When Chess wanted Arnold to sing the song, the latter realized he had a contract, responding, "I can't do it...I just recorded it for Vee-Jay."

[6] As it happened, the harmonica player Little Walter was in the studio, and he asked Billy Boy Arnold for his harp; Walter plays the long solo after the first verse (Arnold plays harmonica on the B-side, "She's Fine, She's Mine").

Also decided at "the spur of the moment" was to have Chicago doo-wop group The Moonglows sing background vocals.

[9] The Chicago Sun-Times said it combined "outrageous braggadocio with a beat that resounds like an endless sexual shudder.

[12][13] Brian Jones would later borrow Diddley's guitar figure from the song for the band's 1965 single "19th Nervous Breakdown".