Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

Person / 1913 - 1983 / United States

blues musician

blues chicago blues electric blues delta blues blues rock psychedelic rock

Biography

McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues".

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Elsewhere

Analysed songs (10)

Bus Driver

Muddy Waters

A brief, wry blues complaint built around a single pun: a woman leaves her man for a bus driver, and the singer turns the man's…

infidelity sexual innuendo wounded pride

Champagne & Reefer

Muddy Waters

A late-career Muddy Waters treats indulgence as gospel, cataloguing champagne, marijuana, and a devoted lover as the plain…

hedonism and comfort bodily pleasure personal autonomy versus law

Crosseyed Cat

Muddy Waters

A slow, grinding blues in which Muddy Waters uses a strange, oversized cat as a comic stand-in for suspicion and sexual…

jealousy and suspicion infidelity domestic surveillance

Deep Down In Florida

Muddy Waters

A loose, sun-warmed travel blues in which Muddy Waters imagines an escape south to Florida, framing relaxation, an old…

escape and leisure nostalgia and old friendships domestic contentment

I Want to Be Loved #2

Muddy Waters

A blues plea built on a familiar Chicago blues formula: the narrator lavishes praise on a woman who barely acknowledges him, and…

unrequited desire romantic frustration adoration versus neglect

I'm a King Bee

Muddy Waters

This is a blues standard built entirely on an insect conceit: the singer casts himself as a bee and his desired partner as a…

sexual boasting seduction male virility

Jealous Hearted Man

Muddy Waters

A restless blues confession built on Muddy Waters's own nickname, this track uses the imagery of turbulent water to describe…

restlessness heartbreak and recovery self-identity through nickname

Little Girl

Muddy Waters

A raw, low-slung blues courtship number in which the narrator badgers a woman with flirtatious questions, building desire…

flirtation and pursuit sensual desire Southern imagery

Mannish Boy

Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters restages his own 1955 declaration of manhood as a late-career victory lap, spelling out the word itself to leave no…

masculinity and self-definition aging and vitality racial dignity ('man' vs 'boy')

The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll

Muddy Waters

A late-career Muddy Waters track that functions as a genealogical claim and a roll call, tracing rock and roll's parentage…

musical lineage authorship and ownership of a genre community and testimony