Since nobody else in the world, ever in the whole history of historicalness, has seen fit to transcribe the lyrics to John Lee Hooker ‘Bumblebee Bumblebee’ from Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive (which are different to his 1951 cut ‘Bumblebee Blues’*) then I have stepped up to the mark. No need to thank me, I hate it when people insist on calling me a hero.
Bumblebee bumblebee Don’t sting me the way you do Bumblebee Bumblebee Don’t sting me the way you do Don’t sting me too hard and too deep Bumblebee stung me this morning Being trying to find it the whole day long hey! Trying to find it the whole day long The way you sting me make my temperature rise My Bumblebee got a stinger Long as my right arm My Bumblebee got a stinger Long as my right arm Every time she sting me I holler ‘hey, hot dog!’ (hot dog, have mercy) Bumblebee Bumblebee Bumblebee Won’t you please come back to me Bumblebee Bumblebee Bumblebee Won’t you please come back to me You got the best little stinger Bumblebee Of anyone in the whole round world I know (Lord have mercy) Every time she sting me I holler ‘ho, ho, hot dog!’ Every time she sting me I holler ‘ho, ho, hot dog!’ Bumblebee Bumblebee Bumblebee Please come back to me
841 Down (still).
*although the latter’s lyrics are often misattributed to the former on lyrics websites. Pah! Amateurs!
There’s a local coffee shop that has poetry readings. I think CB will attend and bust out along with a few originals I’ve been working on. You’re my hero.
Goddmnit! Not the H word! Why does everyone insist on calling me it?!
If the tag fits. wear it.
Your dedication to this song is remarkable.
It loves me back though.
How many times did you listen to the track while you wrote these?
74
Is that all!?
Sounds like he might be allergic to bee stings. Hopefully he carried an epi-pen in his guitar case.
You’ve never heard epi pen blues then? Powerful stuff.
I need to locate it on 78.
Goodness gracious! I do believe he may have been singing about heroin addiction and not entomological subjects! He put down his syringe and has been looking for it all day long. The only creature with a stinger as long as a grown man’s forearm is the giant scorpion from Clash of the Titans! And of course not at all related to the bumble bee, but a cousin of the spider.
Drugs can do funny things to a man’s mind…
Whoa! Call me naive but that hadn’t occurred to me at all and I think you’re right.
I was struggling to explain it as a sex song, given the object of his quest has a, quite frankly, phallic stinger.
Well played Mr Morris!
If I ever run into a heroin addict, i want to know if they scream “ho, ho hot dog” when the stinger stings them.
A riddle has been answered here for me.
Just doing my job.
Haha he’s not talking about a bumblebee. I see what he did there.
No! It’s about bees! Surely?
And stop calling me Shirley! Hahahaha…
I hope dancin’ was permitted while reading the lyrics? Hot dog, have mercy!
It’s a grey area, so be careful I’d hate you to be picked up by the downtown dance squad.
Well, that’s a weight off my mind.
Glad I could help Bruce. Just please don’t call me a hero.
I’ll try to control myself.
Incidentally, stand by for some more Hooker action at VC.
I have braces myself.