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

John Lee Hooker

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John Lee Hooker
Age: 83 †
Born: 1917
Born: August 22
Died: 2001
Died: June 21
Composer
Guitarist
Musician
Recording Artist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Clarksdale
Mississippi
Telling
Tell
Life
People
Doin

More quotes by John Lee Hooker

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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
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No matter what you got, the blues is there
John Lee Hooker
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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
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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
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When I die, they'll bury the blues with me. But the blues will never die.
John Lee Hooker
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I wanna get drunk 'til I'm off my mind. One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer.
John Lee Hooker
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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
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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
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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
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My style is all to myself.
John Lee Hooker
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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
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I like dropping into a small club and playing with some people, trying to help them get a start.
John Lee Hooker
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That girl has a special talent
John Lee Hooker
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Groups are corporations now. They have pension plans. Musicians have saw the daylight.
John Lee Hooker
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Since you knew they was goin' to cheat you anyway, I recorded under any name with all of 'em.
John Lee Hooker
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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