- Bo Diddley (song)
Infobox Single
Name = Bo Diddley
Cover size =
Caption = Single reissue with picture sleeve, Chess Records
Artist =Bo Diddley
from Album =
B-side = "I'm a Man"
Released = March 1955
Format =7" single
Recorded =
Genre =Rhythm and blues
Length = 2:27
Label =Checker Records 814
Writer =Ellas McDaniel
Producer =Leonard Chess
Certification =
Last single =
This single = "Bo Diddley"
(1955)
Next single = "Diddley Daddy "
(1955)
Misc = "Bo Diddley" is arhythm and blues song first recorded and sung byBo Diddley at the Universal Recording Studio inChicago and released on theChess Records subsidiary,Checker Records in 1955. It became an immediate hit single that stayed on the R&B charts for a total of 18 weeks, seven more weeks than its flipside (the B-side, "I'm a Man"). It was the first recording to introduce African rhythms intorock and roll directly by using the patted juba beat. It was Bo Diddley's first recording and his first hit single.cite book
first=
last=Dawson, Jim and Propes, Steve
authorlink=
coauthors=
year= 1992
title= What Was the First Rock'n'Roll Record
edition=
publisher= Faber & Faber
location= Boston & London
pages= p. 177-181
id=ISBN 0-571-12939-0 ] It is #62 onRolling Stone 's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. [cite web|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11028260/the_rs_500_greatest_songs_of_all_time/1|title=The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time|publisher=RollingStone.com|accessdate=2007-06-02]ong
The song is rhythmically similar to
hambone , a technique of dancing and slapping various parts of the body to create a rhythm and song. It is lyrically similar to the traditionallullaby "Hush Little Baby ". When Bo Diddley started playing with it, hiselectric guitar amplified the patted juba with his backup musicians onmaraca s and drums unifying the rhythm. This combination of rock and roll, African rhythms and sactified guitar chord shouts was a true innovation.cite book
first=
last=Erlewine, Bogdanov, Woodstra (Eds)
authorlink=
coauthors=
year= 2002
title= All Music Guide to Rock
edition=
publisher= Miller Freeman Books
location=
pages= p. 244
id= ISBN 0-87939-736-x]He first titled his version "Uncle John" but before he recorded it, he changed the title to his own nick name Bo Diddly, with an "e" added to the song's title and his professional name by one of the Chess brothers.
Legacy
This first single was called a "double-sided monster" by All-Music Guide reviewer Richie Unterberger.cite web
url=http://www.guitarsite.com/BoDiddley.htm
title=Bo Diddley
publisher=
accessdate=2006-11-13 ] "Bo Diddley" was infused with waves of tremolo guitar, set to a children's chant. "I'm a Man" was a bump-and-grind shuffle, with a powerful blues riff woven throughout. The outcome was a new kind of guitar-based, blues and R&B drenched, rock and roll.Cover versions
The song was covered by
Buddy Holly and became a posthumous hit for him, reaching #4 on theUK Singles Chart in 1963. The song was also performed byBob Seger and is on his 1976live album ,Live Bullet . An energetic version byJanis Joplin is available on the 1999 box set Box of Pearls.In Popular Culture
*The song is used during a musical interlude in "Fritz the Cat".
*The song can be heard playing during a party in the film "Hollywoodland ".Notes
External links
* [http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=88 Bo Diddley - Hall of Fame inductee]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.