John Lee Hooker Quotes

• I don't think about time. You're here when you're here. I think about today, staying in tune.

  John Lee Hooker

  Stay Strong, Time, Thinking

  32 Copy quote

• The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning.

  John Lee Hooker

  Stories, Lines, Blues Music

  76 Copy quote

• 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

  Play, People, Feelings

  34 Copy quote

• 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

  Mean, Guitar Music, Play

  67 Copy quote

• No matter what you got, the blues is there

  John Lee Hooker

  Matter, No Matter What

  31 Copy quote

• When I die, they'll bury the blues with me. But the blues will never die.

  John Lee Hooker

  Dies

  "John Lee Hooker: 'Soul to soul'" by David Holzel, www.cnn.com. November 13, 2000.

  40 Copy quote

• It's never hard to sing the blues. Everyone in the world has the blues . . .

  John Lee Hooker

  World, Hard

  30 Copy quote

• 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

  Sleep, Night, People

  22 Copy quote

• I don't do nothin’ I don't want to do.

  John Lee Hooker

  Want

  34 Copy quote

• All my life I been doin' what people tell me to do. Now, I'm telling them.

  John Lee Hooker

  People

  20 Copy quote

• 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

  Heartache, Giving, Causes

  17 Copy quote

• 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

  Baby, Drinking, Beer

  24 Copy quote

• 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

  People, Choices, Radio

  30 Copy quote

• 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

  Night, Bars, Detroit

  29 Copy quote

• I just get an idea and then all of a sudden I've got a song.

  John Lee Hooker

  Song, Ideas

  10 Copy quote

• It don't take me no three days to record no album.

  John Lee Hooker

  Albums, Three, Records

  5 Copy quote

• 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

  People, Trying, Ifs

  17 Copy quote

• 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

  Love You, Sleep, Kissing

  10 Copy quote

• 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

  Mean, Night, Hands

  Song: Mean Mean Woman, Album: Simply the Truth

  12 Copy quote

• 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

  People, Guy, Laid Back

  6 Copy quote

• I don't do nothing I don't want to do.

  John Lee Hooker

  Want

  10 Copy quote

• I wanna get drunk 'til I'm off my mind. One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer.

  John Lee Hooker

  Beer, Scotch, Drunk

  15 Copy quote

• 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

  Careers, People, Crooks

  14 Copy quote

• 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

  Pick Me Up, Six, Splits

  24 Copy quote

• 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

  Light, Cities, Taste

  19 Copy quote

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