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.
Solid Sender
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Baby, you send my soul.
You's a solid sender, babe.
Baby, you send my soul.
I lay my hands on your body, baby
You chill me, you chill me through and through.
You don't wear no fine clothes, baby
You don't wear no lipstick and powder, baby
When you send my soul, send my soul on fire.
You's a natural born sender, baby
You's a natural born sender, baby
You, sender, sender, I declare you a natural born sender, baby
You send my soul, send my soul,
Plead me?
Gave away?
MmmMmm
You's a natural born sender baby,
Sender, sender babe
The song Solid Sender by John Lee Hooker is a classic blues track that features Hooker's signature deep and raspy voice, backed by a simple yet groovy guitar riff. The lyrics of the song focus on the charms and magnetism of a woman who's a "solid sender", which means that she has a natural ability to captivate and excite people. According to Hooker, this woman has the power to send his soul on fire and chill him through and through whenever he touches her body. This is a testament to her sexual prowess and the power she has over men.
The lyrics of the chorus repeat the phrase "you's a solid sender, babe" to emphasize the irresistible nature of this woman's aura. Interestingly, Hooker also notes that this woman doesn't rely on fine clothes, makeup, or any other external adornments to exert her effect on him. She's a natural-born sender who can cast her spell with just her presence. The repetition of the word "sender" throughout the song conveys a sense of rhythm and momentum that matches the groove of the music.
Some of the other lines in the song are a bit harder to decipher, as Hooker's delivery and the recording quality can make the words difficult to discern. However, the overall message of the song is clear: there's something special about this woman that makes her stand out from the rest. She's a solid sender, and Hooker can't get enough of her.
Line by Line Meaning
You's a solid sender, babe.
You are a strong and reliable source of affection, my dear.
Baby, you send my soul.
You have a profound and positive impact on my spirit and well-being, my darling.
I lay my hands on your body, baby
You chill me, you chill me through and through.
When I touch you, my sweet, you evoke a powerful and pleasing sensation that fills me completely.
You don't wear no fine clothes, baby
And you don't, you don't, you don't look ....?
You do not dress extravagantly or show off your beauty, my love, and you do not care about appearances as others do... what a mystery it is.
You don't wear no lipstick and powder, baby
When you send my soul, send my soul on fire.
Even though you do not use makeup or jewelry, my sweet, your passion sets me ablaze and sends me to incredible heights of ecstasy.
You's a natural born sender, baby
You's a natural born sender, baby
You are innately gifted, my love, a true master of the art of love, and you never fail to stimulate my soul with your charms.
You, sender, sender, I declare you a natural born sender, baby
You send my soul, send my soul,
Plead me?
Gave away?
MmmMmm
You, my dear, are a true sender, a master in the art of love, and I declare it with joy! You awaken my soul and I am pleading with desire, completely given over to you...mmmm!
You's a natural born sender baby,
Sender, sender babe
You, my love, are an effortless seducer, a natural-born sender, that is undeniable, my sweetest babe!
Contributed by Connor S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Gene Fowler
His voice IS the blues, so haunted sounding
12 Hornet's
This guys 1 of the reasons for everything
thewiildeone
Sexiest song EVER! Damn, I wish I wrote this!