John Lee Hooker Bonnie Raitt Im In The Mood The Healer (1989)

Im in the Mood is one of John Lee Hookers most popular songs, even though it goes against the grain of many of his masterpieces. Im in the Mood, unusually for Hooker, sounds like a conventional twelve bar love song, a slow burning ballad. Sure, the song revolves around a magnificent, almost tribal rhymic figure, but it doesnt have the commitment from Hooker that many of the other songs from this period have (notably Boogie Chillen and Crawling King Snake). The hallmarks of Hookers genius are the hypnotic guitar working with a doom filled, deepblues lyrics, which is rather lacking in this song it just feels rather tame. Having said that, the song has been very popular with other blues artists, and Hooker himself performed a lovely (and Grammy winning) version on 1989s The Healer with Bonnie Raitt.