ON SONGWRITING
Francisco .’ When I heard that song I couldn ’ t help it . I said I gotta do it as a blues . So I wrote ‘ Frisco .’ I love Tony Bennett . I just love his voice . I want to meet him so bad .”
As far as I can tell , however , he never did get to record that classic blues album he dreamed of . Although at least one or two classics of the genre appear on all of his albums , as well as the tunes he turned into blues classics with his fingers .
“ There are certain types of songs that fit my music just like that . I turn it around and it becomes mine . You can write something for me and I may love it , but I ’ ve still got to change it to where it fits me . I listen to the radio all the time and I pick up on new things . A lot of blues artists inspire me . Some of the old blues songs are so good , and so sweet , and so mellow I ’ d like to do a whole album of them . My mind ’ s made up to do it but I haven ’ t done it yet . I could sing ‘ Hoochie Coochie Man .’ I wouldn ’ t do it like Muddy did it . I do a lot of Howlin ’ Wolf ’ s stuff . It ’ s like that song by Otis Spann , ‘ Don ’ t Let the Blues Die .’
Clearly , the blues informed every one of his songs and interpretations . “ The blues come from way back when the world was born , the blues was born . As the world progressed the blues got more fancy and more modern . They dressed it up much more . They got lyrics now that they didn ’ t have then . But they ’ re still saying the same thing . The greatest music of all comes from the blues-spirituals , rock , country & western . Everything comes from that root . When the blues first came out it was only among black people . We used to sing them in the cotton fields , on the farms . They didn ’ t care about lyrics . They whistled the blues , hummed the blues , moaned the blues . They didn ’ t have set words-they didn ’ t rhyme . But you have to roll with the times .”
Ironically as a songwriter , Hooker claimed he found it very difficult to work when he actually had the blues . “ A lot of people think blues singers write when they ’ re sad and lonely . They think you gotta be down and out to write the
John Lee Hooker by Paul Natkin
48 GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER DIGITAL EDITION JANUARY / FEBRUARY