Boom Boom (John Lee Hooker song)

"Boom Boom"
Single by John Lee Hooker
from the album Burnin'
B-side"Drug Store Woman"
ReleasedApril[1] or May 1962 (1962-05)[2]
RecordedChicago, October, 26, 1961
StudioUniversal
GenreBlues
Length2:29
LabelVee-Jay
Songwriter(s)John Lee Hooker
Producer(s)Calvin Carter

"Boom Boom" is a song written by American blues singer and guitarist John Lee Hooker and recorded October 26, 1961. Although it became a blues standard,[3] music critic Charles Shaar Murray calls it "the greatest pop song he ever wrote".[4] "Boom Boom" was both an American R&B and pop chart success in 1962 and a UK top-twenty hit in 1992.

The song is one of Hooker's most identifiable and enduring songs[5] and "among the tunes that every band on the [early 1960s UK] R&B circuit simply had to play".[6] It has been recorded by numerous blues and other artists, including a 1965 North American hit by the Animals.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference CD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rhino was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Edmondson, Jacqueline, ed. (2013). "Hooker, John Lee". Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories that Shaped our Culture. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 564. ISBN 978-0-313-39348-8.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Murray was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ John Lee Hooker interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
  6. ^ Koda, Cub; Russo, Gregg (2001). Ultimate! (Boxed set booklet). The Yardbirds. Los Angeles: Rhino Records. OCLC 781357622. R2 79825.