Muddy Waters – Hoochie Coochie Man (Live)

“I’m Your Hoochie Cooche Man” – Single by Muddy Waters
B-side “She’s So Pretty”
Released January 1954
Recorded Chicago, January 7, 1954
Label Chess
Songwriter Willie Dixon
Producer Leonard Chess
Charted No.3 on Billboard (Juke Box Chart)

The song is a classic of Chicago blues and one of Waters’ first recordings with a full backing band. Dixon’s lyrics build on Waters’ earlier use of braggadocio and themes of fortune and sex appeal. The stop-time riff was “soon absorbed into the lingua franca of blues, R&B, jazz, and rock and roll”, according to musicologist Robert Palmer, and is used in several popular songs. When Bo Diddley adapted it for “I’m a Man”, it became one of the most recognizable musical phrases in blues.

After the song’s initial success in 1954, Waters recorded several live and new studio versions. The original appears on the 1958 The Best of Muddy Waters album and many compilations. Numerous musicians have recorded “Hoochie Coochie Man” in a variety of styles, making it one of the most interpreted Waters and Dixon songs. The Blues Foundation and the Grammy Hall of Fame recognize the song for its influence in popular music and the US Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry selected it for preservation in 2004.

In the blues tradition, there are some sexual overtones in this song, as “Hoockie Coochie” is a euphemism for “vagina.”

British blues musician Long John Baldry named his 1964 band Long John Baldry And His Hoochie Coochie Men in honor of this song.