John Lee Hooker grew up on a plantation in Mississippi and eventually made his way to Detroit, bypassing the blues hotbed of Chicago. In 1948, Hooker showed up at the office of a Detroit record store/label owner named Bernard Besman, and presented him with a demo. Besman provided the studio and produced this song for Hooker. They worked together for the next four years, recording many of Hooker's songs, but "Boogie Chillen" was the big hit. The song went to the top of what was then known as the "race" charts, and sold over a million copies after Besman leased the rights to distribute the song to Modern Records. When the song took off, Hooker still had his day job working as a janitor in a Chrysler factory.
Hooker is the only person performing on the song. The only sounds are his voice, guitar, and stomping feet. The tapping sounds came from bottle caps attached to the soles of his shoes.
"Chillen" is Southern slang for "Children." The song is known by a variety of titles, including "Boogie Chillun" and "Boogie Children."
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