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.
Little Girl Go Back To School
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hey little girl, little girl, you're so good to me
You too young to go out, please stay and do
Go back to school, oh go back go back little girl
You're goin' back to school
You too young, too young, too young for me
Oh I wait for you, I wait for you, keep on back to school
You too young, you're too young, you too young for me
I sang, keep on back to school little girl
Oh keep on, keep on, keep on back to school
One day, one day, one day, I'll be a man one day
Little girl, don't look at me the way you do
Oh don't look at me the way you do
I don't wanna break, break into your groove
Don't look at me little girl, with your sexy eyes the way you do
Your only sixteen, sixteen, I'll be a man one day
I don't want you, I don't want you, break in tears of groove
Go ahead, go ahead back to school
Oh go ahead, go ahead, young love go back to school
You better what yourself baby, I'll be man one day
You know I hate; to break it to you Tulu
Oh I hate, I hate to break it to you Tulu
But I promise you baby, I will wait for you someday
Go ahead, go ahead back to school
Oh young love, young love, go ahead back to school
You don't what yourself baby, I'll be a man one day.
The song "Little Girl Go Back To School" by John Lee Hooker is a story where the singer warns a young girl who is too young to be engaging in a relationship that she is too young for him. The lyrics suggest that the singer is actually looking out for the girl by telling her to go back to school and focus on her education before engaging in adult relationships that she may not be ready for. This is particularly evident in lines like "don't look at me little girl, with your sexy eyes the way you do, your only sixteen, sixteen, I'll be a man one day. I don't want you, I don't want you, break in tears of groove."
The singer acknowledges that the girl is good to him and that he will wait for her until she is old enough to engage in a relationship. However, he still insists that she needs to go back to school and focus on her education in the meantime. This is evident in lines such as "little girl, I wait for you till you get old, oh I wait for you, I wait for you, keep on back to school, you too young, you're too young, you too young for me."
The song can be interpreted as a cautionary tale to young girls who may be tempted to engage in relationships with older men. It encourages them to prioritize their education and to wait until they are of an appropriate age to engage in adult relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
Hey girl, you're so good to me
The singer is complimenting the girl for being good to him.
Hey little girl, little girl, you're so good to me
The singer is addressing a young girl and complimenting her for being good to him.
You too young to go out, please stay and do
The singer advises the young girl to stay at home and continue her education because she is too young to go out.
Go back to school, oh go back go back little girl
The artist is urging the young girl to go back to school.
You're goin' back to school
The artist acknowledges the young girl's decision to go back to school.
You too young, too young, too young for me
The singer is acknowledging that the young girl is too young for him to engage in a romantic relationship with.
Little girl, I wait for you till you get old
The singer is expressing his intention to wait for the young girl until she grows older and is of appropriate age for a romantic relationship.
Oh I wait for you, I wait for you, keep on back to school
The artist affirms his commitment to wait for the young girl and encourages her to continue her education.
You too young, you're too young, you too young for me
The artist repeats previous acknowledgment that the young girl is too young for him to engage in a romantic relationship with.
I sang, keep on back to school little girl
The artist is singing the chorus which encourages the young girl to continue her education.
Oh keep on, keep on, keep on back to school
The singer repeats the encouragement for the young girl to continue her education.
One day, one day, one day, I'll be a man one day
The artist acknowledges his own young age and expresses his hope to become a mature adult one day.
Little girl, don't look at me the way you do
The singer advises the young girl to stop looking at him seductively.
Oh don't look at me the way you do
The singer repeats his advice to the young girl to stop looking at him seductively.
I don't wanna break, break into your groove
The singer expresses his reluctance to get involved romantically with the young girl because of her young age.
Don't look at me little girl, with your sexy eyes the way you do
The artist reiterates his advice to the young girl to stop looking at him seductively.
Your only sixteen, sixteen, I'll be a man one day
The artist acknowledges the young girl's age and reiterates his hope to become a mature adult one day.
I don't want you, I don't want you, break in tears of groove
The singer expresses his desire not to hurt the young girl's feelings by engaging in a romantic relationship with her and causing her to feel betrayed.
Go ahead, go ahead back to school
The singer is encouraging the young girl to go back to school.
Oh go ahead, go ahead, young love go back to school
The artist reiterates his encouragement for the young girl to continue her education.
You better what yourself baby, I'll be man one day
The artist advises the young girl to be careful and make good decisions, while also reiterating his hope to become a mature adult one day.
You know I hate; to break it to you Tulu
The artist expresses his reluctance to tell the young girl the truth about his feelings for her.
Oh I hate, I hate to break it to you Tulu
The singer repeats his reluctance to tell the young girl the truth about his feelings for her.
But I promise you baby, I will wait for you someday
The artist promises the young girl that he will wait for her until she grows older and is of appropriate age for a romantic relationship.
Young love, young love, go ahead back to school
The singer repeats his encouragement for the young girl to continue her education.
Contributed by Isabelle H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@erikstekelenburg3020
The one and only John Lee Hooker! King of the rhythm 😎
@hanson2205
One of the best bluesman of all time .... JLH your awesome
@sonyawood4242
John Lee Hooker ... Father of DA BLUES
@usmgreen1
APEX Bar where it all started John Lee Hooker played his first gig in this Detroit Bar back in 1943.
@brianwells4507
T James, is that the club that was described in his biography, "Boogie Man"? Story in it talked about John running into the bar just as he was scheduled to go onstage. A female bartender spotted him and said, " hurry up, "boom boom" you late"! That was a nickname she had for John. But it turned out John Lee used the name for his hit song.
@usmgreen1
@Brian Wells Yes it is
@davidhahnbirds
Love John Lee Hooker
@giancarlovalentino
Blues On!!!
@aymanhamami5628
Greetings from Algeria 🇩🇿
@laerciojoseferreira4440
JLH, forever !