Chapter 9

I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man 

Text 2

To find out what Muddy Waters, the father of the (Chicago) blues puts into the expression “ hootchie coochie man “, one has to listen to his record with the same title. It becomes clear from listening to the text that it is an expression of endearment.

“The Hootchie Cootchie Man” is one of his hits during the 1950s. In this decade and the following one he was the prominent blues and rhythm and blues artist and the creator of the modern Chicago blues style. In the new generation that he inspired, Animals, Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones have themselves risen to stardom.

Muddy Waters was celebrated in his own lifetime and received his sixth Grammy Award in 1980, at the age of 65. His last performance was at an Eric Clapton concert in 1982.

Mc Kinley Morganfield, who got his nickname Muddy from the habit of playing around in the muddy waters of Mississippi, died in 1983 from a heart attack. This event triggered another career.