# The Strange Magic of: John Lee Hooker



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

John Lee Hooker. There's The Blues. Then there are the great Blues singers--Robert Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, the late BB King; the list goes on..... But off to the side, like a solitary Colossus, is the singular presence of John Lee Hooker. Hooker possessed a remarkable combination of distinctive attributes: a quietly stern demeanor that told you he was seriously engaged in his music; a commanding grasp of rural, Southern blues topics; a quiet delivery that always hinted at great depths beneath; and, finally, a truly distinctive guitar technique that had a touch of menace in it. He warned of the mean, mean black snake that was sucking his rider's tongue at night, of the great flood afflicting Tupelo, Mississippi, of his threat that he was going to use his rod, if needed, to deal with anyone poaching on his love interest. Here is rare footage of him singing _i'll Never Get Out of These Blues Alive_, with close attention paid to his guitar playing.


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## Iean (Nov 17, 2015)

"Boom Boom" is a masterpiece:angel:


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Never been a big John Lee Hooker fan. For this kind of thing I like Lightnin' Hopkins, Son House, Robert Johnson, Fred McDowell, or even Buddy Guy.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

In 1970 Hooker did a good double album with Canned Heat with Hooker backed by the band (minus singer Bob Hite) on most of sides three and four and playing on his own on the rest (apart from three tracks where CH's Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson plays piano or back-up guitar) - the last track on the album is a really storming version of Boogie Chillen #2.


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

A good set with Ry Cooder


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## Guest (Jan 9, 2016)

One of my favorite Hooker numbers. Recorded in Detroit in the late 40s where he began his music career. He lived in Detroit for quite a long time. He started at Sensation but was recording for Fortune Records into the 60s and that's where he met and developed protege Eddie Kirkland, whom I had the fortune to see live once. Btw, this song is called "Roll N Roll" not "Rock N Roll."

Hooker also helped Bobo Jenkins who, like Hooker, left Mississippi and came to Detroit where he spent the rest of his life. Bobo was friends with Eddie and Hooker and was mad one day after he took his girl to a house party and she ran off with the guitarist. "I should learn me to play guitar," said Bobo, "and pay these @#[email protected]# back!" Hooker pointed at his axe and said, "Go pick up my guitar and git to playin' it then!" Bobo did and the next day he went to a pawn shop and bought his own. The owner had to show him how to tune it, Eddie Kirkland gave Bobo a few lessons and from then on Bobo played and played and played. He's not well known but he is one of the greatest blues talents to come out of Detroit. Sonny Boy Williamson lived at his house for a while. Son House died here too. He's buried at the Mt Hazel Cemetery at Lahser and Pickford in the middle of Brightmoor--the worst urban blight I have ever seen--ever. I went to visit his grave but I was afraid to get out of my car.





Hooker learned guitar from his stepfather, William Moore. When Hooker left home, the story went that he never saw his parents again but those who were close to him say that he kept in constant contact with them. Like many of the old school bluesmen, Hooker had a deep religious connection to his music although he was not a religious man. He never counted a song off but would bow his head with his eyes closed and wait for the spirit of the music to enter into him. It didn't take long but he didn't like counting off. So it made it hard for his band mates to know when to come in.





Hooker has recorded under a number of aliases as John Lee Cooker and Texas Slim. These were done just to avoid wrangling with various labels over contractual rights. He said it made no difference "as long as you get the money."





Hooker's sound was honed in the juke joints. These places generally had no heat in the winter and no AC in the summer. Out on the plantations, the juke joints were generally stocked with homemade moonshine. To be heard above the din, a bluesmen had to sing and play loud and used his stomping foot for percussion. Another big drink was rotgut which was a mixture of methanol and ethanol obtained from sterno--what was called "canned heat" because you burned it in the can. In the South, they called it "Can-dee." With a belly full of this stuff, a man became a raving demon, all his worst traits magnified a thousand-fold. So the jukes were very, very rough and dangerous places to play but that was your main venue if you were a bluesman. That's where you honed your skills and that's where Hooker honed his. After a few years of that, you were a tougher, wiser individual.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

"No Shoes" is from JLH's album for VeeJay titled Travelin', if memory serves. I wore out my copy decades ago, but it was one of his best, along with his Riverside albums. Thanks for posting these selections.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Best JLH impersonation I've heard has to be Tony McPhee doing 'Groundhog' (essentially a cover of Hooker's 'Ground Hog Blues) - complete with foot stomp. Tony McPhee formed The Groundhogs in 1968 after he and bassist Pete Cruikshank backed Hooker on a UK tour in the 60s.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Another Hooker classic, _Canal Street_, from Travelin'.....


