I'm a Man (Bo Diddley song)

"I'm a Man"
Song
A-side	"Bo Diddley"

"I'm a Man" is a popular American song written and released by Bo Diddley in March 1955 on Checker Records as B-side to his hit "Bo Diddley". The writing credit is under Diddley's name Ellas McDaniel). Based on Muddy Waters' 1952 blues song "She Moves Me", Muddy Waters recorded a cover of "I'm a Man" in May 1955, retitled "Mannish Boy," a play on words on Bo Diddley's younger age as it related to the primary theme of the song.

The song has been covered often by blues and rock musicians, most famously by The Yardbirds. It was released as single and later included on the 1965 US-compilation Having a Rave Up. The Yardbirds' version (with "Still I'm Sad" as its B-side, released by Epic in the US) peaked at #17 on the American charts in late 1965. (There was a persistent rumor in the 1960's and 1970's that Bo Diddley wrote this song especially for the Yardbirds, although the song was actually written much earlier than the Yardbirds' version). The Japanese psychedelic band, The Beavers, also covered the song in the late 1960s.