Bo Diddley!

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I'm with everyone here: Bo is amazing and amazingly underappreciated. The guitar tone and mix on early things like "Bo Diddley;" the drums on "Hey Bo Diddley" (and the lyric about all the women on his farm, already mentioned); the way on "Before You Accuse Me" that the guitar is so PERFECTLY out of tune; the instrumental version of "On Top of Old Smokey" on Beach Party; that impossibly elastic beat on "Road Runner; the opening line of "Run Run Diddley Daddy" ("I was down in the jungle picking wild beans") (and that SOLO!), "Mona," "Who Do You Love," "Pills," Jerome. Does everyone know he wrote "Love is Strange" (under an assumed name)?

― Burr (Burr), Monday, 17 March 2003 23:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

1957 is the blueprint for any garage/party/frat rock record since..It's all taken from Bo.

― brg30 (brg30), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 00:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

and listening to "the story of bo diddley" in particular, it's got lots of lovely repetition. Lessons learned by the greats: the fall, the stooges, etc. plus, yeah, damn near every garage rock band worth its salt. my fave recent one: the dukes of hamburg. Bo at 78 RPM, with lots of really bad jokes. tho' their latest record is pretty tame.

― pauls00, Tuesday, 18 March 2003 00:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

ROCKULA (1990)
He's a vampire who hasn't scored in 400 years. Tonight's the night!

Bo Diddley .... Axman

― David Allen, Tuesday, 18 March 2003 18:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

eight months pass...

"Pills" is my favorite!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 20 November 2003 00:16 (twenty years ago) link

Pretty Thing and Mona. I was always blown away by the guitar sound, the effects, the reverb and tremolo, it's like psychedelic rock a decade early.

What's the history of that Mockingbird nursery rhyme/song? Seems like 80% of Bo's song are based on that.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 20 November 2003 01:26 (twenty years ago) link

I like "Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover"

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 20 November 2003 15:32 (twenty years ago) link

eleven months pass...

BO! DIDDLEY! BO! DIDDLEY!

― amateur!!st, Tuesday, 2 November 2004 22:53 (nineteen years ago) link

"The Story of Bo Diddley" needs a S3-ish garage/drone extended version with about seven more verses STAT.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 2 November 2004 23:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Beach Party is yor answer

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 2 November 2004 23:15 (nineteen years ago) link

The Jesus and Mary Chain turned me on to Bo. I'm a huge fan as a result. "Mona" is *classic*.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 2 November 2004 23:17 (nineteen years ago) link

"dearest darling" is my favorite, a song that is simultaneously joyous and morbid, celebratory and scary. singing in a deranged voice, he tells his woman he loves her so much that if he should die, he promises to take her with him. his band rocks as hard as they ever did on this one.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 2 November 2004 23:19 (nineteen years ago) link

The new compilation of Bo's early 70's Chess stuff--"Tales From The Funk Dimension"--is boss...

― Dark Horse, Tuesday, 2 November 2004 23:34 (nineteen years ago) link

check out Bo in the Phil Spector film "The Big T.N.T. Show," from '65. He's as good as Ray Charles and Ike and Tina there.

Bo and minstrelsy--I thought minstrelsy pretty much was over by the time Emmett Miller recorded in the late '20s, if not earlier?

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 2 November 2004 23:46 (nineteen years ago) link

Beach Party is yor answer
tell me more?

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 2 November 2004 23:49 (nineteen years ago) link

minstrelry continued until the 50s...but that was its last gasp. again, i wasn't saying that diddley was directly influenced by some minstrel-stage act or other, just that a lot of the "black culture" he taps into had as much of a stage/popular origin as a "folk" origin. or so goes my thesis.

― amateur!!st, Wednesday, 3 November 2004 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link

according to Etta James, Bo filmed 8mm pornographic movies of his fellow R n B stars "in action."

has anybody mentioned "You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover"?

― rumple, Wednesday, 3 November 2004 00:42 (nineteen years ago) link

its.

Just think of Bo manning that movie camera...

― rumple, Wednesday, 3 November 2004 00:47 (nineteen years ago) link

i wonder if he got big mama thornton...hound dog is a dirty dirty record. i'd say chuck was in there.
('Nursery rhymes'is my fave BO tune).

― Muffy, Wednesday, 3 November 2004 01:03 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, I understood that. I mean minstrelsy was the basis for modern american culture, certainly pop music as we know it. so there were minstrel shows up until the '50s? you mean what, the rabbit foot minstrels or something? big stage shows with cakewalks and white and black folks blacking up their faces? i don't know, i'd like to know what these were. again, my understanding is that minstrelsy was over by the '20s. please enlighten me, i'm interested in this subject having read tosches' "dead voices gather" and the excellent, excellent book by dave wondrich "stomp and swerve."

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 04:56 (nineteen years ago) link

well there were blackface comedy troupes/duos playing around the south until the early 50s or so (jamup and honey, etc.).... but it was in decline by WWI so you probably have the more correct point.

