It’s no exaggeration to say that rock and roll as we know it might not exist without Muddy Waters, as plenty of the most iconic musicians in rock history would emphatically agree. After all, the Rolling Stones even got their name from the blues legend’s song “Rollin’ Stone.” But it was another song by Waters that became a live staple for the Stones: “Mannish Boy” (also memorably covered by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Band).
Released in 1955, “Mannish Boy” was written by Waters and Mel London as an “answer song” to Bo Diddley‘s “I’m a Man,” according to Rolling Stone, which had been inspired by Waters’ “I’m a Hoochie Coochie Man.”
“Then I got on it with ‘Mannish Boy’ and just drove him out of my way,” Waters quipped later, though he did give Diddley a songwriting credit on “Mannish Boy.”
Though the song’s call-and-response boasting about masculine virility certainly served as a template for countless rock classics to come, “Mannish Boy” was actually meant as a political statement, at least in part.
“Growing up in the South, African-Americans [would] never be referred to as a man — but as ‘boy’. In this context, the song [is] an assertion of black manhood,” Waters explained, per his official website.
The defiant spirit and iconic riff of “Mannish Boy” naturally appealed to the Rolling Stones, who frequently covered the song in concert, eventually releasing their version on the 1977 album Love You Live. (Other notable covers include Hendrix’s 1969 version, which wasn’t officially released until 2018, and The Band’s performance of the song, which included Waters himself and appeared in The Band’s 1978 concert film, The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese.)
Related: 1963 Rock Song, Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney as a ‘Throwaway,’ Became the Rolling Stones’ 1st Top 20 Hit
In 1981, a year before Waters retired from performing for health reasons (and two years before his death), he also joined the Rolling Stones for a performance of “Mannish Boy” at Chicago’s Checkerboard Lounge.
In his 2010 autobiography, Life, Keith Richards reflected on the experience of performing with his hero.
“You want to be a blues player, the next minute you f—king well are and you’re stuck right among them, and there’s Muddy Waters standing next to you,” Richards wrote.
“It happens so fast you really can’t register all of the impressions that are coming at you…It’s one thing to play a Muddy Waters song. It’s another thing to play with him,” the guitarist added.
As for Waters, he called the Stones “some of my best friends.” (It’s worth noting that when Rolling Stone included “Mannish Boy” on their list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” it was the Waters original that was chosen.)
Related: 1968 Banned Rock Classic, Ranked Among ‘Greatest Songs of All Time,’ Was Recorded With a Toy Drum Set
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