| "Say Man" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Bo Diddley | ||||
| B-side | "The Clock Strikes Twelve" | |||
| Released | 1959 | |||
| Recorded | 1958 | |||
| Genre | Rhythm and blues | |||
| Length | 3:09 | |||
| Label | Checker 931 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ellas McDaniel | |||
| Bo Diddley singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Say Man" is a song by American musician Bo Diddley. Written under his real name of Ellas McDaniel, it was recorded by Bo Diddley in 1958 and released as a single in 1959 on Checker 931.
The recording became his biggest US pop hit, reaching number 20 on the Hot 100,[1] and number three on the R&B chart.[2] It arose from a jam session between Diddley and his maracas player Jerome Green, and featured Diddley and Green trading insults in the style of the word game known as The Dozens.[3]
Bo Diddley said of the song: "A lot of the things I did in the Chess studios, we were just goofin' around ... They played it back, and it shocked all of us! Of course, they cut out all the dirty parts."[4] Music critic Maury Dean, while rejecting the idea that the track is "the first rap song", says that it is "the first major soul tune to feature a total spoken patter of pal put-downs to a rockin' beat ... . Bo's lightning right hand chops chords like sugar cane. The incessant beat throbs into the hot American evening nocturne of streetwise savvy. Rap – with a side of ghetto-blast humor."[5]
The recording also appeared on the album Go Bo Diddley.[3]
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (1st ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 193. ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–1995. Record Research. p. 114. ISBN 0-89820-115-2.
- ^ a b "Overview: Go Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
- ^ Richie Unterberger, "Say Man", Rolling Stone, June 8, 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2017
- ^ Maury Dean, Rock and Roll: Gold Rush, Algora Publishing, 2003, p.59