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.
Spellbound
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Spellbound, spellbound
My feet won′t touch the ground
I'm spellbound, babe
My feet gon′ touch the ground
I'm spell, spell-spellbound
I'm spell-bound, babe
My feet ain′t touch the ground, babe
Your lovin′ way
Magic, lovin' way
With your magic, lovin′ way
My mind in a haze
My mind in a haze
My mind, my mind
My mind, my, my, my, my, my mind in a haze
Your lovin'
Your lovin′, lovin' way
Love, babe
Your magic love, babe
Your magic, magic love, babe
Walking through a wall
Spell-bound, bound
My heart in your hand
My heart in your hand
My heart in your hand
Now, now, now, now, do, babe
Lovin′ me
Your lovin', lovin' way, lovin′ way
I can′t help, I can't help
What you do, now, now
Now, babe
Now, babe
My mind in a haze
Spellbound
Spellbound
Oh, babe
Now, babe, you know you got me
Spellbound
Spell, spell
Brown, brown
Bound, bound
Hey
Hey-hey
I′m walking through a wall
Spellbound, your lovin' way
Lovin′ way, babe
Yeah, yeah
Hey, hey
Hey, babe
Now, babe
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Spellbound
Spell-bound
Spellbound
Hey, hey
Spellbound
I'm spellbound
In John Lee Hooker's song "Spellbound," the singer expresses how completely captivated he is by his lover. He describes being in a state of enchantment and being unable to touch the ground, indicating a sense of weightlessness and being carried away by his intense feelings. The repetition of the phrase "spellbound" emphasizes the power that his lover has over him, making him feel both mesmerized and bewitched.
He further delves into the effect his lover has on his mind, describing it as being in a haze. The use of the word "magic" in conjunction with his lover's loving ways suggests that their love is extraordinary and maybe even supernatural. The lyrics imply that the singer's heart is in their lover's hands, signifying vulnerability and complete surrender to their love.
Line by Line Meaning
Spellbound, spellbound
Completely captivated and enchanted
My feet won′t touch the ground
Feeling weightless and euphoric
I'm spellbound, babe
Under a powerful and irresistible spell
My feet gon′ touch the ground
Unable to bring oneself back to reality
I'm spell, spell-spellbound
Utterly mesmerized and entranced
I'm spell-bound, babe
Completely under the influence of a magical force
My feet ain′t touch the ground, babe
In a state of being detached from reality
Your lovin′ way
The enchanting and captivating way you love
Magic, lovin' way
The mystical and enchanting way you love
With your magic, lovin′ way
Through the enchanting and spellbinding way you love
My mind in a haze
My thoughts clouded and confused
My mind
My thoughts and consciousness
My mind, my, my, my, my, my mind in a haze
My thoughts heavily obscured and disoriented
Your lovin'
The way you express love
Your lovin′, lovin' way
The enchanting and captivating way you express love
Love, babe
Intense affection and connection, darling
Your magic love, babe
The extraordinary and captivating love you possess, darling
Walking through a wall
Experiencing something seemingly impossible
Spell-bound, bound
Completely under the influence of a powerful enchantment
My heart in your hand
My emotions and vulnerability entrusted to you
Now, now, now, now, do, babe
Take action now, darling
Lovin′ me
Expressing affection towards me
I can′t help, I can't help
Unable to control or resist
What you do, now, now
The impact of your actions
Now, babe
At this moment, darling
My mind in a haze
My thoughts clouded and confused
Spellbound
Completely captivated and enchanted
Oh, babe
Expressing affection and admiration
Now, babe, you know you got me
Realizing the enthralling power the other person holds over them
Spell, spell
An incantation or charm
Brown, brown
Referring to someone with brown skin or hair
Bound, bound
Unable to break free from the enchantment
Hey
Exclamation expressing attention or surprise
Hey-hey
Expressing excitement or enthusiasm
I′m walking through a wall
Experiencing something seemingly impossible
Spellbound, your lovin' way
Completely enchanted by the way you love
Lovin′ way, babe
The enchanting and captivating way you love, darling
Yeah, yeah
Expression of agreement or affirmation
Hey, hey
Exclamation expressing attention or surprise
Hey, babe
Affectionate address to a loved one
Now, babe
At this moment, darling
Yeah, yeah
Expression of agreement or affirmation
Yeah, yeah
Expression of agreement or affirmation
Spellbound
Completely captivated and enchanted
Spell-bound
Completely under the influence of a powerful enchantment
Spellbound
Completely captivated and enchanted
Hey, hey
Exclamation expressing attention or surprise
Spellbound
Completely captivated and enchanted
I'm spellbound
Completely captivated and enchanted
Writer(s): John Lee Hooker, Michael Osborn
Contributed by Sebastian I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@mayegs49
El Maestro del Blues💯💯❤❤❤
@Jjason601
great song,
@mankepoot9440
Strong La Grange ZZ Top vibe.