Watch Your Step (Bobby Parker song)

"Watch Your Step"
Single by Bobby Parker
B-side	"Steal Your Heart Away"
Released	July 1961
Recorded	1961
Genre	Rhythm and blues
Length	2:44
Label	V-Tone
Songwriter(s)	Robert Lee Parker
Bobby Parker singles chronology

"Watch Your Step" is a song written and recorded in 1961 by rhythm and blues guitarist Bobby Parker. The song spent several weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 51 during the week of July 15, 1961.[1]

Original release

The song was written by Parker, inspired by Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" and Ray Charles' "What'd I Say". Parker said "I started playing [Gillespie's] riff on my guitar and decided to make a blues out of it."[2] The record was released on the V-Tone record label, a small enterprise that had been started in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Venton "Buddy" Caldwell.[3]

Influence

The single was released in the UK, and had influence far beyond its modest commercial success. It was covered by various artists including Adam Faith, Manfred Mann, and the Spencer Davis Group.[2] In particular, its main riff served as the inspiration for several songs by the Beatles, most notably "I Feel Fine" and "Day Tripper".[4] In The Beatles Anthology, John Lennon said: "'Watch Your Step' is one of my favourite records. The Beatles have used the lick in various forms. The Allman Brothers used the lick straight as it was."[2] The Allman Brothers song he refers to is "One Way Out", originally written and recorded by Elmore James.

Led Zeppelin also used the riff as the basis for their instrumental, "Moby Dick".[5] Others, including the Yardbirds ("I’m Not Talking", 1965), Deep Purple ("Rat Bat Blue", 1973), Gamma Ray ("New World Order", 2001) and Mahjongg ("Tell the Police the Truth", 2008) were inspired by the riff.[6]

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References

Billboard.com Hot 100 archive
Shaheen J. Dibai, "Bobby Parker: The Real Fifth Beatle?", One Note Ahead, March 29, 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2013
Mike Callahan, Dave Edwards, and Patrice Eyries, V-Tone/Len/Palm/Salvador International Album Discography Retrieved November 3, 2013
Allmusic.com: Day Tripper
Bream, Jon, 2008: Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin: The Illustrated History of the Heaviest Band of All Time. Voyageur Press, 288 pp.
Neman, Martin (November 2010). "One Step From The Blues". Record Collectors Magazine, issue 381, November 2010. London: Diamond Publishing. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2017.

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[1] Billboard.com Hot 100 archive

[onestep-2] Shaheen J. Dibai, "Bobby Parker: The Real Fifth Beatle?", One Note Ahead, March 29, 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2013

[3] Mike Callahan, Dave Edwards, and Patrice Eyries, V-Tone/Len/Palm/Salvador International Album Discography Retrieved November 3, 2013

[4] Allmusic.com: Day Tripper

[5] Bream, Jon, 2008: Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin: The Illustrated History of the Heaviest Band of All Time. Voyageur Press, 288 pp.

[recordcolltormag-6] Neman, Martin (November 2010). "One Step From The Blues". Record Collectors Magazine, issue 381, November 2010. London: Diamond Publishing. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2017.