Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T08:08:41.997Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

How Hooker found his boogie: a rhythmic analysis of a classic groove

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

FERNANDO BENADON
Affiliation:
American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20016, USA E-mail: fernando@american.edu
TED GIOIA
Affiliation:
Plano, TX, USA E-mail: tedgioia@hotmail.com

Abstract

This article closely analyses the rhythmic components in John Lee Hooker’s boogie. We show how Hooker recasts a signature riff from a ternary to a binary beat subdivision, paving the way for the triple-to-duple shift that characterised mid-century American popular music. Further, we attribute the boogie’s ‘hypnotic’ feel to two psychoacoustic phenomena: stream segregation and temporal order misjudgement. Stream segregation occurs when the musical surface is divided by the listener into two or more auditory entities (streams), usually as a result of timbral and registral contrasts. In Hooker’s case, these contrasts occur between the guitar groove’s downbeats and upbeats, whose extreme proximity also blurs their temporal order. These expressive effects are complemented by global and gradual accelerandos that envelop Hooker’s early performances.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)