John Lee Hooker’s 1965 Gibson ES-335 Electric Guitar – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Sam Howzit)

For Jim’s  Song Lyric Sunday we were challenged to find songs that contained nonsense lyrics.

The song  ” Boom Boom Boom ” written and performed by the legendary John Lee Hooker is the BEST song to perform- if you’re the guitarist or the bass player or the drummer. But having performed it myself, I’m going to share straight up that I thought the lyrics were just filler.

I to used think John Lee Hooker was more into capturing the feeling he got from the bartender who gave him the line and the imagery behind ” Boom Boom Boom” ( and according to the article below, he actually paid her for her contribution) because on the face of it the song is a bunch of verses strung together by some wicked guitar playing.

But I would challenge you to read the excerpt below and then listen to the song, picture a woman singing it to her bluesman boyfriend walking in late again  because you might find that those stand alone verses are not really stand alone verses at all.

Anita

Blues legend John Lee Hooker wrote Boom Boom, a 1962 R&B hit that also cracked the pop charts. “I used to play at this place called the Apex Bar in Detroit,” Hooker recalled in Working Musicians. “There was a young lady there named Luilla. She was a bartender there. I would come in there at night and I’d never be on time. Every night the band would beat me there. Sometimes they’d be on the bandstand playing by the time I got there. I’d always be late and whenever I’d come in she’d point at me and say, ‘Boom boom, you’re late again.’ And she kept saying that. It dawned on me that that was a good name for a song. Then one night she said, ‘Boom boom, I’m gonna shoot you down.’ She gave me a song but she didn’t know it.

[Verse 1]
Boom, boom, boom, boom
I’m gonna shoot you right down
Right off your feet
Take you home with me
Put you in my house
Boom, boom, boom, boom
Mmmm hmmm
Mm hm hm hm

[Verse 2]
I love to see you walk
Up and down the floor
When you talking to me
That baby talk
I like it like that
You talk like that
You knock me dead
Right off my feet
A haw haw haw haw
Whoa!

[Guitar solo]

[Verse 3]
Once you walk that walk
And talk that talk
And whisper in my ear
Tell me that you love me
I love that talk
That baby talk
You knock me dead
Right off my feet
A haw haw haw haw
Yeah, yeah!