The Motor City is Burning

John Lee Hooker reminds me of both my grandfathers, maybe because they were from the same generation and all had hard but good lives. Perhaps there is some mystical and universal element that cuts across ethnicity, geography and background. Whatever it is, I adore Johnny Lee's style and outlook and can never say enough good things about his sharp, wise delivery, his powerful voice and unmistakable guitar sound.

At one point, he lived only a few miles from where I'm sitting. I have the exact location narrowed down to one block on the way to the Heidelberg Project and Knight Light, and when I do find the right house (if it's still standing), I'll take photos and post one.

He used to play gigs down on Hastings Street, which still exists, though truncated via highway construction to three lonely blocks in an industrial wasteland of abandoned factories and desolate car lots, bifurcated by an overhead Amtrak line. Street signs appear and disappear, but occasionally I've seen them where they should be.

"The Motor City is Burning" was composed around the time of the riot that began on July 23, 1967. The MC5 covered the song, but here, as far as I can reconstruct, are Hooker's lyrics as he sings them on the excellent 1967 album Urban Blues:

Oh, the Motor City is burning
And there ain’t a thing in the world that I can do.
Don’t you know, don’t you know the Big D is burning?
Ain’t a thing in the world that Johnny can do.
My hometown’s burning down to the ground
And we’re still in Vietnam.

Oh, it started on Twelfth and Clairmount that morning
I just don’t know what it’s all about.
Oh, it started on Twelfth and Clairmount that morning
I don’t know what it’s all about.
The fire wagons kept coming
The snipers just wouldn’t let ‘em put it out.
Firebombs burstin’ all around me
And soldiers was everywhere.
Oh, firebombs falling all around me
And soldiers standing everywhere.
I could hear the people screaming
Sirens filled the air.

I don’t know what the trouble is this morning
I can’t stay around to find out.
I don’t know, I don’t know what the trouble is this morning
I can’t stand around to find out.
I’m taking my wife and my children, and
Little Johhny Lee is clearing out.

The Motor City is burning
Ain’t a thing that I can do.
Oh, the Motor City is burning
Ain’t a thing that I can do.
I just hope, people, it will never happen to you.
Yes, yeah, I could hear the fire marshal
He said, “Get outta here!”