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 You Want It Done?
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How you want you're rollin' done
Why don't you tell me, lovin' mama
How you want you're rollin' done
Lord, I give you satisfaction
Now, if it's all night long
Lord, I got up this morning
Lord, I got up this morning
Just about the break of day
Lord, I'm thinkin' 'bout my baby
Lord, the one that went away
I got me a little brownskin
Just as sweet as she can be
I got me a little brownskin
Just as sweet as she can be
Lord, she low and she squatty
But she's alright with me
Now you can put me in the alley
My gal's name is Sally
You wake me up in the mornin'
Mama, I still got that old habit
Why don't you tell me
How you want it done
Now, I give you satisfaction
Now if it's all night long
Lord, some of these old mornings
Mama, Lord, it won't be long
Lord, some of these old mornings
Mama, Lord, it won't be long
Lord, I know you gonna call me
Mama, Lord, and I'll be there
In John Lee Hooker's song How You Want It Done?, the artist is singing to a woman, asking her how she wants to be pleased. The lyrics are suggestive and metaphorical, as the rolling that is being referred to could be interpreted in various ways. John Lee Hooker seems to be offering himself as a satisfaction provider, promising to deliver whatever it is that the woman desires, all night long. The artist's deep voice and slow tempo create a seductive atmosphere, further emphasizing the suggestive nature of the song.
The second verse shifts to a more personal tone, with the artist lamenting the loss of a woman he loved. He is thinking about her, missing her and reminiscing. This verse adds emotional complexity to the song and shows a more vulnerable side of the artist. However, the following verses return to the euphemistic language of the first verse, with the artist boasting about his sexual prowess and offering satisfaction to any woman who chooses him as their partner. The song ends on a hopeful note, with the artist anticipating a future call from the woman he desires.
Overall, How You Want It Done? is a blues song filled with double entendres and suggestive language. John Lee Hooker's distinctive voice and style make the song intriguing and captivating, and the mix of suggestive lyrics and emotional vulnerability create a layered and fascinating experience for the listener.
Line by Line Meaning
Why don't you tell me, lovin' mama
Asking the woman he loves what she desires
How you want you're rollin' done
What specific actions should be taken to please her
Lord, I give you satisfaction
I'll do anything to satisfy you
Now, if it's all night long
I'm willing to spend the entire night doing whatever it takes
Lord, I got up this morning
I woke up early and started thinking
Just about the break of day
Right when the sun was about to come up
Lord, I'm thinkin' 'bout my baby
Thoughts of his departed lover is on his mind
Lord, the one that went away
The person he misses who left him
I got me a little brownskin
He's found a beautiful dark-skinned woman
Just as sweet as she can be
She is kind and pleasant natured
Lord, she low and she squatty
She may be short or stubby, but he still loves her
But she's alright with me
She's perfect for him, and he's happy with her.
Now you can put me in the alley
No matter where he is
My gal's name is Sally
He loves a girl named Sally
You wake me up in the mornin'
Even if she wants him awake early
Mama, I still got that old habit
He's still thinking about her, whatever the time
Now, I give you satisfaction
He is willing to do what it takes to satisfy her again
Lord, some of these old mornings
In some of these future days
Mama, Lord, it won't be long
He won't wait forever for his lover to come back.
Lord, I know you gonna call me
He's convinced his love will return and contact him.
Mama, Lord, and I'll be there
He'll be there when she calls him, no matter what.
Lyrics © MADISON LEISURE CORP.
Written by: WILLIAM LEE CONLEY BROONZY
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