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.
How Can You Do It
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Take my money and you throw it around
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it
Throw my money around?
Well, I work hard everyday
Take my money, bring it home to you
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it
Throw my money around?
I done 'round, yes, yes
I done told you once
I ain't gon' tell you no more
Next time I tell you
I got to let you down
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it
Throw my money around?
Well, my mama told her papa
Told me too
If you weren't no good for me
Why don't'cha' let you go
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it
Throw my money around?
Hmm
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it?
Baby, how can you do it
Throw my money around?
The lyrics of John Lee Hooker's song "How Can You Do It?" express the frustration and resentment of a man whose partner is wasting his hard-earned money on frivolous things. The singer starts off by acknowledging the value of money, describing it as "chicken feed" and emphasizing how much effort it takes to earn it. He then asks his partner how she can throw away his money so easily, insinuating that she doesn't appreciate the value of hard work and the sacrifices he makes for their relationship. The singer goes on to assert his authority, warning his partner that he won't tolerate this behavior anymore and that he may have to let her go if she can't change her ways.
The overall tone of the song is one of frustration and disillusionment, as the singer feels betrayed by someone he loves and trusted. The lyrics touch on themes of trust, respect, and financial responsibility, highlighting the importance of communication and mutual understanding in any relationship. The repetition of the phrase "How can you do it?" throughout the song reinforces the singer's sense of disbelief and shock at his partner's behavior, and adds to the emotional weight of the lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, you take my money, you call it chicken feed
You take my money and treat it as if it's worth very little.
Take my money and you throw it around
You spend my money carelessly and irresponsibly.
Baby, how can you do it?
I don't understand how you could treat me this way.
Well, I work hard everyday
I put in a lot of effort each day to earn my money.
As a man s'pose to do
As society expects a man to do.
Take my money, bring it home to you
I bring home the money I've earned and give it to you.
I done 'round, yes, yes
I've been patient and understanding for a while now.
I done told you once
I've already told you before.
I ain't gon' tell you no more
I'm not going to keep repeating myself.
Next time I tell you
The next time I speak up about this.
I got to let you down
I'll have to disappoint you.
Well, my mama told her papa
My mother told her father.
Told me too
She also told me.
If you weren't no good for me
If you're not good for me.
Why don't'cha' let you go
Why don't you just leave?
Hmm
Expressing doubt and confusion.
Baby, how can you do it?
I still can't understand how you could treat me this way.
Baby, how can you do it?
I'm still struggling to comprehend your actions.
Baby, how can you do it
Reiterating the confusion and disbelief in their actions.
Throw my money around?
Why are you spending my hard-earned money carelessly?
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: BERNARD BESMAN, JOHN LEE HOOKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Thomas Baumgartner
Amazing, I love it. I seriously thinking about buying an old Thorens, in order to be able playing 78 records 🤔
SwingMan1938
Just snagged this one on 78 for the flip - been looking for a copy since 1991, found one for $20, jumped like a kangaroo and it arrived about 20 minutes ago. ;)
Going to be cleaning and transferring my copy for YouTube posting tomorrow.....
Ironstretcher
I found a 78 yesterday at Goodwill great condition considering its age