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Boogie Chillin and I’m in the Mood are super.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Strange Magic said:


> John Lee Hooker. There's The Blues. Then there are the great Blues singers--Robert Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, the late BB King; the list goes on..... But off to the side, like a solitary Colossus, is the singular presence of John Lee Hooker. Hooker possessed a remarkable combination of distinctive attributes: a quietly stern demeanor that told you he was seriously engaged in his music; a commanding grasp of rural, Southern blues topics; a quiet delivery that always hinted at great depths beneath; and, finally, a truly distinctive guitar technique that had a touch of menace in it. He warned of the mean, mean black snake that was sucking his rider's tongue at night, of the great flood afflicting Tupelo, Mississippi, of his threat that he was going to use his rod, if needed, to deal with anyone poaching on his love interest. Here is rare footage of him singing _i'll Never Get Out of These Blues Alive_, with close attention paid to his guitar playing.


I get the message that this YouTube account has been terminated due to several infliction on copyright etc...
In Europe that is.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

Victor Redseal said:


> One of my favorite Hooker numbers. Recorded in Detroit in the late 40s where he began his music career. He lived in Detroit for quite a long time. He started at Sensation but was recording for Fortune Records into the 60s and that's where he met and developed protege Eddie Kirkland, whom I had the fortune to see live once. Btw, this song is called "Roll N Roll" not "Rock N Roll."
> 
> Hooker also helped Bobo Jenkins who, like Hooker, left Mississippi and came to Detroit where he spent the rest of his life. Bobo was friends with Eddie and Hooker and was mad one day after he took his girl to a house party and she ran off with the guitarist. "I should learn me to play guitar," said Bobo, "and pay these @#[email protected]# back!" Hooker pointed at his axe and said, "Go pick up my guitar and git to playin' it then!" Bobo did and the next day he went to a pawn shop and bought his own. The owner had to show him how to tune it, Eddie Kirkland gave Bobo a few lessons and from then on Bobo played and played and played. He's not well known but he is one of the greatest blues talents to come out of Detroit. Sonny Boy Williamson lived at his house for a while. Son House died here too. He's buried at the Mt Hazel Cemetery at Lahser and Pickford in the middle of Brightmoor--the worst urban blight I have ever seen--ever. I went to visit his grave but I was afraid to get out of my car.
> 
> ...


Two out of four videos (firts two) are not available.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

elgars ghost said:


> Best JLH impersonation I've heard has to be Tony McPhee doing 'Groundhog' (essentially a cover of Hooker's 'Ground Hog Blues) - complete with foot stomp. Tony McPhee formed The Groundhogs in 1968 after he and bassist Pete Cruikshank backed Hooker on a UK tour in the 60s.


Video is not available.

We can stop as a forum if this disease grows further....


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Never mind - I'll sing it for you instead.

#It's a low down dog, a dirty ground hog, been rootin' 'round my back door....#


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Casebearer said:


> I get the message that this YouTube account has been terminated due to several infliction on copyright etc...
> In Europe that is.


Here also. Sometimes a little digging will turn up the same performance posted by another agency, and is something I check (sometimes) as I resurrect these clips. This JLH escaped me. It seems to my warped mind that it would be OK to allow individual songs to remain available forever, in that it often generates or might generate, an interest in buying the album and/or attending a concert. I can make a case to ban the YouTubing of entire albums, if the songs remained individually available.


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## IamTim (Dec 27, 2017)

I'm a big fan of John Lee Hooker, but there are a few guys that came later that are pretty good as well. Maybe not to the level of the greats like John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy the late BB King. But they are not bad, Keb Mo is rather good and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn was mighty good as well. You should give a listen to Taj Mahal & Keb' Mo' - "Don't Leave Me Here.

I'd post the video but I can't do that just yet.


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