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.
Night Time Is The Right Time
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
(Night and day)
Is the right time
(Night and day)
To be
(Night and day)
With the one you love, now
(Night and day)
(Night and day)
When I come home, baby, now
(Night and day)
I wanna be with the one I love, now
(Night and day)
You know what I'm thinking of
(Night and day)
I know the night time
(Night and day, oh)
Whoa, is the right time
(Night and day, oh)
To be with the one you love, now
(Night and day)
I said to be with the one you love
(Night and day)
You know my mother, now
(Night and day)
Had to die, now
(Night and day)
Umm, and my father
(Night and day)
Well, he broke down and cry
(Night and day)
Whoa, whoa, baby
(Night and day)
When I come home, baby, now
(Night and day)
I want you to hold my hand
(Night and day)
Yeah, tight as you can
(Night and day)
I know the night time
(Night and day, oh)
Whoa, is the right time
(Night and day, oh)
To be with the one you love
(Night and day)
You know what I'm thinking of
(Night and day)
Whoa, sing your song, Margie
Baby
(Night and day)
Baby
(Night and day)
Baby
(Night and day)
Oh, baby
(Night and day)
Do I love you?
(Night and day)
No one above you
(Night and day)
Hold me tight
(Night and day)
And make everything all right
(Night and day)
Because the night time
(Night and day)
Oh, is the right time
(Night and day)
To be with the one you love now
(Night and day)
Oh, yeah
(Night and day)
Tease me
(Night and day)
Squeeze me
(Night and day)
Leave me
(Night and day)
Ah, don't leave me
(Night and day)
Lawdy, baby
(Night and day)
Take my hand, now
(Night and day)
I don't need
(Night and day)
No other man
(Night and day)
Because the night time
(Night and day)
Oww, is the right time
(Night and day)
To be with the one you love
(Night and day)
Oh, yeah
(Night and day)
I said baby
(Night and day)
Baby
(Night and day)
Baby
(Night and day)
Baby
(Night and day)
Whoa, baby, now
(Night and day)
Oh, come on, baby
(Night and day)
You know I want you by my side
(Night and day)
I want you to keep
(Night and day)
Oh, keep me satisfied
(Night and day)
I know the night time
(Night and day)
Everyday is the right time
(Night and day)
Yeah, to be with the one you love now
(Night and day)
Well, you know it's all right
The lyrics of John Lee Hooker's "Night Time Is The Right Time" convey the essence of passion and love that the night brings with it. The night time sets the right ambiance to be with that special someone and passionately express one's love. The repetition of the phrase "night and day" emphasizes that it is the time when one can truly express their love to the fullest. The lyrics also narrate the sad incident that happened to the persona where he lost his mother and his father broke down and cried. Essentially, the lyrics emphasize the importance of being with someone who loves and cares for you in both good and bad times.
Line by Line Meaning
You know the night time, darling
Night and day, you know that the nighttime is the right time to be with the one you love.
Is the right time
Both day and night, the right time to be with your loved one is during the night.
To be
When it comes to being with someone you love, day and night are both perfect times.
With the one you love, now
The best time to be with your significant other is during the night, whether you are together now or not.
Say now, oh, baby
Come on and say it, baby.
When I come home, baby, now
When I get home, all I want is to be with you, whether it's at night or during the day.
I wanna be with the one I love, now
All I want right now is to be with the one I love, regardless of the time of day.
You know what I'm thinking of
You already know what's on my mind.
I know the night time
I am aware that the nighttime is the best time for romance.
Whoa, is the right time
Indeed, the nighttime is the best time to be with the one you love.
I said to be with the one you love
Once again, the best time to be with the one you love is at night.
You know my mother, now
Let me tell you about my mother.
Had to die, now
Sadly, my mother passed away.
Umm, and my father
And my father...
Well, he broke down and cry
He broke down and cried about my mother's passing.
Whoa, whoa, baby
Wow, baby.
I want you to hold my hand
When I get home, I want you to hold my hand tight.
Yeah, tight as you can
Hold my hand as tightly as you can.
You know what I'm thinking of
Once again, you know what's on my mind.
Whoa, sing your song, Margie
Sing me your song, Margie.
Do I love you?
Am I in love with you?
No one above you
There is no one above you in my heart.
Hold me tight
Hold me tightly.
And make everything all right
Make everything okay between us.
Because the night time
Once again, the night time...
Oww, is the right time
Is without a doubt, the right time to be with the one you love.
Tease me
Tease me, baby.
Squeeze me
Squeeze me tight.
Leave me
Leave me alone.
Ah, don't leave me
Don't ever leave me.
Lawdy, baby
Oh my, baby.
Take my hand, now
Take my hand right now.
I don't need
I don't need anyone else.
No other man
As far as men go, I only need you.
Well, you know it's all right
Everything is okay between us and there is nothing to worry about.
Oh, come on, baby
Come on, sweetie.
You know I want you by my side
I want you to be beside me always.
I want you to keep
I want you to keep me.
Oh, keep me satisfied
Keep me satisfied with your love.
Everyday is the right time
Every single day, both day and night, is the right time for love.
Well, you know it's all right
Once again, everything is perfectly okay between us.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: James Oden, Roosevelt Sykes
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Rob AIR
Does anyone know the tabs for this song ?
Craig McCauley
Always cool!