Mannish Boy

Name: Mannish Boy
Uploaded: 1955-01-01
Duration: 5 min 30 s
Description: Written by Muddy Waters, Mel London, and Bo Diddley in 1955, this blues standard served as an answer song to Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man". The song's repeated assertion "I'm a man" was understood as political, challenging the Southern practice of never referring to Black men as "man" but only as "boy".

Muddy Waters Play Mix

1955 50s blues

Written by Muddy Waters, Mel London, and Bo Diddley in 1955, this blues standard served as an answer song to Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man". The song's repeated assertion "I'm a man" was understood as political, challenging the Southern practice of never referring to Black men as "man" but only as "boy".