― amateur!!st, Wednesday, 3 November 2004 08:04 (nineteen years ago) link

I can see the interplay with Jerome, the insults and stuff, as being very traceable back to that tradition. It's unfortunate that it's become such a loaded subject that it's hard to discuss now.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:12 (nineteen years ago) link

see Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" for further loading

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 20:20 (nineteen years ago) link

TS: say, man vs ya mama

― P$, Wednesday, 3 November 2004 22:08 (nineteen years ago) link

TS: Bo Diddley's Jerome vs Morris Day's Jerome

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 3 November 2004 22:17 (nineteen years ago) link

shit, minstrelsy is not really a loaded subject, is it? good ol' american showbiz is what it was. i live amongst southern rednecks who still use those racially derogatory terms and who don't know about bert williams or in fact much of anything. they're grillin' venison and grooving to alan jackson. minstrelsy is the foundation of everything we're talking about here, and now that bush has been re-elected by our good southern baptists, i say we get it all out in the open and unload it for those who still feel some kind of antiquated conflict about these matters (not you, martin, i don't mean you). this goddam election has really pissed me off..

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 4 November 2004 00:44 (nineteen years ago) link

I have an Alan Freed aircheck in which he plays the then-new "Bo Diddley," noting happily that "this guy calls himself Bo Diddley" and that the "song is about a hundred years old."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 4 November 2004 06:42 (nineteen years ago) link

that's a conservative measure

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 4 November 2004 08:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Heh heh. I was listening to "Bo Diddley in the Spotlight" a lot the week "Love & Theft" came out, and they complemented each other nicely. I still wish Dylan would cover something like "Live My Life."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, and an editor of mine once took Bo on a tour of Richmond, Va., pawn shops for a story.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 4 November 2004 09:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Fact Checking Cuz, re: Dearest Darling -- You read my mind. It's tender-hearted yet terrifying. I really like how time and space and even death mean nothing to Bo Diddley.

Another ace song: Doing the Crawdaddy. The best parts are his comments to the kids, like "you lookin' good - you been eatin' regular?"

― Vampire Submarine (VampireSubmarine), Thursday, 4 November 2004 18:42 (nineteen years ago) link

The first sequence of "John Lennon: Sweet Toronto" is an electrifying Bo Diddley set intercut with POV motorcycle gang footage. A-mazing.

― Loose Translation: Sexy Dancer (sexyDancer), Thursday, 4 November 2004 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link

one year passes...

i got beach party, but havent played it yet

― terry lennox. (gareth), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 11:02 (eighteen years ago) link

whatchoo waitin for?? the world could end at any minute

― detoxyDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 17:19 (eighteen years ago) link

three months pass...

I love Bo Diddley so much. He's my hero. I have all his classic stuff, so I started looking over his latter-day output. He had a 1994 EP called "Promises". The second-to-last song is called "I'm Gonna Get Your Girlfriend". The last song is called "She Wasn't Raped".

"She Wasn't Raped"????

Does anyone have any info on this? Google and s1sk don't. I'd like to hear it, but would be happy just to read the lyrics.

― O-Keigh, Wednesday, 15 March 2006 04:23 (eighteen years ago) link

I bought Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger for my Dad for Christmas. Such a great album cover, but I couldn't believe how much it 'rocks'. And some of the songs have such original sounds. Check 'Cheyenne', which has this mental electro-xylophone thing oscillating through it like it's straight off a library record.

― Mestema (davidcorp), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 10:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Quite possibly my favourite of the original '50s rockers.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 10:42 (eighteen years ago) link

If you don't own The Chess Box you should. Robert Palmer's liner notes are urgent & key (just re-read them last week, SO good).

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 12:13 (eighteen years ago) link

The albums that has the song "She Wasn't Raped" is on ebay right now: http://cgi.ebay.com/BO-DIDDLEY-PROMISES-CD-ADOBE-BROTHERS-1994-TRIPLE-X-OOP_W0QQitemZ4848622001QQcategoryZ307QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

― Lloyd Bonecutter (Lloyd Bonecutter), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 14:14 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...

BO DIDDLEY RULES, THE BEST EVER.

― Tom Ant Chairs, Friday, 21 April 2006 02:18 (eighteen years ago) link

I haven't read every post, so apologies if this has already been said, but "if you think Elvis invented rock'n'roll, you don't know Diddley" has to be one of my favorite quotes of all time.

Although I love most of his stuff, my favorite song performed by Bo is "Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover". Great lyrics (written by Willie Dixon) delivered with Bo's style.

― shorty (shorty), Friday, 21 April 2006 08:55 (eighteen years ago) link

he's playing at the local Casino next week. Is he still worth seeing? Or would it just make me sad?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:23 (eighteen years ago) link

got a tombstone hand and a graveyard mind
I'm just 22 and I don't mind dyin'

that just needs to be repeated.

― A|ex P@reene (Pareene), Friday, 21 April 2006 13:40 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm willing to bet Bo can still put on a great show Huk....

