John Lee Hooker (Coahoma County, Mississippi, August 22, 1917 – Los Altos,… Read Full Bio ↴John Lee Hooker (Coahoma County, Mississippi, August 22, 1917 – Los Altos, California, June 21, 2001) was a highly influential American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter.
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.
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.
Ride 'Em On Down
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Ride 'Em On Down' by these artists:
Eddie Taylor Yes, you're a nice girl, mama And little girl Night before d…
The Rolling Stones Yeah I'm a dealin' man, still dealing, yeah I'll go keep on…
The Rolling Stones; The Rolling Stones Yeah I'm a dealin' man, still dealing, yeah I'll go keep on…
We have lyrics for these tracks by John Lee Hooker:
'Frisco I left my heart in San Francisco I left my heart,…
11 No More Doggin Honey, no more doggin', foolin' 'round with you Honey, no m…
14) It Serves Me Right to Suffer It serves me right to suffer It serves me right to…
21 Boogie I'm goin' away, baby. But I will be comin' back. I'm goin'…
Alberta Yes, I love, love that girl Lord, I tell her what…
Annie Mae Annie Mae, I need you night and day, Annie Mae Annie…
Anybody Seen My Baby Yes, I gave you everything Everything I could afford Yes, I …
Apologize Yes, I come to you baby Babe, I wants to 'pologize…
Baby Baby, please, don't do me wrong Baby Lee, please, don't do…
Baby How Can You Do It Well, you take my money, you call it chicken feed Take…
Baby How Can You Do It? Well, you take my money, you call it chicken feed Take…
Baby Lee Baby, please, don't do me wrong Baby Lee, please, don't do…
Baby Lee (feat. Robert Cray) Hmm Baby Lee, Please don't do me wrong Baby Lee, Please don'…
Baby Please Don Baby, please, don't go Baby, please, don't go Baby, please, …
Back Biter And Syndicaters Back biters and syndicators Standing all around the door Bac…
Back Biters And Syndicators Back biters and syndicators Standing all around the door B…
Bang Bang Love the way you talk I likes the way you walk When…
Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang I love the way you talk I likes the way you…
Bar Room Drinking Oh darlin', you so good, you're good for me When…
Big Fine Woman Big leg womens, keep your dresses down You got stuff to…
Big Legs Tight Shirt Mini skirts and tight dresses, You know they're so tight the…
Big Less Tight Skirt Mini skirts and tight dresses, You know they're so tight th…
Birmingham Blues Working on the road across this great big world I've been…
Black Angel Blues I had a dream last night God knows a black cat…
Black Snake He's a mean black snake sucking my rider's tongue He's a…
Blue Bird Bluebird, please, take this letter down south for me Oh, bl…
Blue Monday Blue Monday, how I hate blue Monday Got me workin'…
Bluebird Bluebird Please, take this letter down south for me Oh, blu…
Bluebird Bluebird Take A Letter Down South Bluebird, please, take this letter down south for me Oh, bl…
Blues Before Sunrise Blue before sunrise Tears standing in my eyes Blue before su…
Blues For Big Town Yeah, I woke up this mornin' Had the blues for big…
Blues for Christmas BBBBlues for christmas I! Aint got a dime BBBlues for chri…
Boogie Well, my mama 'low me just to stay out all…
Boogie Chillin Well , my Mama she didn´t allow me, just to…
Boogie Chillun Well, my mama, she didn't 'low me just to stay…
Boogie Now Lord, I was layin' down last night, people Lord, I was…
Boogie On Well, my mama 'low me just to stay out all…
Boogie Rambler I'm a boogie rambler Boogie night and day Oh baby, boogie ni…
Boom Boom, boom, boom, boom I'm gonna shoot you right down Knock …
Boom Boom I'm Gonna Shoot You Right Down Boom, boom, boom, boom I'm gonna shoot you right down Knoc…
