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.
Women in My Life
John Lee Hooker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With you on my mind
Yes, I'm goin' away, baby
With you on my mind
You cheat me, but I didn't bother
Trouble all the time
Four women in my life
Yes, I never loved, but
Four women in my life
They're my mommy and my sister
Sweetheart and my wine
He's sayin' you don't want me
Please, don't dog me 'round
Just like you found me, baby
You can put me down
I said goodbye, baby
And you called that dog
I said goodbye, baby
And you called that dog
You can't leave me now
You be comin' back
In John Lee Hooker's "Women in My Life," he talks about leaving somebody, but he can't seem to get them off his mind. The lyrics suggest that he is leaving because his partner has been cheating on him, causing him trouble all the time, yet he is still thinking about them. He confesses that he has never been in love but has had four women in his life, namely his mommy, sister, sweetheart, and wine. The first two represent his family and the latter two signify his vices. These four women in his life have been constants in his life and have probably helped him get through tough times.
Hooker seems to be pleading with his partner not to dog him around and not to leave him, but he eventually gives in and says goodbye. However, he is surprised when his partner calls him a dog, even though he didn't want to leave in the first place. He doesn't want to be put down harshly, but he also can't seem to leave his partner entirely. He, therefore, concludes that he'll come back or return.
In summary, the song appears to be about a man who is leaving his partner because of infidelity but is struggling with his decision. He has never been in love but has had significant women in his life that have helped him through good and bad times. He is pleading with his partner not to dog him around and not to put him down harshly but eventually gives in to say goodbye.
Line by Line Meaning
Yes, I'm goin' away, baby
I'm leaving, but thoughts of you will stay with me
With you on my mind
Your presence will be lingering in my thoughts even when I leave
You cheat me, but I didn't bother
You betrayed me, but I chose not to react negatively
Trouble all the time
Your actions always caused problems for me
Yes, I never loved, but
Despite my claims, I actually have loved before
Four women in my life
There have been four significant women who have impacted my life
They're my mommy and my sister
Two of those women are my family members
Sweetheart and my wine
The other two women are my romantic partner and my addiction to alcohol
He's sayin' you don't want me
You're indicating that you no longer desire a relationship with me
Please, don't dog me 'round
Please don't treat me poorly or unfairly
Just like you found me, baby
Return me to my original state, just as you discovered me before
You can put me down
You have the power to end our relationship or hurt me emotionally
I said goodbye, baby
I attempted to end things between us
And you called that dog
But you responded to my goodbye by insulting me
You can't leave me now
You're pleading with me to stay in the relationship
You be comin' back
You're confident that I'll return to you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BERNARD BESMAN, JOHN LEE HOOKER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind