Back Door Man

Chess Records' resident genius Willie Dixon understood exactly how to write for Howlin' Wolf's massive, menacing persona. Dixon handed Wolf "Back Door Man," a song steeped in Southern folklore about a secret lover who sneaks out the back when the husband comes home. Wolf delivered the vocal with a terrifying, hyper-masculine growl, backed by Hubert Sumlin's stinging guitar and Otis Spann's rolling piano. It perfectly captured the danger and illicit thrill of Chicago's late-night blues clubs, famously finding a whole new audience when The Doors covered it on their 1967 debut.