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.
Huckle Up Baby
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Says huckle up, baby
Just huckle up baby
Huckle up all day long
Gotta let me ride
Gotta let me go
Gotta let me live
Gotta let me go
Baby love me now
Baby love me now
I love her, too
Love my baby now
Like the way she huckle
Huckle buckin' now
Huckle buck now baby
Huckle buck now baby
Huckle buck, now huckle buck all night long
Said, huckle up baby
Said, huckle up baby
Said, huckle up baby
Huckle buck all night long
Oooooh!
Said, huckle up baby
Said, huckle up baby
Oh, huckle up baby
Huckle up all night long
The lyrics of John Lee Hooker's song "Huckle Up Baby" undoubtedly center around sexual themes. The term "huckle up" is believed to refer to the act of humping, and throughout the song, Hooker uses this phrase to refer to his desire to have sex with his partner all day and night long. The repeated use of the phrase "gotta let me ride, gotta let me go, gotta let me live, gotta let me go" seems to suggest that he wants his partner to let him take control of their physical relationship and do whatever he wants.
However, it's not all one-sided. Hooker also acknowledges that he loves his partner and enjoys how she huckle bucks (a dance move from the 1950s) while they're intimate. The song's final line, "huckle up all night long," once again drives home the theme of sexual desire and the idea that Hooker wants to continue engaging in these activities with his partner for an extended period.
Overall, "Huckle Up Baby" is a classic example of mid-20th century blues music's tendency to explore explicit and risqué themes in a poetic and artistic manner.
Line by Line Meaning
Says huckle up, baby
The singer is urging his partner to 'huckle up', which implies to get closer to him or to start dancing in a rocking move.
Just huckle up baby
The singer emphasizes the request to start dancing in a 'huckle up' style.
Huckle up all day long
The singer wants to keep dancing and enjoying the rhythm of the song continuously.
Gotta let me ride
The singer is asking his partner to let him lead the dance and enjoy the moment.
Gotta let me go
The singer wants his partner to let him free and express his feelings through the dance.
Gotta let me live
The singer wants his partner to let him enjoy life to the fullest by letting him dance with her.
Huckle up, huckle up all day long
The chorus repeats the idea of dancing in a 'huckle up' style all day long to enjoy life to the fullest.
Baby love me now
The singer says that he wants his partner to show him some love and attention now.
I love her, too
The singer expresses his love for his partner too.
Like the way she huckle
The singer appreciates the way his partner dances in a 'huckle up' style.
Huckle buckin' now
The singer refers to the dance as 'huckle buckin' now'.
Huckle buck now baby
The singer encourages his partner to continue dancing in a 'huckle up' style.
Huckle buck now baby
The singer repeats the request to continue dancing in a 'huckle up' style.
Huckle buck, now huckle buck all night long
The chorus repeats the idea of dancing in a 'huckle up' style all night long.
Said, huckle up baby
The singer repeats the request for his partner to start dancing in a 'huckle up' style.
Oh, huckle up baby
The singer further emphasizes the request to start dancing in a 'huckle up' style.
Huckle up all night long
The singer wants to continue dancing in a 'huckle up' style all night long and enjoy life to the fullest.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ruth Dixon
a stunning free-form re-interpretation. absolutely fantastic.
Hilmar Wensorra
In VERY loving memory of Mr. Bernard Besman (1912 - 2003 R.I.P. Gone but NOT forgotten).
ŌthŌ
My favorite J.L.H. song as of the last few years.
Frank Rossi
Great!!!!
Countryboy
More here now!!!!!!!! www.cdbaby.com/cd/countryboy3
ac1dP1nk
released 1950 :O