Boom! Boom! Boom, boom, boom, boom I'm gonna shoot you right down Knock …
Bottle Up Well, mama killed a chicken Thought it was a duck Put him…
Bottle Up and Go Well, mama killed a chicken Thought it was a duck Put him…
Bumble Bee Blues (Memphis Minnie) I got a bumble bee, don't sting nobody b…
Bundle Up and Go Well, a nickel is a nickel, dime is a dime, House…
Burnin Everybody talk about it Burning hell Ain't no heaven, I kn…
Burning Hell Everybody talk about it Burning hell Ain't no heaven, I know…
C. C. Rider See See Rider, see what you have done Lord, Lord, Lord,…
Can't Quit You I can't quit you, baby So I'm gonna put you down…
Canal Street Blues Tell me down in New Orleans. Whiskey's steamin' just like wi…
Cat Fish Blues Well, I wish I was a catfish Swimmin' in the, the…
Catfish Well, I wish I was a catfish Swimmin' in the, the…
Chill Out One of these days things gonna change One of these days…
Chill Out (Things Gonna Change) One of these days, Things gonna change One of these days Tin…
Church Bell Tone (John Lee Hooker) People I thought I heard, I thought I…
Cold Chills Cold chills, my baby makes cold chills go all over…
Come Back Baby Folks said that you found someone new To do the thing…
Country Boy I ain't nothin' but a country boy Driftin' from town to…
Crawlin You know I'm a crawlin' king snake, baby, and I…
Crawlin' Black Spider Crawlin' black spider baby, and I rules my den I'm a…
Crawlin' King Snake You know I'm a crawlin' king snake, baby, and I…
Crawling Black Spider Crawlin' black spider baby, and I rules my den I'm a…
Crawling King Snake You know I'm a crawlin' king snake, baby, and I…
Crawlin’ Black Spider Crawlin' black spider baby, and I rules my den I'm a…
Crawlin’ King Snake You know I'm a crawlin' king snake, baby, and I…
Crawlin’ Kingsnake You know I'm a crawlin' kingsnake baby, and I rules…
Craying All Night Yes, I rolled an I rolled. An I tried the whole…
Cry Before I Go (Jimmy Reed) If you gotta cry, baby, little girl, cry befor…
Crying All Night Yes, I rolled an I rolled. An I tried the whole…
Cuttin' Out (John Lee Hooker) Hey, hey, hey! I'm leavin', leavin', l…
Decoration Day Peoples, I had a woman She was nice and kind to…
Decoration Day Blues Peoples, I had a woman She was nice and kind to…
Democrat Man Democrat put us on our feet These crazy women, they vote…
Dimple I love the way you walk I love the way you…
Dimples I love the way you walk I love the way you…
Dimpless I love the way you walk I love the way you…
Dirty Ground Hog It's a low-down dog, a dirty Groundhog that rootin' round…
Dirty Ground Hog Blues Now I'm a walkin' groundhog, mama, and I walks around…
Do My Baby Think Of Me (Hooker-Besman) Lord, I wonder, um Do my baby ever think…
Doin' the Shout Hey-hey. Hey-hey. Yeah-hey. Hey-hey-hey. I'm doin' the s…
Don Don't look back to the days of yesteryear, You cannot live…
Don't Go Baby Baby, please, don't go Baby, please, don't go Baby, please, …
Don't Look Back Don't look back to the days of yesteryear, You cannot live…
Don't Start Me To Talkin' Well, I'm goin down to Rosie's, Stop at Fannie Mae's. Gonn…
Don't You Remember Hello, baby And don't you remember me? Hello, baby And, baby…
Don't You Remember Me Hello, baby And don't you remember me? Hello, baby And, b…
Dont Look Back Don't look back to the days of yesteryear, You cannot live…
Down at the Landing When I was down at the landing people, Lord, waiting…
Down Child Listen down child, please take a fool's advice Listen down …
Driftin' And Driftin' Well I'm drifting and drifting, Like a ship out on the…
Drifting from Door to Door Come back, baby, baby, please don't go Let's talk it over,…
Drive Me Away Yes I'm goin', yes I'm goin' Long and travelled make…
Drug Store Woman Yeah All I want to know The drug store girl…
