You Shook Me

"You Shook Me"
1963 UK EP picture sleeve.
Single by Muddy Waters
B-side	"Muddy Waters Twist"
Released	1962 (1962)
Format	7-inch 45 rpm record
Recorded	Chicago, May 3, 1961 (backing track) and June 27, 1962 (vocal overdub)
Genre	Blues
Length	2:44
Label	Chess (no. 1827)
Writer(s)	Willie Dixon J. B. Lenoir
Producer(s)	Leonard Chess, Phil Chess

"You Shook Me" is a 1962 blues song recorded by Chicago blues artist Muddy Waters. It features his vocal in unison with a slide-guitar melody by Earl Hooker. "You Shook Me" became one of Muddy Waters' most successful early-1960s singles and has been interpreted by several blues and rock artists.

"You Shook Me" is unique among Muddy Waters' songs – it is the first time he overdubbed vocals onto an existing commercially released record. The backing track for Waters started as an impromptu slide guitar instrumental by blues guitarist Earl Hooker during a May 3, 1961, recording session for Chief Records. To start the session, Hooker and his backup band played a "warm-up" number, loosely fashioned on earlier Hooker songs and a rhythmic element from the blues standard "Rock Me Baby". One take was recorded, apparently unknown to Hooker.A.C. Reed, who played tenor saxophone on the recording, recalled:

We was just warmin' up, you know, we wasn't even gonna cut that tune, and Hooker just started out on it. Mel London ... just cut the warm-up tape, it sound so good [and then] he put it out ... Hooker was just somebody like you gave to catch him at his best, you know, unpredictable.

Chief owner and producer Mel London chose "Blue Guitar" for the title and issued it as a single on the Chief subsidiary, Age Records, in 1962. Hooker is listed as the artist and writer and backing him on slide guitar were Reed and Ernest Cotton on tenor saxophones, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker on organ, Ernest Johnson on electric bass, and Bobby Little on drums.

Hooker biographer Sebastian Danchin cites "Blue Guitar" as Hooker's favorite piece "as it combines the ultimate in taste, virtuosity, sheer simplicity, and pure creativity." He notes the influence of blues slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk and Hooker's "accuracy" and "impeccable phrasing". The single became popular in Chicago and sold well for a blues instrumental. Many Chicago-area blues musicians added "Blue Guitar" to their sets and it took a place alongside other popularly performed instrumentals, such as Bill Doggett's "Honky Tonk " and Freddie King's "Hide Away".