Hey Bo Diddley!

So, while we’re on the subject of the most historical moments in music, Bo Diddley’s beat – for me – ranks high on the list of significant moments in music. Bo wrote some incredibly famous songs and had a larger than life personality however it all sort of started with the infectious, sultry melody of that “Bo Diddley beat.”

Born Otha Ellas Bates and later known as Ellas McDaniel, Bo was born in McComb, Mississippi. After beginning his career as a boxer, where he got the name of Bo Diddley, he worked the blues clubs of Chicago with a repertoire influenced by Louis Jordan, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. In late 1954, he teamed up with Billy Boy Arnold and recorded demos of “I’m A Man” and “Bo Diddley” and the rest as they say is history. Re-recorded at Chess Studios with a backing ensemble comprising Otis Spann (piano), Lester Davenport (harmonica), Frank Kirkland (drums) and Jerome Green (maracas), the a-side, “Bo Diddley,” became an R&B hit in 1955. Before long, Diddley’s distorted, amplified, custom-made guitar, with its rectangular shape and pumping rhythm style became a familiar, much-imitated trademark with songs like “Bo Diddley’s A Gunslinger” and “Diddley Daddy.”

Bo’s beat was actually derived from an African-based 5/4 rhythm pattern - a rumba styled beat. His influence has reached wide and far with his singular sound. He has counted as his fans bands like The Clash (he toured with them) and the New York Dolls. Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy” was an adaptation of Bo’s “I’m A Man,” and Bo wrote the classic “Love Is Strange” by Mickey and Sylvia under a pseudonynm. On November 20, 1955 he was the first Black to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, only to infuriate him (”I did two songs and he got mad.” Bo Diddley later recalls, “Ed Sullivan said that I was one of the first colored boys to ever double-cross him. Said that I wouldn’t last six months.”). Bo was asked to sing Tennessee Ernie Fords’s “Sixteen Tons”. But when he appeared on stage, he sang his “Bo Diddley” and was banned from further appearances.

For Bo, it’s all about the influence of the beat. From Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” and Johnny Otis’s “Willie and the Hand Jive,” to the Strangeloves’ “I Want Candy,” the Who’s “Magic Bus” and Bruce Springsteen’s “She’s the One,” Bo Diddley’s beat was one of music’s most memorable moment.