Watermelon Man

It takes a certain kind of brilliance to take a song that was already considered a jazz classic and rework it into something even better.  That's exactly what Herbie Hancock did with Watermelon Man.

What is offered here today is the 1973 version from the fusion/funk classic Headhunters...  and if you watched The Weather Channel years ago, you may have heard this song as background music as they were doing your local weather conditions and forecast.

Like most people my age, I became aware of Herbie Hancock thanks to his 1983 hit, Rockit, which reached only #71 on the Billboard Hot 100, but was in heavy rotation on MTV (and the other music video outlets of the era).

I had first heard this version of Watermelon Man on The Best Of Herbie Hancock: The Hits! and was immediately hooked (afterwards, I made the Weather Channel connection).

Enjoy!