John Lee Hooker: House Rent Boogie

Though he could barely read a sentence, John Lee Hooker created and modified hundreds of songs during his long life. Among my favorites is the long version of "House Rent Boogie" on King of the Boogie (1994 -- one of scores of crazy-quilt Hooker compilations). It significantly builds upon the original version, co-created by Hooker with Bernie Besman in Detroit in the late 1940s or early 1950s. This one is lifted from a Vee-Jay recording dated from sometime between 1956 and 1966.

The idea of house rent parties and boogies is pragmatic and simple: have a party or play some music on the street to help raise enough money to pay the rent when people are short of cash. The more formal versions include issuing tickets for money, just like concert tickets, to access the event and have some fun, turning desperation into a happier occasion. In "House Rent Boogie," though, the approach to raising rent money is far less formal, and with very different results than the one intended.

Here's my transcription -- like Hooker's memorable blues style in general, it doesn't have formal line breaks or clear structure, but it works like a short story or existential vignette. Crisis and situational conflict erupt with the opening line.


The House Rent Boogie

I told the landlady I done lost my job
and I didn’t have the rent
She says I don’t care about you ain’t got the rent
‘Cause all I want is my money
You been here three weeks
And you ain’t paid a dime
I said give me one more week
To get the the money together
She says I’m gonna give you one more week
If you don’t have the rent -- out the door you gonna go

The next week come -- I didn’t have the rent
And I come in – I sneaked in the house late that night
That morning come she knocked on my door
She says I want my money right now
I said lady, I went all day long trying to find a job
And I ain’t found nothing
And I’ve been here for quite a little while
She says I want my money right now
I said wait until I go out on the streets and come back

Taking my old guitar I go out on the streets on the corner
I sat down
I said fellahs, some give me a nickel, and some give me a dime
And some give me a quarter
And I’ll play right there for you -- all day long
‘Cause I can’t go home
The old landlady got my clothes on the porch
I don’t like that stuff
I played and I played

When I got to the house
My rent I owed was 36 dollars and something
for the three weeks -- and I only had ten dollars of that money
And I told her, I said I made ten dollars today
Give me three days and I’ll get the rest of it
She said all rightie

When the three days come, I was six dollars short
She throws me in the street – and all of my clothes
I said fellows, don’t never get behind in your rent
If you can help it -- ‘cause it’s hard
Throw your clothes in the street – I mean in the street!
In the dead oak street
Got nowhere to go -- it’s cold outside
You don’t like that stuff
Yes, yeah

Yes, yes, yeah
I picked up my clothes, and I slowly walked away
It was cold, it was snowing, I was homeless
Without a job
I had no place to go

I goes to my sister-in-law’s house
She act all funny
I stood around ‘til it got late that night
And she comes a yawning you know
She wouldn’t cook
She eats in the kitchen one at a time
And I sit there
After a while she says
Well, we got to go to bed
And you know we crowded up here
We wanted you to stay all night but
We ain’t go no place for you to stay
Now that’s the way your people do you
The house rent boogie . . . I’m out the door


Today's Rune: Fertility.

Now I'm off to pay my rent.