gate and across the bay from my true home of San Francisco.

That's where I wanna be
There's no other place I'd rather be than San Francisco.

I left my heart right there in San Francisco
I left behind a part of myself in San Francisco.

With the mornin' fog and the cool, cool night, the cable cars on the hill
San Francisco's iconic features make it a unique and special place in my heart.

That's where I wanna be, people
I want nothing more than to be in San Francisco surrounded by those who share the same love for it.

My heart is there, my heart is there, in San Francisco
San Francisco is truly where my heart belongs.

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: JOHN LEE HOOKER

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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