Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Bo Diddley is dead. R.I.P.

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I am genuinely sad that one of my favourite musicians, Bo Diddley died today. A great guitarist with a fantastic stage presence. I was lucky enough to see him a couple of times when he came to Australia and he was a great inspiration to lots of young men with not quite enough talent to bang out three chords (when one would do). And after all, any musician whose band included a full-time maraca player (the late, great Jerome Green) - an inspiration to any half-decent singer who needed some kind of prop on stage - can't be all bad.

The usual eulogies will tell you of the influence he had on Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones, The Clash, U2 and so forth. But sadly, there is a black mark that blots the otherwise spotless escutcheon of Bo Diddley, namely Craig McLachlan and his 'band' Check 1-2 who stumbled their way through a play-in-a-day version of Bo Diddley's 'Mona'



But on the other hand, to counterpoint the ridiculous with the sublime, Bo Diddley also influenced arguably the greatest English R&B star of the 1960s, Bo Dudley. Below is a clip of the reclusive singer performing at the London jazz club 'La Maison Sophisticee' circa 1966. Enjoy.

4 comments:

Perseus said...

The opening lines to 'Who Do You Love' I think are amongst the very best in the history of rock and roll.

"I got 47 miles of barbed wire/I use a cobra snake for a necktie/I got a brand new house by the road side/Made from rattlesnake hide/I got a brand new chimney up on top/Made from human skull...

And the beat. The Didley beat. I heard it first when I was about 16 and was hooked.

RIP, indeed.

(That Bo Dudley was gold.)

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

First Yves Saint Laurent and now Bo Diddley.

Coincidence? Probably.

Anonymous said...

"I got 47 miles of barbed wire/I use a cobra snake for a necktie/I got a brand new house by the road side/Made from rattlesnake hide/I got a brand new chimney up on top/Made from human skull...

Sounds like a great intro to a dating profile.

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

That's how I met my first wife, Boogey.