R.I.P. Bo Diddley

Oh, that's a sad one.

RIP

Say it ain't so, Bo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBAJXyF1HVc

"The Beat That Launched a Thousand Careers" (quote by Chumly).

For those not in the know Bo had one and only one characteristic beat, through which many careers have been ignited.

Also it's a play on words for those familiar with Helen of Troy.

Say Man!...I used to see you up in Cainesville Fl years ago.RIP



thought you guys might find this interesting

Bo Diddley
The lyrics were based on the American Folk song "Mockingbird." It has virtually the same lyrics as the "Mockingbird" adaptation by Charlie and Inez Foxx in 1963, which was later recorded by James Taylor and Carly Simon.
Bo Diddley was born Ellas Bates. He had his name changed to Ellas McDaniels when he was adopted. He took his stage name from a one-stringed Deep South instrument, the Diddley Bow.
Originally titled "Uncle John," the song was rejected by the owners of Chess Records because the original lyrics were "too dirty" for the white American record-buying public.
Diddley was trained on the violin as a child, but switched to guitar (to emulate John Lee Hooker) when his sister gave him one for a Christmas present.
Diddley took his longtime partner Jerome Green to play the maracas on the recording. Green's efforts were fed through an echo chamber to get the desired effect.
The Bo Diddley riff was incorporated into many rock'n'roll songs. Examples include "Not Fade Away" (Buddy Holly), "Willie and the Hand Jive" (Johnny Otis Show), "Cannonball" (Duane Eddy), "Hey Little Girl" (Dee Clark), "I Want Candy" (Strangeloves), "Bad Blood" (Neil Sedaka), and "Faith" (George Michael).
Although the riff used in this is ascribed to Bo Diddley (the "Bo Diddley Beat), it didn't originate with him. It goes back to West Africa -- American slaves patted the rhythms on their bodies as they were denied access to their traditional drums (many pre-Civil War slaveholders were afraid of them being used for communication). "Hambone" became part of the African-American musical tradition. Chicago youngster Sammy McGrier did a hambone on a radio talent show in the early '50s; bandleader Red Saunders recorded McGrier, Dee Clark, and Ronny Strong as the Hambone Kids and called the song "Hambone." "Hambone" became a novelty hit despite covers by Tennessee Ernie Ford and the duo of Frankie Laine and Jo Stafford. It was the only chart record for Red Saunders.
Contrary to popular belief, this did not make the Billboard Top Singles chart, but it did hit #1 on the Rhythm and Blues chart.
Diddley's sole Top 40 his was recorded four years later - "Say Man" - a tape of Diddley and Green swapping insults in a bar. Instruments were added in the studio, and a #20 hit was born. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL, for all above)

Posted on an earlier thread already but...
He really put on a great show. I saw him several years ago at Legends, Buddy Guy's club in Chicago, and he was not a young man then but he carried on like one! Downright nasty!
We had a ball!

This is the first I heard of Bo's passing.

He once said that the 'Bo Diddley' beat was derived from the sound of goods trains he heard in the wee hours lying in bed as a young tacker.

My two degrees of separation is knowing some guys who built a square guitar for him while he was on tour in Oz back in the 1980s.

As reported in this months Mojo......."Just before he passed away,Bo lay in bed surrounded by more than 35 family members listening to a performance of the gospel song Walk Around Heaven.At the song's conclusion,he raised both thumbs in approval and gave his final assessment of the situation:"Wow."
It wasn't the final word from the single-most unique rock'n'roll pioneer of them all-that was reserved for the assurance that,indeed,he was going to Heaven-but it would have been fitting had it been.Even on the threshold of death,Bo's ever-present optimism and sense of adventure remained firmly intact."
This junkyard inventor,sound pioneer and sharp-dressed man leaves behind a gargantuan legacy that runs from Elvis Presley via The Rolling Stones and on to U2 and The White Stripes.