Erykah Badu, ‘Mannish Boy’: Muddy Waters cover for H&M ads

There was an H&M commercial for their fall 2010 fashion trends tonight during The Office, and its music was exactly what I thought it was: Erykah Badu covering the blues standard “Mannish Boy,” first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1955.

Here’s another one. The model in both of these is Daria Werbowy.

A few more H&M commercial clips have been uploaded to Erykah Badu’s YouTube channel, including one for men’s denim featuring Spanish model Jon Kortajarena. There are also a couple of clips you can see via H&M online.

The song does not appear on any of Erykah Badu’s albums. The vocals for it were recorded at Kensaltown Studios in London, England on July 23, 2010 during a tour stop. The band was recorded by Brady Blade at Blade Studios in Shreveport, Louisiana. According to a Dallas Observer blog post, there are currently no plans for a full-length single, but there could be a file available to download “around year’s end.”

Muddy Waters recorded “Mannish Boy” several times. His original Chess Records recording is included on the album Muddy Waters: The Anthology: 1947-1972 (or download it via iTunes).

For my money, however, the recording on the 1977 Muddy Waters album Hard Again with Johnny Winter is the most blistering. (It’s also available via iTunes.) That album is an absolute masterpiece of blues music.

There’s an adequate cover version on the Rolling Stones’ Love You Live double album, also released in 1977 (and it’s on iTunes too).