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.
Ground Hog Blues
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Now I'm a walkin' groundhog, mama, and I walks around in my den
Now if I come out and see my shadow, John, I believe I'll go back in
Now I want some feedin', mama, so I can hear a high sound
If you don't feed me, baby, I believe I'll go back in the ground
Because I'm that walkin' groundhog, mama, and I walks around in my den
Now if I come out and see my shadow, you say you don't love me
Now I wanna hear some swingin' music--I wanna hear a Fats Waller song
Now if I start to jitter-buggin', I'm forgettin' my hole down in the ground
Because I'm that walkin' groundhog, man, and I walks around in my den
Now if I come out and see my shadow, my woman don't love me
I believe I'll go back in
Yes, John, you know what I mean
Oh, you know I'm a-walkin' wild
Now I need some pettin', baby; baby, you know what I mean
Now if you don't pet me, baby, I believe I'll go back down in New Orleans
Because I'm that walkin' groundhog; at night I walks around in my den
Now if I come out and see my shadow, my woman don't love me
Yeah, and I believe I'll go back in
In John Lee Hooker's song "Ground Hog Blues," the lyrics refer to the singer as a "walkin' groundhog," who walks around in his den. He jokes that if he comes out and sees his shadow, he'll go back inside because he believes he's a real groundhog. The song is playful and lighthearted, with the singer making humorous references to his habits and desires.
The first verse has the singer introducing himself as a groundhog and admitting he likes to walk around in his den. He then makes a weather-related joke about his shadow, saying that he'll go back inside if he sees it. In the next verse, he asks for food and threatens to go back in the ground if he doesn't get it. The third verse is about swing music, with the singer saying he wants to hear a Fats Waller song. He mentions that if he starts to dance, he might forget about his hole in the ground. The fourth verse is about affection, with the singer asking for petting and saying that if he doesn't get it, he'll go back to New Orleans.
Overall, the song is a bluesy, playful take on the idea of being "in your hole" or staying in your comfort zone. The groundhog motif adds a whimsical touch to the lyrics, making them more enjoyable and relatable to listeners who've ever felt like they wanted to retreat to their own "den."
Line by Line Meaning
Now I'm a walkin' groundhog, mama, and I walks around in my den
I am like a groundhog, always walking around my space.
Now if I come out and see my shadow, John, I believe I'll go back in
If I see that I am not going to get what I want, I will stay in my space.
Now I want some feedin', mama, so I can hear a high sound
I want to be noticed and cared for.
If you don't feed me, baby, I believe I'll go back in the ground
If I don't get what I want, I will retreat back to my space.
Because I'm that walkin' groundhog, mama, and I walks around in my den
I am always present in my space like a groundhog.
Now if I come out and see my shadow, you say you don't love me
If I don't get what I want, I will believe that I am not loved.
Now I wanna hear some swingin' music--I wanna hear a Fats Waller song
I want to be entertained.
If I start to jitter-buggin', I'm forgettin' my hole down in the ground
If I am having a good time, I will forget about my problems.
Because I'm that walkin' groundhog, man, and I walks around in my den
I am always present in my space like a groundhog.
Now if I come out and see my shadow, my woman don't love me
If I don't get what I want, I will believe that I am not loved by my partner.
Yes, John, you know what I mean
You understand my situation well.
Oh, you know I'm a-walkin' wild
You know that I am unpredictable and uncontrollable.
Now I need some pettin', baby; baby, you know what I mean
I need some love and affection.
If you don't pet me, baby, I believe I'll go back down in New Orleans
If I don't get what I want, I will leave and find happiness elsewhere.
Yeah, and I believe I'll go back in
I will retreat back to my space if things don't go my way.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JOHN LEE HOOKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
ozzymandi
Lovely,What a legacy he left us , the Blues! I dont think" Rock and roll" would have been the same without this guy.
F Davis
I agree, or it's possible Rock 'n Roll wouldn't have happened at all if not for the Blues and artists like John Lee Hooker.
darrkzun
Figured I owe this song a comment for all the years this song has soothed my soul. Just the deep sorrow flowing out from him, smooth as butter is a healing in itself. I'd listened to this song many, many times before I even fully understood who the groundhog was. My gut already knew it but when it clicked in upstairs it made the song take on even greater significance for me.
Mr Sensible
Thanks for posting this. I first came across Groundhog Blues in the early 70's when the Groundhogs put it on their Split album. Much later I found this early JLH version on a cheapie CD Blues box set in Woolworths and played that to death too! I just wish more people knew about some of these oldies but goodies.
timj41
Mr Sensible hey there, yeah its funny how that stuff works, I heard this version about 20 odd years ago when I first got into JLH, about 3 mths ago I first heard the Groundhogs courtesy of my older brother, I then searched some more of their stuff and came across the G/Hogs version of this song and its f...g awesome. The tone they achieve is so close to some of JLH’s electric stuff at Key parts of the track its uncanny. Very faithful respectful covering of the track.
jopperboard
The GOAT 🐐
Georgia Fearn
My guitar teacher recorded this with him :D
TIC4848
Who was your guitar teacher?
Jason Daugherty
Times were so much simpler back then
KVD
I wanna learn this song. One aim. Anyway, thanks 4 the upload.