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.
My First Wife Left Me
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When my first wife left me, she left my heart in misery
Ever since that day, boy, I don't think I'll ever love again
If I can get her back again, I'll never roam no more
If I get her back again, boys, I'll never roam no more
I had a good wife, but I did not treat her right
It's my fault, it's my fault, boys--I only have myself to blame
She would have been home right now if I hadn't wanted every woman that I seen
I found out one thing: these women don't mean you no good
I found out one thing, people: these women don't mean you no good
You mistreated a good girl for some woman--that she'd turn around and turn her back on you
Yes, yeah
I'm having bad luck, having bad luck ever since she been gone
I'm having bad luck, bad luck, bad luck, ever since my baby been gone
When she was at home, Lord, I did not treat her right
John Lee Hooker's song "My First Wife Left Me" tells the story of a man who is heartbroken after his wife has left him. The lyrics are simple, but they convey a deep sadness that is palpable throughout the entire song. The first verse sets the tone for the rest of the song, as Hooker sings about the misery he feels since his wife left him. He states that he doesn't think he'll ever love again, indicating the depth of his sorrow.
In the second verse, Hooker expresses his desire to get his wife back. He promises that if he can win her back, he will never roam again. It's clear that Hooker recognizes his mistake in mistreating his wife and understands that this is the primary reason she left him.
The third and fourth verses highlight the regret that Hooker feels for his actions. He acknowledges that his wandering eye and inability to treat his wife well are to blame for their relationship's downfall. He sings about how his previous infidelities were ultimately the reason for his wife leaving him.
In the final verse, Hooker concludes that he has been having bad luck ever since his wife left him. He recognizes that he had a good thing with his wife, but his actions ruined it. The song ends on a melancholy note, with Hooker reflecting on the consequences of his actions.
Overall, "My First Wife Left Me" is a poignant and honest portrayal of the pain that can come with love and loss. Hooker's raw and emotional delivery adds to the impact of the lyrics, and it's clear that he draws from personal experiences in his portrayal of heartbreak and regret.
Line by Line Meaning
When my first wife left me, she left my heart in misery
My heart was broken when my first wife left me, leaving me feeling miserable
Ever since that day, boy, I don't think I'll ever love again
Since that day, I have not been able to love again
If I get her back again, boys, I'll never roam no more
If she comes back to me, I will be faithful to her and never cheat again
I had a good wife, but I did not treat her right
I had a good wife, but I did not treat her the way she deserved to be treated
It's my fault, it's my fault, boys--I only have myself to blame
I take full responsibility for what happened and blame myself
She would have been home right now if I hadn't wanted every woman that I seen
If I had not wanted other women, she would still be with me now
I found out one thing, people: these women don't mean you no good
I have learned that some women cannot be trusted
You mistreated a good girl for some woman--that she'd turn around and turn her back on you
You mistreated a good girl for another woman, who ended up betraying you
I'm having bad luck, bad luck, bad luck, ever since my baby been gone
I have been experiencing a string of bad luck since she left me
When she was at home, Lord, I did not treat her right
I did not treat her properly when she was with me
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JOHN LEE HOOKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Михаил Сергопольцев
When my first wife left me, she left my heart in misery
When my first wife left me, she left my heart in misery
Ever since that day boy, I don't think I'll ever love again
If I can get her back again, I'll never roam no more
If I get her back again, boys, I never roam no more
I had a good wife, but I did not treat her right
It's my fault, only have myself to blame
It's my fault, it's my fault boys, I only have myself to blame
She would have been home right now, if I hadn't wanted every woman that I seen
I found out one thing, these women don't mean you no good
I found out one thing people, these women don't mean you no good
You mistreated a good girl for some woman, that she'd turn around and turn her back on you
Yes, yeah
I'm having bad luck, having bad luck ever since she been gone
I'm having bad luck, bad luck, bad luck, ever since my baby been gone
When she was at home, Lord, I did not treat her right