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Just in case anyone thought Erma Franklin's track was the oldest on the album, 'Boom Boom' dates back to 1961 in its original form, although given the large number of different recordings on YouTube I can't be absolutely sure I've found the right one. I remember the song itself well enough though, as like the aforementioned 'Piece Of My Heart' it was brought back to the national consciousness by a jeans advert. It was Hooker's second Top 40 hit in the UK, a mere 28 years after 'Dimples'.
As it happens, my Latin teacher at the time was a big blues fan, an amateur guitarist who sometime did a blues show on a volunteer radio station. Lessons with him were always pretty freewheeling and when the subject came up, he seemed glad to have this song to use as an example of the emotional directness of the music. I don't know whether that totally convinces me, and I tend to feel that you have to make a decision to become a blues fan or not, but the fact that I didn't doesn't preclude me from liking the odd blues record here and there and this one hits the spot just right, somehow. The fact that it's barely a couple of minutes long is an advantage, evading the self-indulgence that puts me off a lot of the blues music I've heard. Also, it doesn't have the burden of self-conscious authenticity that modern-day blues can too often be ruined by.
Available on: Legend - The Best of John Lee Hooker
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