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.
Mama You Got a Daughter
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well mama mama, talk to your daughter for me
Tell your daughter that I love her now, I'll do anything I can
Tell your daughter I love her, love her till the day I die
Tell your daughter I love her, I'll love her till the day I die
I want to you to talk to your daughter, talk to your daughter for me
I'm loving that woman, I'm crazy about your daughter
I'm waiting for your daughter, I love your daughter
I said look over here now mama
Ever since mama, your daughter was five years old
I was six years old, we were going to school together mama
I was a natural born fool for your daughter mama
Mama please talk to your daughter
Tell your daughter I love her mama
I love your daughter, do anything she says
Mama talk to your daughter
Mama talk to your daughter
Tell your daughter I love her
Mama talk to your daughter
Tell your daughter I love her
Mama talk to your daughter for me
I'm crazy about your daughter
Mama I'm crazy about your daughter
Mama talk to your daughter
You know that's your daughter
Tell your daughter I love her
Talk to your daughter, talk to your daughter for me
Mama talk to your daughter (repeat)
The song Mama You Got a Daughter by John Lee Hooker is a sentimental plea to a mother to talk to her daughter about the singer’s love for her. The singer is deeply in love with the daughter and is willing to do anything for her. He is asking the mother to intervene on his behalf and convey his love to her daughter. He explains that he has been infatuated with the daughter since they were young and attended school together. The singer is begging for the mother's assistance in winning over the daughter's heart.
The song has a slow, emotional tempo with Hooker’s distinctive guitar playing and soulful vocals. The lyrics are simple and straightforward, but they convey a deep sense of longing and love. The repeated refrain of “Mama talk to your daughter for me” reinforces the singer's desperation for the mother's help. John Lee Hooker's rendition of this song is a classic blues ballad that evokes powerful emotions and captures the essence of love, desperation, and longing.
Overall, the song is a heartfelt plea from a man in love, reaching out to the mother of his love interest for help. It is a beautiful piece of blues music that has stood the test of time, resonating with audiences from different generations.
Line by Line Meaning
Well mama mama, talk to your daughter for me
I am asking you, the mother, to pass on a message to your daughter.
Tell your daughter that I love her now, I'll do anything I can
Communicate to your daughter that I currently have strong feelings of love for her and I am willing to do anything to keep her happy.
Tell your daughter I love her, love her till the day I die
Please let your daughter know that my love for her is genuine, and it will never cease, even until the point of my death.
I'm loving that woman, I'm crazy about your daughter
I am madly in love with the woman you have given birth to, and I am willing to do anything to make her mine.
Ever since mama, your daughter was five years old
Since your daughter was five years old, I have had strong feelings of love and admiration for her.
I was six years old, we were going to school together mama
Since I was six years old, I have been going to school with the woman I am in love with, your daughter.
I'm waiting for your daughter, I love your daughter
I am patiently waiting for your daughter to reciprocate my affections, and I am deeply in love with her.
Mama please talk to your daughter
I implore you, mother, to talk to your daughter on my behalf.
I love your daughter, do anything she says
My love for your daughter is so strong that I am willing to do anything she asks of me.
You know that's your daughter
You are fully aware that the woman I am referring to is your daughter.
Talk to your daughter, talk to your daughter for me
I am requesting that you have a conversation with your daughter on my behalf.
Mama talk to your daughter (repeat)
I continuously urge you, mother, to communicate with your daughter about my feelings for her.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@wheelsongovinragurn1735
I remember growing up on this song from this album
@derekcuthbert6700
A reason to love someone just to dance with them to this
@letishastamp743
i love how the guitar is pleading as well
@kanesmith586
Hey who sings this song
@beetfarmer6900
I love how at the end of this song, he almost sounds as if in the passion of his plea for the daughter... he starts gaining interest in the mom herself... classic blues.
@kanesmith586
Hey dog who sings this song
@celiapinheiro3662
I wanted tô watch the movie again. Even though i bet It would make me cry. Célias daughter.
@kanesmith586
Who sings this song chick
@muddobbermuddobber8118
HOOKERed....for LIFE !
@Coganboy
Classic music. Thanks.