John Lee Hooker Songs Ranked
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912, or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often incorporated other elements, including talking blues and early North Mississippi Hill country blues. He developed his own driving-rhythm boogie style, distinct from the 1930s–1940s piano-derived boogie-woogie. Hooker was ranked 35 in Rolling Stones 2015 list of 100 greatest guitarists. Some of his best-known songs include “Boogie Chillen’” (1948), “Crawling King Snake” (1949), “Dimples” (1956), “Boom Boom” (1962), and “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” (1966). Several of his later albums, including The Healer (1989), Mr. Lucky (1991), Chill Out (1995), and Don’t Look Back (1997), were album chart successes in the U.S. and UK. The Healer (for the song “I’m In The Mood”) and Chill Out (for the album) both earned him Grammy wins s well as Don’t Look Back, which went on to earn him a double-Grammy win for Best Traditional Blues Recording and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (with Van Morrison). Here are all John Lee Hooker songs ranked.
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10. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (The Real Folk Blues, 1966)
“From Amos Milburn and the original recording in 1953 (One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer) to John Lee Hooker in 1966 and George Thorogood in 1977 is a great triple take on a great song.”
9. Hobo Blues (I’m John Lee Hooker , 1959)
“Hobo Blues” by John Lee Hooker is an exceptional blues performance, played midtempo by John Lee’s ringing, bluesy electric guitar as he convincingly evokes the hard, uncertain life of an itinerant wanderer”
8. I Need Some Money (That’s My Story, 1960)
“A weird one; basically this is a remake of Barrett Strong’s 1959 hit “Money (That’s What I Want)” in a blues setting, with JLH semi-improvising new lyrics over the top. The flip, in which he swears off picking up women who are not his wife, may be a clue.”
7. It Serves You Right To Suffer (The Best of 1965-74, 1974)
“As a big fan of upbeat, rockabilly, and hill country style blues, this is my favorite John Lee Hooker album. I wish it were longer, but it’s great the whole way through. It also has down tempo, sadder songs because obviously, it’s the blues. All in all a good mix and a great album if you want to get a bit of almost everything John Lee Hooker has to offer.”
See more: John Lee Hooker Albums Ranked
6. Blues Boogie Jam (John Lee Hooker, 1986)
“This is THE music to get. John Lee Hooker was the most basic of all the major bluesmen. That one chord boogie he did for over fifty years was blues at its essence. Packed with power.”
5. Dimples (I am John Lee Hooker, 1959)
“You got dimples in your jaw / I’ve got my eyes on you”. This song offers a frank and unorthodox expression of sexual attraction, to say the least.”
4. I’m in the Mood (I am John Lee Hooker, 1959)
“I’m in the Mood” was cut in around September 1951 in Detroit by John Lee Hooker (guitar and vocal) and Eddie Kirkland (guitar). One of Hooker’s very best sides, the song has a slow to midtempo, sensual setting, hypnotic electric guitar from John Lee and His foot stomps on a sheet of plywood, with fine guitar support from Eddie Kirkland, as John Lee’s echo-laden, overdubbed vocal makes clear his horniness”
See more: Paul Rodgers Albums Ranked
3. Boom Boom (Burnin’, 1962)
“Boom Boom” is one of the most famous classic blues through The Animals and the Yardbirds. If you’re really into the blues from the roots, this one is a must-have. John sings a sentence and replies with his guitar while he’s stamping the tempo with his foot. Don’t believe his guitar playing is that easy; There is a lot of improvisation there.”
2. Crawlin’ King Snake (I am John Lee Hooker, 1959)
“It’s not enough that he evokes a king snake in the title/lyrics, he has to become one, dropping his voice to a whisper and setting a deliberate pace for his guitar to slither around. This is far from my favorite John Lee Hooker song, but it’s hard to think of many songs that drive a metaphor home as much as this one does.”
1. Boogie Chillen (I am John Lee Hooker, 1959)
“”This is ‘Boogie Chillen No 2′!” Hooker announces emphatically at the start of the record, just in case you were wondering. It’s hard to improve on perfection, but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t do it — or if he doesn’t, he at least matches his earlier classic. The main difference between the two is that after Hooker recounts his bedtime epiphany — “I heard Papa tell Mama/ Let that boy boogie woogie” — he goes into greater detail as to why he should be allowed to boogie woogie. Given as in the first verse he’s already told us that his girl has “somethin’ shaped like an apple … somethin’ shaped like a pear”, I think you can tell where he’s going with this. And if you don’t, Hooker’s monolithic guitar riff may give you a further clue or two.”
