pre-blues sort of music--a droning, open-ended stomp without a fixed verse form that lent itself to building up to a cumulative, trancelike effect".

Hooker's vocal alternates between sung and spoken sections. Commenting on Hooker's vocal sections, music historian Ted Gioia notes, "The song has almost no melody. Even less harmony. In fact, it is hard to call it a song. It's more like a bit of jive stream of consciousness in time." Some of the lyrics are borrowed from earlier songs that date back