NRR Project: 'Boogie Chillen' (Nov. 3, 1948)

 

NRR Project: “Boogie Chillen’”

Written and performed by John Lee Hooker

Released Nov. 3, 1948

3:10

How could a one-chord song sweep the nation? “Boogie Chillen” did. (Read Jas Obrecht’s essay on the song here at the National Recording Registry.)

John Lee Hooker was a law unto himself. He was the youngest of 11 children, born to sharecroppers in Mississippi. His stepfather taught him the guitar, transmitting to him the tradition of a frenetic, driving kind of blues generally classified as Delta blues. Hooker ran away from home at the age of 14, and gradually drifted north until he wound up in Detroit. He was working as a janitor in a steel mill when he recorded this song.

Here, Hooker plays solo, accompanying himself on amplified guitar and foot-stomping the rhythm. He plays the same chord, insistently, hypnotically. He trades off sung and spoken verses describing his introduction to the boogie. The song took off in popularity, becoming the biggest-selling “race record” of 1949.

Everybody dug it. This was something new, something fresh and vital. In an era when mainstream music was orchestrated and sedate, Hooker’s raw energy was convulsive. He inspired many bluesmen who followed him after hearing this recording.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: “Evangeline Special” and “Love Bridge Waltz.”