Hoochie Coochie Man

Willie Dixon wrote "Hoochie Coochie Man" specifically for Muddy Waters, perfectly tailoring the boastful, voodoo-infused lyrics to Muddy's commanding presence. During the January 1954 session, the band (featuring Little Walter on harmonica and Otis Spann on piano) locked into a crushing, stop-time riff. The entire band would hit the riff in unison, stop on a dime, and let Muddy confidently deliver lines about black cat bones and John the Conqueror root before crashing back into the groove. It became Muddy's biggest chart hit, a massive cultural milestone that definitively codified the swaggering, muscular sound of postwar Chicago blues.