Bo Diddley — I'm A Man

The June 2 anniversary of Bo Diddley's death lands this week, and one of his foundational sides is broadly charting today, tracked across 127 country and platform charts. Written and first cut in 1955, I'm A Man is a slow-burning, swaggering blues that helped carry the form into rock and roll — the Yardbirds later adapted it into an upbeat rave-up, cementing its place in the British-blues canon. Diddley, born Ellas Otha Bates, is best remembered for the Bo Diddley beat, the Latin-tinged clave figure that rippled through everyone from Buddy Holly to the Rolling Stones, per Wikipedia. The track has surfaced in film and TV over the years; a remixed version appeared in the 2011 Jedermann Remixed. Eighteen years on from his passing, the catalog still moves.