Mannish Boy

About this song

Muddy Waters recorded the song in Chicago on May 24, 1955, with Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Fred Below on drums and an unidentified female chorus, and it was written with Mel London and Bo Diddley. It was later re-recorded for the 1968 album Electric Mud and the 1977 album Hard Again, which was produced by Johnny Winter, and Waters also performed it at The Last Waltz concert. The song reached number five on the Billboard R&B chart and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1986.

What it's about

The song is a boastful blues piece in which the singer declares his manhood, a message that was understood as political given Black Americans' experience of being called 'boy' in the South. It works as an answer song to Bo Diddley's 'I'm a Man'.

Summary written with AI, based on the song's Wikipedia article. Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Fun facts

• Sampled in 3 other songs, like “when I was a young boy by Adbeatzer”.
• Written by Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Mel London.
• Produced by Phil Chess and Leonard Chess.
• Recorded at Chicago.