JOHN LEE HOOKER - ONE BOURBON ONE SCOTCH ONE BEER

ONE BOURBON ONE SCOTCH ONE BEER

JOHN LEE HOOKER

Songwriter: Rudy Toombs

Country: u.s.a.

Album: one bourbon one scotch one beer/single

Label: Granada records

Genre: blues

Year: 1966

"One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" (or "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer", its original title) is a blues song written by Rudy Toombs and recorded by Amos Milburn in 1953. It is one of several drinking songs recorded by Milburn in the early 1950s that placed in the top ten of the Billboard R&B chart. Other artists released popular recordings of the song, including John Lee Hooker in 1966 and George Thorogood in 1977.

John Lee Hooker (22 de agosto de 1917 — 21 de junho de 2001) foi um influente cantor e guitarrista de blues norte-americano, nascido no condado de Coahoma próximo a Clarksdale, Mississipi. Foi considerado o 35º melhor guitarrista de todos os tempos pela revista norte-americana Rolling Stone.

John Lee Hooker recorded the song as "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" in 1966. Hooker transformed Milburn's song "into a vehicle for himself". He used the storyline and chorus (but altered the order), but "edited the verse down to its essentials, filled in the gaps with narrative and dialogue, and set the whole thing to a rocking cross between South Side shuffle and signature boogie". Part of Hooker's narrative included:

"And then I sit there, drinkin', gettin' high, mellow, knocked out, feelin' good

About that time I looked on the wall, at the old clock on the wall

About that time it was ten-thirty then, I looked down the bar at the bartender, he said

'What do you want, Johnny?', one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer"

Hooker's version is notated as a medium tempo blues with an irregular number of bars in 4/4 time in the key of E. It was recorded in Chicago in 1966 with Hooker on vocal and guitar, pianist Lafayette Leake, guitarist Eddie "Guitar" Burns, drummer Fred Below, and an unknown bass player. The song was released on Hooker's 1966 The Real Folk Blues album and he later recorded several live renditions of the song. A live version with Muddy Waters' band recorded at the Cafe Au Go Go on August 30, 1966, has been described as "dark, slow, swampy-deep, and the degree of emotional rapport between Hooker and the band (particularly Otis Spann) [is] nothing less than extraordinary"

One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer

One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer

Hey mister bartender come here

I want another drink and I want it now

My baby she gone, she been gone two night

I ain't seen my baby since night before last

One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer

(spoken:)

And then I sit there

Gettin' high

Mellow

Knocked out

Feeling good

And by the time

I look on the wall

At the old clock on the wall

By that time

It was ten thirty daddy

I looked down the bar

At the bartender

He said

"Now what do you want Johnny?"

One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer

Well my baby she gone, she been gone two night

I ain't seen my baby since night before last

I wanna get drunk till I'm off of my mind

One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer

(spoken:)

And I sat there

Gettin' high

Stoned

Knocked out

And by the time

I looked on the wall

At the old clock again

And by that time

'T was a quarter to two

Last call

For alcohol

I said "Hey mister bartender!"

"Well what do you want?"

One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer

One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer ... (fade)