Our piped-in music service at work has been playing of late a cover of Steve Winwood's `I'm A Man'. It is definitely not the Spencer Davis Group or Chicago. I seem to recall another cover from the seventies but I'm drawing a blank as to who the artist is. It seems more up-tempo than the others...thanks in advance.
According to wikipedia: Cover versions Chicago recorded a cover version of "I'm A Man" for their 1969 debut album, The Chicago Transit Authority. When the band's popularity surged after their second album, "I'm A Man" was released as the B-side to a re-release of "Questions 67 and 68". Radio stations ended up playing both sides, and "I'm A Man" reached #49 on the U.S. chart in 1971. Chicago's cover is a borderline heavy metal arrangement, clocking in at 7 minutes and 40 seconds, and is based around the power guitar playing of Terry Kath, the virtuoso drumming of Danny Seraphine and the horn section doubling on auxiliary percussion instruments, such as claves, cowbell and tambourine. Kath, Peter Cetera and Robert Lamm each sing a verse apiece (singing not the lyrics as written, but as Chicago apparently misunderstood them), preluding an extended drum solo before a return to the second and third verses and choruses that bring the song to a climactic drum roll, and finally leading into a Terry Kath guitar solo to bring the song to a dramatic close. This version remains a fan favourite. Santana has also used a small part of this song in the track "Waiting" which appears on their self titled 1969 debut album. Marzio Vincenzi, lead and background vocalist originally from Bologna, Italy, and Mauro Malavasi produced in 1978 a version of "I'm A Man" under the name Macho which is a classic of disco music, or as some have classified it, "rosco music", a hybrid between rock and disco genres. Roy Z.'s band, Tribe Of Gypsies included the cover of "I'm A Man" on their (Japanese import only) mini-album Nothing Lasts Forever and added Latino-influence to the song. Los Lonely Boys have recorded a version on their 2008 album Forgiven. The Sub recorded a version on their 1970's album Sub - In Concert.
The Yardbirds version is the one that sticks in my mind as definitive. It's the first version I ever heard. I like their arrangement and Keith's vocal on it. They play it uptempo.
The Yardbirds "I'm a Man" is a cover of the 1955 Bo Diddley tune. Not the same "I'm a Man" as Spencer Davis Group written by Stevie Winwood
