Not long after the success of "Mad Love" in November 1953, Dixon approached Leonard Chess with "Hoochie Coochie Man", a new song he felt was right for Waters. Chess responded, "if Muddy likes it, give it to him". At the time, Waters was performing at the Club Zanzibar in Chicago. During an intermission, Dixon showed him the song. According to Dixon, Waters took to the tune immediately because it had so many familiar elements and he was able to learn enough to perform it that night.
Jimmy Rogers, who was Waters' second guitarist, remembered that it took a little longer: On January 7, 1954, Waters entered the recording studio with his band to record the song. Considered the classic Chicago blues band, music critic
Bill Janovitz described Waters' group as "a who's who of bluesmen". Waters sings and plays electric guitar along with Rogers, blues harmonica virtuoso Little Walter, and drummer
Elgin Evans, all of whom had been performing with Waters since 1951. (
Fred Below, who replaced Evans during 1954, is sometimes listed as the drummer). Pianist
Otis Spann, who joined in 1953, and Dixon, in his debut on double bass for Waters' recording session, round out the group. Two takes of the song were recorded. Although there are some moments in the alternate take when a player's timing rushes or drags perceptibly, because the band is so tight, the difference with the master is only six seconds (for a nearly three-minute song). "Hoochie Coochie Man" follows a
sixteen-bar blues progression, which is an expansion of the well-known
twelve-bar blues pattern. The first four bars are doubled in length so the harmony remains on the
tonic for eight bars or one-half of the sixteen bar progression. Dixon explained that expanding twelve-bar blues was in response to amplification, which gave instruments more sustain. The extra bars also increase the contrasting effect of the repeating stop-time
musical figure or
riff. For the second eight bars, the song reverts to the last eight of the twelve-bar progression, which functions as a refrain or
hook. The different textures provides the tune with a strong contrast, which helps underscore the lyrics. The song is performed at a moderate blues
tempo (72
beats per minute) in the
key of A. It is notated in
time and contains three sixteen-bar sections. A key feature of the song is the use of stop time, or pauses in the music, during the first half of the progression. This musical device is commonly heard in
New Orleans jazz, when the instrumentation briefly stops, allowing for a short instrumental solo before resuming. However, Waters' and Dixon's use of stop time serves to heighten the tension through repetition, followed by a vocal rather than an instrument fill. The accompanying riff, which Dixon described as a five-note figure, is similar to that of "Mad Love". He attributed it to the band and using such a phrase for eight bars was a new approach. Although Palmer comments that the entire group phrases the riff in
unison, Boone describes it as a "heavy, unhurried counterpoint by all the instruments together". Campbell identifies the opening as actually having "two competing riffs" or
contrapuntal motion, with one played by Little Walter on an amplified harmonica and another by Waters on electric guitar. For the second eight-bars of the progression, the song follows the standard I–IV–V7 structure, which maintains its connection to traditional blues. The whole band plays it as a shuffle with a triplet rhythm, which Campbell describes as a "free-for-all [with] harmonica trills, guitar riffs, piano chords, thumping bass, [and] shuffle pattern on the drums". He adds that this type of heavy sound was rarely heard in small music combos before rock. However, unlike the
polyphony of New Orleans jazz, the instrumentation parallels Waters' aggressive vocal approach and reinforces the lyrics. The players' use of amplification, pushed to the point of distortion, is a key feature of Chicago blues and another rock precedent. In particular, Little Walters' overdriven saxophone-like harmonica playing weaves in and out of the vocal lines, which heightens the drama. ==Lyrics and interpretation==