{{Infobox song | name = Say Man | cover = File:Say_Man_single_cover.jpeg | alt = | type = single | artist = Bo Diddley | album = | B-side = The Clock Strikes Twelve | released = 1959 | format = | recorded = 1958 | studio = | venue = | genre = Rhythm and blues | length = {{Duration|m=3|s=09}} | label = Checker 931 | writer = Ellas McDaniel | producer = | prev_title = Crackin Up | prev_year = 1959 | next_title = Say Man, Back Again | next_year = 1959 }}
"'''Say Man'''" is a song by American musician Bo Diddley. Written under his real name of Ellas McDaniel, it was recorded by Bo Diddley in 1958 and released as a single in 1959 on Checker 931.
The recording became his biggest US pop hit, reaching number 20 on the Hot 100,<ref>{{cite book|first=Joel|last=Whitburn|year=2003|title=Top Pop Singles 1955-2002|edition=1st|publisher=Record Research Inc.|location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin|isbn=0-89820-155-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/193 193]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/193}}</ref> and number three on the R&B chart.<ref name="whitburnr&b">{{cite book |title=Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–1995 |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |authorlink=Joel Whitburn |year=1996 |publisher=Record Research |isbn=0-89820-115-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstopr00whit/page/114 114] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstopr00whit/page/114 }}</ref> It arose from a jam session between Diddley and his maracas player Jerome Green, and featured Diddley and Green trading insults in the style of the word game known as The Dozens.<ref name="AM1"/>
Bo Diddley said of the song: "A lot of the things I did in the Chess studios, we were just goofin' around ... They played it back, and it shocked all of us! Of course, they cut out all the dirty parts."<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/say-man-bo-diddley Richie Unterberger, "Say Man", '' Rolling Stone'', June 8, 2012]. Retrieved 29 December 2017</ref> Music critic Maury Dean, while rejecting the idea that the track is "the first rap song", says that it is "the first major soul tune to feature a total spoken patter of pal put-downs to a rockin' beat ... . Bo's lightning right hand chops chords like sugar cane. The incessant beat throbs into the hot American evening nocturne of streetwise savvy. Rap – with a side of ghetto-blast humor."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lJS4EArRBwoC&dq=%22Say+Man%22+bo&pg=PA59 Maury Dean, ''Rock and Roll: Gold Rush'', Algora Publishing, 2003, p.59]</ref>
The recording also appeared on the album ''Go Bo Diddley''.<ref name="AM1">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/go-bo-diddley-r5731 |title=Overview: ''Go Bo Diddley'' by Bo Diddley |work=Allmusic |publisher=Rovi Corporation |location=United States |accessdate=December 17, 2010}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:1959 singles Category:Bo Diddley songs Category:1958 songs Category:Songs written by Bo Diddley {{1950s-song-stub}} {{Bo Diddley}}