John Lee Hooker Quotes & Sayings

I never build myself us. I let the people do that. I'm the most laid-back person, and I let them build me up. If you ask me, I say, 'I'm just a guy playin' some blues. — John Lee Hooker

If they played more blues, people would just get it - they try to hold it back but just about can't hold it back now because the blues is really going. — John Lee Hooker

I like the small clubs. — John Lee Hooker

When I die, they'll bury the blues with me. But the blues will never die. — John Lee Hooker

I'm even afraid to lay down with you at night, because when you go to bed at night, mean woman, you got an ice pick in your hand. — John Lee Hooker

But I don't want to do no big tours or go out on the road. — John Lee Hooker

Well I ain't seen my baby since I don't know when,
I've been drinking bourbon whiskey, scotch and gin
Gonna get high man I'm gonna get loose,
Need me a triple shot of that juice
Gonna get drunk don't you have no fear
I want one bourbon, one scotch and one beer
One bourbon, one scotch, one beer. — John Lee Hooker

I want to play music when I want, write a song if I want or watch a baseball game if I want. — John Lee Hooker

Like you and your woman ain't gettin' along and you're in love. You can't sleep at nights. Your mind is on her - on whatever. You know, that's the blues. You can't hug that money at night. You can't kiss it. — John Lee Hooker

You can go to Europe, and there's no turnin' back - any parts of Europe. Wherever you are, there is no stop and go for the blues. The blues go but it don't stop. — John Lee Hooker

In my career, people in the record business have been rockin' in the same ol' boat. They all crooks - I'll say it clear and loud - especially the big ones. — John Lee Hooker

The way Will Moore taught me, and the way I play it, the blues is just something different. — John Lee Hooker

I went on to Cincinnati. I had got a taste of the big cities and them bright lights. I stayed there until I was about 18 or 19 and then I went on to Detroit. — John Lee Hooker

I like dropping into a small club and playing with some people, trying to help them get a start. — John Lee Hooker

It don't take me no three days to record no album. — John Lee Hooker

All my life I been doin' what people tell me to do. Now, I'm telling them. — John Lee Hooker

One night I was layin' down,
I heard Papa talkin' to Mama,
I heard Papa say to let that boy boogie-woogie.
'Cause it's in him and it's got to come out. — John Lee Hooker

The one thing the blues don't get is the backing and pushing of TV and radio like a lot of this garbage you hears. They choke stuff down people's throat so they got no choice but to listen to it. — John Lee Hooker

I don't play a lot of fancy guitar. I don't want to play it. The kind of guitar I want to play is mean, mean licks. — John Lee Hooker

I don't think about time. You're here when you're here. I think about today, staying in tune. — John Lee Hooker

It's never hard to sing the blues. Everyone in the world has the blues ... — John Lee Hooker

I just get an idea and then all of a sudden I've got a song. — John Lee Hooker

No matter what you got, the blues is there — John Lee Hooker

They wasn't gonna give you nothin'. I didn't care as long as they let me play my music. Cash on the spot ... You cheat me and I'm gonna get me some money, too. — John Lee Hooker

I remember back in Detroit, I used to go to the Apex Bar every night after I got off work. The bartender there used to call me Boom Boom. I don't know why, but he did. — John Lee Hooker

Oh, I still like to play and I still play when I want to. — John Lee Hooker

Since you knew they was goin' to cheat you anyway, I recorded under any name with all of 'em. — John Lee Hooker

I do benefits. I do them all the time. There's so many people out there that needs help that I can't say I won't help them. — John Lee Hooker

I've got enough money to live me two lifetimes so I don't have to do nothing I don't want to. — John Lee Hooker

My style is all to myself. — John Lee Hooker

The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning. — John Lee Hooker

Ron Thompson, he's my main man! — John Lee Hooker

I hitchhiked, took trucks 'n' trains - anything that would pick me up. I stopped in Memphis for about six months and they found me and come got me. Stayed about a month an' split again. — John Lee Hooker

I don't do nothin' I don't want to do. — John Lee Hooker

Poor people have the blues because they're poor and hungry. Rich people can't sleep at night because they're trying to hold on to their money and everything they have. — John Lee Hooker

Groups are corporations now. They have pension plans. Musicians have saw the daylight. — John Lee Hooker

I don't do nothing I don't want to do. — John Lee Hooker

I been doing the same things as in my younger days, when I was coming up, and now here I am, an old man, up there in the charts. And I say, well, what happened? Have they just thought up the real John Lee Hooker, is that it? And I think, well, I won't tell nobody else! I can't help but wonder what happened. — John Lee Hooker

I wanna get drunk 'til I'm off my mind. One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer. — John Lee Hooker

I don't like no fancy chords. Just the boogie. The drive. The feeling. A lot of people play fancy but they don't have no style. It's a deep feeling-you just can't stop listening to that sad blues sound. My sound. — John Lee Hooker

I am a happy man. I've had a good life. — John Lee Hooker

I have heartaches, I have blues. No matter what you got, the blues is there. 'Cause that's all I know - the blues. And I can sing the blues so deep until you can have this room full of money and I can give you the blues. — John Lee Hooker

That girl has a special talent — John Lee Hooker