Spencer Davis Group – I’m A Man

I’ve always liked those Steve Winwood singles released in the mid-sixties by The Spencer Davis Group. This song was the last single by The Spencer Davis Group released to feature Winwood. After this, he would leave them and form Traffic. Steve Winwood has one of the most distinctive voices in rock. You know his voice anywhere.

Steve Winwood and producer Jimmy Miller wrote this song. This is not the same song by Bo Diddley named I’m A Man. After this Jimmy Miller would start producing The Rolling Stones in their five-album stretch that became their foundation. Chicago would later record a version of this song.

This song was released as a non-album single in 1967. I’m A Man peaked at #1 in Canada,  #10 on the Billboard 100, and #9 in the UK. Not only did Steve Winwood leave but his bass-playing brother Muff Winwood left as well.

Some say the song is a  tribute to the African-American musical tradition, especially the blues and the R&B genres. Steve Winwood, the composer, was heavily influenced by the likes of Ray Charles, Muddy Waters, and other black artists who had revolutionized popular music in the 1950s and 1960s.

After this Steve Winwood would go on to Traffic, Blind Faith, and then a huge solo career. The two huge songs of The Spencer Davis Group are Gimme Some Lovin’ and this one. They are hard to beat.

Steve Winwood: “We were kind of experimenting with what is now called world music – it didn’t exist then – but Afro-Caribbean music which we’d been listening to, ‘I’m A Man’ was actually significant because it was the last Spencer Davis Group song before Traffic. So it was a significant transition because we were using these Afro-Caribbean elements in that music and then we went on in Traffic to combine that with many more elements like folk music and jazz and rock to try and combine all these elements.”

Here is a live version…I’ve never seen a bass player use a thumb pick before.

I’m A Man

Well, my pad is very messy
And there’s whiskers on my chin
And I’m all hung up on music
And I always play to win

I ain’t got no time for lovin’
‘Cause my time is all used up
Just to sit around creatin’
All that groovy kind of stuff

But I’m a man, yes I am
And I can’t help
But love you so

But I’m a man, yes I am
And I can’t help
But love you so

I got to keep my image
While suspended from a throne
That looks out upon a kingdom
Full of people all unknown

Who imagine I’m not human
And my heart is made of stone
I never had no problems
And my toilet’s trimmed with chrome

Well, I’m a man, yes I am
And I can’t help
But love you so

But I’m a man, yes I am
And I can’t help
But love you so

I got to keep my image
While suspended from a throne
That looks out upon a kingdom
Full of people all unknown

Who imagine I’m not human
And my heart is made of stone
I never had no problems
And my toilet’s trimmed with chrome

I’m a man, yes I am
And I can’t help
But love you so, no no

I’m a man, yes I am
And I can’t help
But love you so

Yes I’m movin
Yes I’m movin
Don’t you know that I’m movin
Yes I’m movin
Don’t you know that I’m a man
Yes I’m movin
(Don’t you know that I’m a man)

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

39 thoughts on “Spencer Davis Group – I’m A Man”

  2. Maybe I should have let them call me Stevie as a child. Two prodigies who grew into adult musical geniuses – Stevie Wonder and Stevie Winwood – and changed to “Steve” as adults. While his voice may be distinctive in rock, his early recording of “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” shows the influence of Ray Charles.

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  3. a good song I like by a huge huge talent. What blows me away about it is Winwood was 18 I think when he wrote and recorded it, and he was already established as a singer and writer. Like Half Fast noted, he and Stevie Wonder, both came to prominence around the same time, both as teens , both singing and acing the keyboards. Quite something.

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    1. What talents they have…. both of them. I like something from all of his eras…especially Traffic and Blind Faith…I still consider Can’t Find My Way Back Home one of my favorite songs of all time.

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    2. according to Wikipedia, Winwood was 15 to 16 when he recorded it. Born in 1948 Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) the Spencer Davis Group (1964–1967), Traffic (1967–1969 and 1970–1974) and Blind Faith (1969) Met Mr. Winwood with Jimmy Miller at a show in Mansfield, Mass. when he headlined, we went out to a restaurant later and he autographed my backstage pass on my briefcase. What a great guy. Met Marianne Faithful at the show as well.

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  4. Porcelain toilets tend to crack so in prison they are made out of stainless steel which is far more durable. I read that this song is about a prisoner and that makes sense to me with these lyrics. “Who imagine I’m not human And my heart is made of stone I never had no problems And my toilet’s trimmed with chrome.” For a prisoner, flushing their toilet is about the only thing they have control over.

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  7. He had the gold touch in the last half of the 60’s and as Dave mentioned he was young and had already been in TSDG for a few years I believe. Thanks for posting I haven’t listened to the song in a bit and I never seen those clips!

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    1. I haven’t seen them clips either…the thumb pick blew my mind…that was usually for country and or folk…never saw it used on a bass.
      It’s been a while since I heard this.

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    1. Yea I never would have guessed that myself. It’s like Tears of a Clown…I would ahve never expected the line “Just like Pagliacci did”

      Now Elton John…I never know what to expect because it’s one thing for sure…I have his songs wrong as words go.

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  13. Such a cool song. You give me Steve Winwood with his great vocals and the mighty Hammond, and I’m a happy camper!

    I got a chance to see him in March 2018 in Newark and had a ball! He was also scheduled to join Steely Dan on their 2022 Earth After Hours tour, which I caught in July last year, but that didn’t happen “due to unforeseen circumstances”, according to an announcement on Winwood’s website.

    Winwood performed as recently as in May 2023 at the British coronation concert, still sounding great. I’d see him again!

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  14. Before my friend Jimmy Miller produced the Rolling Stones he was working with Spooky Tooth and Traffic and along with Guy Stevens was A ^ R for Island Records. They both wanted to release a “Whiter Shade of Pale” on Island, which label owner Chris Blackwell decided against. Blackwell later regretted that decision, of course. Lead singer, the late Gary Brooker, discusses it on my interview with him https://youtu.be/J9BaPrdlrMc Chicago famously covered “I’m a Man”

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