The world was on fire and no one could save me but you
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you
And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you
That boy can sing! And the sinuous guitar riff is something else. And all so casual.
Recipe:
1 John Lee Hooker riff
A tablespoon of seductive vocal stylings
A mess of suggestive lyrics
A cup of rockabilly guitar
Two spoonfuls of vocal and musical modulations
Result:
A tasty Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing by Chris Isaak.
The world was on fire and no one could save me but you . . .
Listen to this brooding, anguished song late at night driving alone on a dark road. Or in your room after midnight.
Written and recorded by Chris Isaak, it became a hit when featured in the 1990 filmWild At Heart. The distinctive and haunting guitar is by James Calvin Wilsey.
We're going to go backwards in time to explore the boogie.
First up is Chris Isaak with Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing from 1995. The production is top-notch. The bass plus Isaak's voice and then the rockabilly guitar kicking in make it something special. And it certainly does sound bad, whatever that thing was, which you can confirm by watching the MTV video.
Next is LaGrange by the boys from ZZ Top (1973) who are still rocking in this more recent clip. And you can't beat that sophisticated lyricism:
Rumour spreadin' a-'round in that Texas town
'bout that shack outside La Grange
And you know what I'm talkin' about.
Just let me know if you wanna go
To that home out on the range.
They gotta lotta nice girls ah.
This is John Lee Hooker with Boom Boom from the early 1960s on British TV. You can hear where ZZ Top got its vocal stylings. I saw Hooker play at a club in Worcester, Massachusetts in the 1970s. The man had a groove.
And now you can hear where ZZ Top and Chris Isaak got the beat. This is John Lee Hooker again doing Boogie Chillen - it's a 1992 live version. The circle is unbroken!
