Rolling Stones songs: Mannish Boy
*Click for MORE ROLLING STONES SONGS 1962-PRESENT

The line I shoot/ Will never miss/ And when I make love to you baby/ You just can’t resist…

Written by: London/McDaniel/Morganfield
Recorded: El Mocambo, Toronto, Canada, March 4-5 1977
Guest musicians: Ollie Brown (percussion), Billy Preston (keyboards)
*Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012

From Songfacts:
This classic blues song is an affirmation of masculinity. It’s a reworking of the Bo Diddley song “I’m A Man.”
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 five-note and a shortened four-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; their name comes from his song “Rollin’ Stone.”

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).

From the The Rolling Stones – All the Songs book:
“Mannish Boy” is one of the many blues songs the Rolling Stones added to
their repertoire that pays tribute to their major influence, Muddy Waters. It
is a relatively faithful adaptation of Bo Diddley’s “I’m a Man”—which is
why Bo (Elias McDaniel) is credited as composer—but it also has elements
of Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man.” Another name is also
mentioned, Mel London, who was another famous composer and producer
of blues, but the credits here are rather suspect. Muddy Waters recorded
“Mannish Boy” for the first time at Chess Studios in Chicago on May 24,
1955, accompanied by Jimmy Rogers on guitar; Junior Wells on harmonica
(replacing Little Walter, who usually handled harmonica duties); Fred
Below on drums; and an unnamed backing singer. The single came out the
following June (with “Young Fashioned Ways”), going to fifth place on the
Billboard R&B charts. It is the story of a little boy (“mannish boy”) who
has grown up and is now twenty-one and ready for love—a sentiment
bound to find an echo with Mick Jagger!