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.
Ramblin' By Myself
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Gone yes, she is gone.
Ya know she's gone an left me.
An she won't be back no mo'.
She left me this mo'nin'.
She left me by myself.
She left me this mo'nin'.
She left me by myself.
'I won't be back no mo'.'
'You don't stop your way.'
'I won't be back, a-tall.'
My babe she gone, she left me by myself.
Oh, she's gone an left.
She's gone an left.
She's gone, she is real gone.
She left me this mo'nin'.
She left me by myself.
(Guitar solo)
My baby she's left this early this mo'nin' soon.
My baby she left me early this mo'nin', soon.
My baby, yeah she left me.
She left me by myself.
My baby she left me, left me all alone.
Oh, she's real gone.
She's real gone.
She's gone, she is real gone.
She's a real gone girl.
An I love her, yeah I do.
(Guitar solo)
She left this mo'nin'.
She left me by myself.
The lyrics to John Lee Hooker's song She Left Me By Myself depict a man experiencing heartbreak after his lover has left him. He repeats the words "she's gone" and "left me" numerous times throughout the song, emphasizing the pain and emptiness he's feeling. He speaks directly to his lover, mentioning that she left him this morning and won't be coming back - indicating that the separation is final.
The song is filled with repetition and variations of the phrase "she left me by myself," which creates a sense of loneliness and isolation. Hooker's use of repetition, paired with the steady guitar line, creates a driving rhythm that mirrors the character's inner turmoil. The guitar solo also adds to the song's feeling of melancholy and grief.
One interesting aspect of the song is the simplicity of the lyrics and the overall structure. There are no complex metaphors, and the song relies on a simple melody and a few repeated phrases to create an emotional impact. It's a testament to Hooker's ability to convey complex emotions without relying on complex language or imagery.
Another interesting fact is that the song was released in 1961 on the record "Burnin'," which was produced by jazz musician and producer Orrin Keepnews. The album received critical acclaim and helped to solidify Hooker's reputation as a blues legend.
Additionally, the song has been covered by numerous artists, including George Thorogood & The Destroyers, who released a version of the song on their 1988 album "Born to Be Bad." The song has since become a blues standard, with countless musicians covering it over the years.
Overall, She Left Me By Myself is a gritty and emotional blues song that captures the pain of heartbreak in a straightforward and effective way.
Chords (standard tuning):
Intro: E
Verse: E – A – B7 – A – E
Chorus: E – A – B7 – A – E
Line by Line Meaning
My baby she's gone, baby she's gone.
My significant other has left me.
Gone yes, she is gone.
She has departed and is no longer here.
Ya know she's gone an left me.
It is a fact that my partner has left me.
An she won't be back no mo'.
She will not return to me ever again.
She left me this mo'nin'.
She departed earlier today.
She left me by myself.
I am now alone as a result of her departure.
She said, 'Johnny, yes I'm gone.'
She told me directly that she has left.
'I won't be back no mo'.'
She confirmed that she will never return to me.
'You don't stop your way.'
She offered no reason or fault for her departure.
'I won't be back, a-tall.'
She reiterated that she will never return to me.
Oh, she's gone an left.
My partner has gone and left me.
She's gone, she is real gone.
She has left me and is truly gone.
My babe she gone, she left me by myself.
My significant other has left me alone.
She left me this mo'nin'.
She departed earlier today.
(Guitar solo)
Musical interlude - no lyrics.
My baby she's left this early this mo'nin' soon.
My significant other has departed this morning.
My baby she left me early this mo'nin', soon.
She left me early this morning.
My baby, yeah she left me.
My significant other has left me.
She left me by myself.
As a result of her departure, I am now alone.
She left me, left me all alone.
She has left me feeling isolated and by myself.
She's a real gone girl.
She is a truly absent person now.
An I love her, yeah I do.
Despite her departure, I still have feelings of love for her.
(Guitar solo)
Musical interlude - no lyrics.
She left this mo'nin'.
She departed earlier today.
She left me by myself.
As a result of her departure, I am now alone.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BERNARD BESMAN, JOHN LEE HOOKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
fenderplayer
this song AGAIN Demonstrates that John Lee Hooker is a Strong candidate for "King of the Blues".