Songfacts®:

• Although this song was never a hit, it was a big influence on many British bands, and similar riffs can be heard in "I Feel Fine" by The Beatles and "Moby Dick" by Led Zeppelin.
  It's quite common for musicians to take a riff and expand on it, and it's also perfectly legal, as riffs cannot be copyrighted. In the liner notes to the CD The Golden Ave Of American Rock 'N' Roll, Volume 7, Parker said: "I started playing the riff on my guitar and decided to make a blues out of it. We were influenced by Ray Charles' 'What'd I Say.' Maurice Robinson, my alto sax player, did the charts."
• In 2008, Parker told the Forgotten Hits newsletter: "My song 'Watch Your Step' was a culmination of 'Blues Rock' Guitar that nobody else had ever thought of in that late '50s / early '60s Era. Mine was First. Everybody in the United States of America was engulfed by Motown... mostly Diana Ross and the Supremes and Smokey Robinson... And the whole world knew that when I recorded 'Watch Your Step' I then broke the brick wall of the 'Sameness' of Motown. I alone sent music in another direction - World Wide - especially for 'Rock Blues Guitarists' like Jimmy Page, Santana, Eric Clapton, and millions of other Rock Guitar Wanta-Be's. And everybody who was anybody knew that Bobby Parker alone penned that Guitar Lick / Riff that created 'Watch Your Step' and started what is known as the 'British Revolution.' I then toured the United Kingdom many times after that and the Guitar World went Berserk!!!
  My original V-Tone Recording from Philadelphia, PA of 'Watch Your Step' was recorded in Washington, DC at Thomas Circle, a downtown DC area, at Edgewood Studios by that great Rock/Blues engineer Ed Greene, who has done so much great recording and TV sound engineering throughout the years. After 'Watch Your Step' was released is when I heard 600 or more versions of blatant 'Copy Cat' recordings... Everybody in the Guitar World was playing my guitar lick and trying to claim it, The Beatles included. Even now in 2008 I hear Copy Cat guitar riffs From 'Watch Your Step' in TV commercials. I wish they would come up with a different riff and leave mine alone!"