Dusty Road Ain't goin' down big road by myself Ain't goin' down big…
Early One Morning early one monday morning when my baby walked away early o…
Every Night Every night doll Every night I dream of you Every night my…
Everybody People will start the rockin', even break the law People wil…
Everybody Rockin People will start the rockin', even break the law People wi…
Everynight Every night doll Every night I dream of you Every night my…
Feel So Bad Oh baby, I need love so bad Oh baby, I need…
Feelin' Is Gone I'm so worried, baby I don't know what to do, baby You…
Find Me a Woman How long, how long, baby Must I live on and be…
Fire Down Below I love the way you walk I love the way you…
Five Long Years If you've ever been mistreated, you know just what I'm…
Forgive Me They tell me God forgives you for almost anything you…
Four Woman in My Life Yes, I'm goin' away, baby With you on my mind Yes, I'm…
Four Women In My Life Yes, I'm goin' away, baby With you on my mind Yes, I'm…
Frisco I left my heart in San Francisco I left my heart,…
Give Me Your Phone Number Now won't you tell me, pretty mama Who could yo', yo'…
Go back to school little girl Hey, girl, you're so good to me Hey, little girl, little…
Goin Peoples, I had a woman She was nice and kind to…
Goin' Down Highway 51 I'm gon' get up in the mornin'. Goin' down Highway Fifty-One…
Goin' Home Blues Goin' home tomorrow Can't stand your evil ways Goin' home …
Goin' Mad Blue Peoples, I had a woman She was nice and kind to…
and many more tracks by John Lee Hooker.
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@ATAMAA
[Verse 1]
Boom, boom, boom, boom
I'm gonna shoot you right down
Right off your feet
Take you home with me
Put you in my house
Boom, boom, boom, boom
Mmmm hmmm
Mm hm hm hm
[Verse 2]
I love to see you walk
Up and down the floor
When you talking to me
That baby talk
I like it like that
You talk like that
You knock me dead
Right off my feet
A haw haw haw haw
Whoa!
[Guitar solo]
[Verse 3]
Once you walk that walk
And talk that talk
And whisper in my ear
Tell me that you love me
I love that talk
That baby talk
You knock me dead
Right off my feet
A haw haw haw haw
Yeah, yeah!
@wadesternator4787
Blues is an emotion. And everyone gets the blues
@andreasbaumler6120
Rock and Metal would have never appeared without the blues, the blues gave birth to Rock. And it's people like John Lee Hooker, B.B. King and Muddy Waters who made the electric guitar speak long before Rock'n'Roll became a mass phenomenon. And there's no better music than that real old blues to kick off the weekend. Honest music full of each kind of emotion. Who could ever be as cool as the great JLH and all the other blues heroes? Listening to this song I get lifted, and still I wonder what has become of music these days....?
@kakmaster6945
The blues were the roots, the rest were the fruits...
@FJFerra
I love all those guys, but for me is Buddy Guy the guy the perfect nexus
@Rockyourassed
Blues without Gospel would not exist, and Gospel gots its roots from Christians European choirs :).
@ememe1412
@@Rockyourassed Chanting, call and response and group singing go back all the way from before most of Europe was Christian and all the way to the Asian congregations in the Levant and across to Africa in the Coptic and Tewahedo Orthodox churches. Europe was just a step in the long journey, not the source.
@williamcarter3270
Absolutely man this kind of music is timeless
@lindaaune1075
In the early 80's my boyfriend and I went to many avenues where John was playing. We were always invited backstage to talk with him. Many hours of talking, laughing, cognac and cigars. Very good times. He was brilliant, fun and engaging. Miss those times.
@topenddean
Right on.
@nexusi6867
You're so lucky.