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.
It Serves You Right To Suffer
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Serve you right to be alone
Serve you right to suffer
Serve you right to be alone
Because you're still livin'
In days done past and gone
Every time you see a woman
She make you think of yours
She make you think of yours
And that's why, that's why, that's why
You can't keep from cryin'
Your doctor put you on
Milk, cream and alcohol
Your doctor put you on
Milk, cream and alcohol
He told you that's why
You can't sleep at night
From nerves, so bad
Yeah
Every time you see a woman
She makes you think of yours
Every time you see a woman
She make you think of your own
She treated you so bad
You just couldn't keep from cryin'
Umm, mmm, mmm
Your life never be the same
Umm, umm, mmm
You're still livin' in the days
Done gone past and gone
And memories
Yeah-yeah
You can't live on
In that way
In the past
Them days
Is gone
Gone
The lyrics of John Lee Hooker's "It Serves You Right to Suffer" convey a feeling of despair, regret, and sorrow to the listener. The song is about a man who is suffering from the pain of a lost love, unable to move on and still living in the past. The opening line of the song, "It serve you right to suffer," is a warning to the man that he is responsible for his own suffering because he is still dwelling on the past and refuses to let go.
The chorus of "Serve you right to be alone" echoes the sentiment that it is better for the man to be alone than to continue living in the past, reminding him that he is responsible for his own happiness. The verses reinforce this idea, painting a picture of a man who is haunted by memories of his lost love every time he sees another woman.
The line "Your doctor put you on milk, cream, and alcohol" suggests that the man has turned to self-destructive behavior to cope with his pain, and the reference to his nerves being bad indicates that he is physically and emotionally unwell.
Overall, the lyrics suggest that the man needs to let go of the past and move on to find happiness in his life.
Line by Line Meaning
It serve you right to suffer
You deserve to suffer
Serve you right to be alone
You deserve to be alone
Serve you right to suffer
You deserve to suffer
Serve you right to be alone
You deserve to be alone
Because you're still livin'
You're still stuck
In days done past and gone
In the past
Every time you see a woman
Whenever you see a woman
She make you think of yours
Reminds you of your past lover
Yeah, every time you see a woman
Yes, it happens every time
She make you think of yours
Reminds you of your past lover
And that's why, that's why, that's why
That is why
You can't keep from cryin'
You can't stop yourself from crying
Your doctor put you on
Your doctor prescribed
Milk, cream and alcohol
Mixture of milk, cream and alcohol is prescribed
Your doctor put you on
Your doctor prescribed
Milk, cream and alcohol
Mixture of milk, cream and alcohol is prescribed
He told you that's why
Explained the reason
You can't sleep at night
You can't sleep during the night
From nerves, so bad
Due to severe nervousness
Yeah
Yes
Every time you see a woman
Whenever you see a woman
She makes you think of yours
Reminds you of your past lover
Every time you see a woman
Whenever you see a woman
She make you think of your own
Reminds you of your past lover
She treated you so bad
Your past lover treated you poorly
You just couldn't keep from cryin'
You couldn't stop yourself from crying
Umm, mmm, mmm
Your life never be the same
Your life will never be as it was before
Umm, umm, mmm
You're still livin' in the days
You're still stuck in the past
Done gone past and gone
In the past
And memories
Only memories remain
Yeah-yeah
Yes
You can't live on
You can't keep living
In that way
Stuck in the past
In the past
Looking back
Them days
Those days
Is gone
Are in the past
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: John Lee Hooker
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Fahmid Wasif
[Verse 1]
It serves you right to suffer
It serves you right to be alone
It serves you right to suffer
It serves you right to be alone
Because you're still livin'
The day done packed and gone
[Verse 2]
Every time you see a woman
She makes you think of yours
Every time you see a woman
She makes you think of yours
And that's why, thats why, thats why
You can't keep from crying
[Verse 3]
Your doctor put you on
Milk, cream, and alcohol
Your doctor put you on
Milk, cream, and alcohol
He told you that's why
You can't sleep at night
You're nerve is so bad, yeah
[Verse 4]
Every time you see a woman
She make you think of yours
Every time you see a woman
She make you think of yours
She treated you so bad
You just couldn't keep from crying
Your life will never be the same
[Outro]
You're still living in a day done packed and gone
And memories
You can't live on
In that way
In the past
Them days is gone
Maria Clemencia Gomez Salcedo
John Lee Hooker El más grande exponente de Blues.Amo toda,su musica
Fahmid Wasif
[Verse 1]
It serves you right to suffer
It serves you right to be alone
It serves you right to suffer
It serves you right to be alone
Because you're still livin'
The day done packed and gone
[Verse 2]
Every time you see a woman
She makes you think of yours
Every time you see a woman
She makes you think of yours
And that's why, thats why, thats why
You can't keep from crying
[Verse 3]
Your doctor put you on
Milk, cream, and alcohol
Your doctor put you on
Milk, cream, and alcohol
He told you that's why
You can't sleep at night
You're nerve is so bad, yeah
[Verse 4]
Every time you see a woman
She make you think of yours
Every time you see a woman
She make you think of yours
She treated you so bad
You just couldn't keep from crying
Your life will never be the same
[Outro]
You're still living in a day done packed and gone
And memories
You can't live on
In that way
In the past
Them days is gone
DonDraperism
Believe it or not I just had a strange experience. I was watching Person of Interest just now, and this song was playing in the background. I had just got done asking God, why my wife left me two years ago and why I am alone. This song came on. I am thinking there might be two messages here. First that I brought this on myself, and second is to move on as it's in the past. Nothing I can do about it anymore. Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe not.
pault1964
Watching in 2022 and checked out this tune
E. Ece Heper
btw she left becus nothing lasts forever life goes on and we grow out of it hopefully - peace.. "Life is good at amputating."
Riah Tunes
There are no accidents with God. Out of terrible evil, God promises to bring great good for those who love Him ❤
Armandito
Dear Don, maybe it wasn't your fault or ...hers. That's just the way life is,....think good before making a move,...and remember have Faith in God and it's not the end of the world.......A 76 yr, old man.
vesacksi
mr lucky
Maxim Popov
To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche.
mimi0731
Best version by a genius.