― shorty (shorty), Friday, 21 April 2006 15:09 (eighteen years ago) link

derek bailey owes about 2/3rds of his vocabulary to bo's "mumblin' guitar."

― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Friday, 21 April 2006 18:15 (eighteen years ago) link

i keep meaning to write an essay about ray charles singing country vs diddley singing country, but i never do...

― anthony easton (anthony), Saturday, 22 April 2006 01:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Where's the best place to start with Bo Diddley? A best of?

― Sahin, Saturday, 22 April 2006 10:07 (eighteen years ago) link

yeah, probably "his best" on chess/mca

the robert palmer notes to the box set are great but that thing's a beast...hasn't been repackaged to a more manageable size since it arrived 15 years ago.

― amateurist0, Saturday, 22 April 2006 23:27 (eighteen years ago) link

Bo is the best.

Everything anyone ever needs to know is in "Pretty Thing"!

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Sunday, 23 April 2006 00:34 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm willing to bet Bo can still put on a great show Huk....
-- shorty (inf...), April 21st, 2006.

I would not be so sure. My brother saw him many years back and said Bo just coasted through a show (and I think he, as Chuck Berry does, just used a local pickup band).

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 23 April 2006 15:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Skipping 35 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

so far my favorite has been "have guitar will travel" (the one where he's on the scooter on the cover)

― the late great, Monday, 29 June 2015 00:12 (eight years ago) link

"I'm High Again" is great, and that's 1967

― Josefa, Monday, 29 June 2015 04:18 (eight years ago) link

two weeks pass...

bo diddley is the best music

― the late great, Tuesday, 14 July 2015 00:01 (eight years ago) link

I picked up "The Definitive Collection" this year and it's so much fun! So primal, it just cuts so deeply.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 14 July 2015 01:01 (eight years ago) link

One of my three or four favourite live clips ever. The women are incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeZHB3ozglQ

― clemenza, Tuesday, 14 July 2015 01:16 (eight years ago) link

Yeah, wow, that rules!

― Gorefest Frump (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 14 July 2015 15:40 (eight years ago) link

yup

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 14 July 2015 15:41 (eight years ago) link

The great grand-pappy was a busy man
Cooked his grub in a fryin' pan
Picked his teeth with a huntin' knife
He wore the same suit all-a his life
Oh-oh, ooo-oh-ooo, ooo-ooo
A-ay-oh

― Heez, Tuesday, 14 July 2015 17:46 (eight years ago) link

two months pass...

http://sheshredsmag.com/lady-bo-mother-of-rock-n-roll-dead-at-76-years-old/
Peggy Jones aka Lady Bo, played guitar with Bo from 1957 to 1962

― curmudgeon, Sunday, 20 September 2015 18:24 (eight years ago) link

Never made it down to Ponderosa Stomp the year (or years?) she performed

― curmudgeon, Monday, 21 September 2015 16:30 (eight years ago) link

Is that her in the clip just above?

― clemenza, Monday, 21 September 2015 23:17 (eight years ago) link

― Οὖτις, Monday, 21 September 2015 23:18 (eight years ago) link

I believe that's the Duchess

― Οὖτις, Monday, 21 September 2015 23:20 (eight years ago) link

THIS is lady bo

http://www.ladybo.com/gallery/Lady_Bo_-_white_afro.GIF

RIP

― chaki (kurt schwitterz), Monday, 21 September 2015 23:23 (eight years ago) link

four years pass...

I haven't watched this yet, but I'm sure it's great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGa7Qs291VM&pbjreload=10

― clemenza, Monday, 25 May 2020 12:06 (three years ago) link

Give me a second, I'll figure this out.

― clemenza, Monday, 25 May 2020 12:06 (three years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGa7Qs291VM

― clemenza, Monday, 25 May 2020 12:08 (three years ago) link

one year passes...

Nice

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l_hdhuAseKuf518cr4z3Wc7pDP9Xiv-50

― OG Bob Sacamano (will), Saturday, 21 May 2022 04:01 (one year ago) link

"Look at Grandma what you tryin to do"

― curmudgeon, Monday, 23 May 2022 16:21 (one year ago) link

is this the best thing he did after his 50s-60s heyday? I like this one a whole lot all the way through, but some of the other stuff I’ve heard from the 70s didn’t quite match up.

― OG Bob Sacamano (will), Monday, 23 May 2022 16:34 (one year ago) link

THe turn of the 70s funk stuff is quite good in places. The Raven set of that stuff was pretty solid not 100% sure about all of the individual lps.

― Stevolende, Monday, 23 May 2022 16:39 (one year ago) link

that weird guitar break in "hey jerome" is one of the funkiest things ever

― Heez, Monday, 23 May 2022 17:15 (one year ago) link

yeah I love that sort of metallic percussive thing he’s doing throughout.

― OG Bob Sacamano (will), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:38 (one year ago) link

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