Top Ten Tracks: John Lee Hooker

The epic blues man making it the very 1st Blues music TTT post today but I guess, the blues would be in almost of them in some way or other? What do I say about him? John Lee Hooker was born on August 22, 1917 and passed away on June 21, 2001, the son of a sharecropper. That’s the basic facts but my old man always liked/loved playing the blues, that’s both albums and his guitar too! But once discover you could buy just about everything ever record at whatever age that was? I’ll be saying to him what about this and that? I would make him piles of cassette tapes of whatever blues he hadn’t heard, at some points he would say something like “You don’t get every album every made, you know Bill?” thinking about it and that now because off course I couldn’t pay for everything but did get a lot, if I could I would sit in any record shops all day unless they said did say and even shout “NO! Get out if your not going buy any of this stuff?” I think, I might be the reason maybe single handily why some shops got ruin of listen booths because I would be like “your shop empty right now I might as well?” Some were very cool about it and even became mates with the shop owner because it was always the smaller indie shops that liked me, I would talk about music all day with them if I could too? They were most likely total bored sitting in their shop all day anyway! off course that’s where I’ll buy whatever from so great customer services won! Anyway I’ve got totally side-tracked let’s just get on with the music!

Once again just in order of releases my own personal fave songs of John Lee Hooker are these:

Crawlin’ King Snake – early single (1949)

Burnin’ Hell – early single (1949)

When My First Wife Left Me – The Folk Lore of John Lee Hooker (recorded around 1953 but released 1961)

Devil’s Jump – Sings Blues (1960)

Drug Store Woman – B-side on single Boom Boom (1962)

Serves Me Right To Suffer – B-side on single Flowers On The Hour (1964)

One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer –  The Real Folk Blues (1966)

I’m Bad Like Jesse James – Live At Cafe Au-Go-Go (1967)

Mini Skirts – Simply The Truth (1969)

Murder – The Hot Spot (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1990)

That’s 1949 to 1990 which might be pretty close to Johnny Cash timeline but I’m so shit at maths I can’t or don’t know what or who would win? Unless someone else wanna fuck a duck? I’m calling it a tie! It’s a totally mix bag today with two singles, two B-sides, three album tracks, couple kind-of live albums tracks and one soundtrack song. The 60’s easy wins with six songs this weekend then with a couple from late 40’s and one each from 50’s and 90’s. No clear albums wins but I think it would be the opening track above as my fave track by Hooker!

Changing music styles yet again next weekend, OK?

Later years Hooker backstage somewhere? 

So now who’s naming your own fave JLH’s song/s? Please!

Cheers 🙂