Watermelon Man

Herbie Hancock composed Watermelon Man at age 22 for his debut album as a leader, Takin' Off, recorded for Blue Note in May 1962 with Freddie Hubbard, Dexter Gordon, Butch Warren, and Billy Higgins. The tune draws on a childhood memory from 1940s Chicago: the clatter of a horse-drawn watermelon cart on cobblestones while neighborhood women called out to the vendor. That rhythmic image became the seed of a bluesy, danceable riff built on an extended blues structure. Hancock wrote it with commercial intent, and the publishing royalties proved substantial enough to fund several years of living expenses and the purchase of a Shelby Cobra. The composition quickly escaped the jazz world. Mongo Santamaria recorded a Latin-flavored version in 1963, after Hancock had briefly subbed for Chick Corea in Santamaria's band and introduced the tune to him. Santamaria's rendition climbed to number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Over two hundred artists have since covered it in styles from ska to rock, among them Bill Haley and the Comets and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. Hancock himself reimagined the piece on his 1973 album Head Hunters, transforming it into a jazz-funk workout with synthesizers and beer bottles blown across their openings to simulate African whistle effects, a version frequently sampled by pop and hip-hop producers. Despite its many incarnations, the composition remains a core part of the jazz repertoire and one of the most recognizable tunes of the hard bop era.