"Don't Look Back" is a song written by

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer-songwriter

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

, and released as a single in 1964. As a

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

, Hooker later performed the song with the Northern Irish singer-songwriter

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

. It was a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

winner in

Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality pop songs on which singers c ...

in 1998 from the album, '' Don't Look Back''.

Song history

This song had a long history with Hooker and Morrison over the years. It was covered by

's band

Them Them or THEM, a third-person plural accusative personal pronoun, may refer to: Books * ''Them'' (novel), 3rd volume (1969) in American Joyce Carol Oates' ''Wonderland Quartet'' * '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'', 2003 non-fiction by Welsh ...

on their debut album, ''

The Angry Young Them ''The Angry Young Them'' is the first album by the Northern Irish rock and roll group Them. The album was released in the UK in June 1965. The band's lead singer and songwriter was Van Morrison. In the U.S., the album was released as ''Them'' ...

'' in 1965. The album's sleeve had a comment on the song which read: "John Lee Hooker hailed as one of the greatest R&B singers in the world wrote 'Don't Look Back'....Perhaps it isn't so extraordinary that this soulful ballad sounds uncannily like a Morrison original as the two men have a lot in common." Them's version was also included in songs hand-picked by Morrison on his second greatest hit album, ''

The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two ''The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two'' is a compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison released in 1993. Morrison chose the tracks for this album himself. It is mostly drawn from his work during 1984–1991. "Real Real ...

''. A live performance in 1979 was also one of the songs featured on Van Morrison's video ''

Van Morrison in Ireland ''Van Morrison in Ireland'' is the first official video by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1981 of a concert Morrison recorded in Northern Ireland in 1979. It was directed by Michael Radford who later became a noted film ...

'' in 1981.

Cover versions

The Australian group

The Black Sorrows The Black Sorrows are an Australian blues rock band formed in 1983 by mainstay vocalist Joe Camilleri (ex-Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons), who also plays saxophone and guitar. Camilleri has used various line-ups to record 17 albums, with five reaching ...

covered the song for their debut studio album, ''

Sonola ''Sonola'' is the debut studio album by Australian rock band The Black Sorrows. The album was released in June 1984 and consisted of cover versions of soul and R&B songs. Background In 1983, following the disbanding of Jo Jo Zep, Joe Camille ...

'' (1984).

References

1964 songs 1964 singles John Lee Hooker songs Vee-Jay Records singles Van Morrison songs Male vocal duets Songs written by John Lee Hooker Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals {{Blues-song-stub