John Lee Hooker recorded Onions on Vee Jay in 1962, and Booker T & the MG’s recorded Green Onions on Volt (then on Stax) in 1962. They are strikingly similar compositions, The former being just a little over 2 minutes in length, and the latter being about 3 minutes in length. So whats the story? I’m not one to keep spreading rumors, but the way I heard this story is that Booker T kinda sorta um… stole the riff from John Lee Hooker. I don’t recall all the details, but if I remember correctly Booker T liked the sound and proceeded to  funk it out as much as possible which lead to his recording, if anyone wants to jump in with some real facts I’ll be happy to post them up. The reality is that it doesn’t matter, this isn’t a case of someone getting famous off of someone elses music while the other wallows in obscurity.

John Lee Hooker was perhaps the most heavily recorded bluesman ever. With a sound and style so personal that his catalog is virtually a one-man blues subgenre, Hooker is always instantly recognizable — even though early on, he frequently worked for several labels at once, under his own name and as Birmingham Sam, Delta John, Johnny Lee, Johnny Williams, Texas Slim and Little Pork Chops.

Throwback: John Lee Hooker – Onions (download)

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Booker T. & the M.G.’s were an instrumental soul band that was highly influential in shaping the sound of Southern Soul and Memphis Soul. In the 1960s, as the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla and Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. They also released instrumental records under their own name, such as the 1962 hit single “Green Onions”. As originators of the unique Stax sound, the group was one of the most prolific, respected, and imitated of their era.

According to some relic of a zine called the Rolling Stone, the band formed by accident one day in 1962, when seventeen-year-old keyboard player Booker T. Jones was in a Memphis studio waiting for rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley to arrive to a recording session. He and drummer Al Jackson, bassist Lewie Steinberg and guitarist Steve Cropper began jamming on the melody that would become “Green Onions.” Stax Records president Jim Stewart liked the tune so much he decided to record it and put it out as a single.

I always say “Get in where you fit in” and it seems like thats what may have happened here. No harm, no foul.

Throwback: Booker T & MG’s – Green Onions (download)

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