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.
Hello baby
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
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Hello, baby, and, baby, don't you remember me?
Yes, I'm the guy, Lord, that travel both land and sea
Lord, I come to see you, baby, Lord, 'bout our love affair
Lord, I come to see you, Lord, 'bout our love affair
Lord, what a path you weave and, Lord, your love ain't been nowhere
Yes, you got another man, Lord; please, don't tell me no lies
'Cause if I had to find out, baby, then, Lord, somebody's bound to die
Lord, straighten up, baby, 'cause your daddy's comin' home
Lord, straighten up, baby, 'cause your daddy's comin' home to stay
Lord, straighten up, baby, and see things lil' Johnny's way
The lyrics to John Lee Hooker's "Hello Baby" are addressed to a former lover who the singer is attempting to reconnect with. Despite the time that has passed, he is still able to address her by her pet name with a sense of familiarity. There is an emotional urgency to the lyrics as he seeks to understand the reason behind the dissolution of their love affair. The lyrics suggest the singer has been on a long journey searching for answers, implying he had been trying to find her for some time. He tells her that he wants to talk to her about their love affair, indicating that he yearns to make amends and perhaps rekindle their love.
The lyrics have a level of worry, betrayal, and hope. When the singer finds out that the woman has found another man, he considers violence, indicating a fear of being abandoned and an intense desire to keep the woman for himself. He pleads with her not to lie to him about her current situation and warns that he will not tolerate being left in the dark. At the end of the song, there is a shift in tone as the singer's character takes on a more paternal role, instructing her to "straighten up... and see things lil' Johnny's way." It is a message that is both firm and hopeful, a plea to get back together.
Line by Line Meaning
Hello, baby, and, baby, don't you remember me?
The singer is reminding a former lover of who he is.
Yes, I'm the guy, Lord, that travel both land and sea
The singer is introducing himself to his former lover and declaring that he travels extensively.
Lord, I come to see you, Lord, 'bout our love affair
Lord, what a path you weave and, Lord, your love ain't been nowhere
The singer has come to speak with his former lover about their relationship and accuses them of not really loving him.
Yes, you got another man, Lord; please, don't tell me no lies
'Cause if I had to find out, baby, then, Lord, somebody's bound to die
The artist accuses their former lover of being unfaithful and threatens violence if they lie about it.
Lord, straighten up, baby, 'cause your daddy's comin' home to stay
Lord, straighten up, baby, and see things lil' Johnny's way
The artist is returning home and wants his former lover to change her behavior and follow his lead.
Lyrics © LA CIENEGA MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: BERNARD BESMAN, JOHN LEE HOOKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind