Muddy Waters – Mannish Boy

One of the best riffs in blues or rock. It’s been recycled in so many songs but never loses its bite. This song was a reworking of the Bo Diddley song “I’m A Man.” Great song by the great Muddy Waters.

Muddy recorded several versions of this song through the years. He recorded the original at Chess records in Chicago in 1955.

The song peaked at #51 in the UK in 1988 and #5 in the R&B Charts in 1955.

From Songfacts

Muddy Waters originally recorded this in 1955, then re-recorded it in 1977 for his Hard Again album in a version produced by Johnny Winter.

The repetitive guitar line is easy to play, but very memorable. Waters used the same basic riff on his song “Hoochie Coochie Man.” This riff appears on many other Blues songs in both the 5 note and a shortened 4 note version. George Thorogood used it for his song “Bad To The Bone.”

The Rolling Stones often played this in their early days and released it on their 1977 Love You Live album. Muddy Waters was a huge influence on The Stones, and their name comes from his song “Rollin’ Stone Blues.”

This was used in the movie The Long Kiss Goodnight, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Geena Davis. It also appears in Better Off Dead, Risky Business and Goodfellas(as part of the “Sunday, May 11th, 1980” montage).

Mannish Boys

Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah

Everything gonna be alright this mornin’
Now, when I was a young boy
At the age of five
My mother said I was gonna be
The greatest man alive
But now I’m a man
I’m age twenty-one
I want you to believe me, honey
We having lots of fun

I’m a man (yeah)
I spell M
A, child
N
That represent man
No B
O, child
Y
That spell mannish boy
I’m a man
I’m a full-grown man
I’m a man
I’m a rollin’ stone
I’m a man
I’m a hoochie-coochie man

Sittin’ on the outside
Just me and my mate
I’m made to move
Come up two hours late
Wasn’t that a man?
I spell M
A, child
N
That represesnt man
No B
O, child
Y
That spell mannish boy
I’m a man
I’m a full-grown man
I’m a man
I’m a rolllin’ stone
I’m a man
Full-grown man
Oh, well
Oh, well