 Rather, it was inspired by Muddy Waters' 1954 song "Hoochie Coochie Man", written by Willie Dixon.After Diddley's release, Waters recorded an "answer song" to "I'm a Man" in May 1955, titled "Mannish Boy", a play on words on Bo Diddley's younger age as it related to the primary theme of the song.In a "Rolling Stone" magazine interview, Bo Diddley recounts that the song took a long time to record because of confusion regarding the timing of the "M ... A ... N" vocal chorus.