Songfacts®:

• John Kongos is South African, but he had relocated to London when he recorded "He's Gonna Step On You Again," a song about colonialism. The lyrics was written by his friend, Chris Demetriou. In an interview with MWE3, Kongos explained the meaning:
  
  "We had written '(He's Gonna) Step On You Again' as a kind of country protest song... and we were really thinking of the American Indian. Hence the line, 'Hey rainmaker, come away from that man, he's gonna take away your promised land'... It was really in defense of what had occurred to the American Indians. A lot of it was interpreted, and could be interpreted as a protest as to what was going on in South Africa. It applied equally."
• The rhythm in the song comes from a recording of real African tribal drums that Kongos looped, giving it claim as one of the first songs to use a sample, depending on your definition. It was done out of necessity: Kongos recorded the demo for the song in a London bed-sit that he was using as an improvised studio. He had a guitar but nothing for bass or drums (except for some suitcases to bang on), which is why he made the loop. It was an innovative technique that some sources claim earned him an entry in The Guinness Book of Records for the first sample ever used on a record.
• The song was produced by Gus Dudgeon, famous for his work with Elton John. It was the first time he and Kongos worked together, and they clicked.
• The song was released in 1971 and rose to #4 in the UK and #70 in America. It was intended as a one-off single, but when it became a hit, Kongos' label had him make an entire album, which he called Kongos. The first song he made for the album was "Tokoloshe Man," which was also a hit, climbing to #4 in the UK to match the chart position of "He's Gonna Step On You Again."
• Def Leppard recorded this song for their 2006 covers album Yeah!. Kongos did some drum programming on their classic 1983 album Pyromania.
• In 1990, the Happy Mondays released an acid house version of this song called "Step On" that became their biggest hit. Their version uses most of the same lyrics but is radically different, club-ready and with the spoken line, "You're twistin' my melon man," sprinkled in throughout. They recorded the song because their American record label, Elektra, insisted they cover a song from the label's catalog, and have them a cassette with songs to choose from. "He's Gonna Step On You Again" was on the tape, and the band selected it because it sounded like the easiest one to work with.