RIP Bo Diddley

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

RIP to a legend!

Steinar Gregertsen · From: Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24933262/

RIP Bo....
_________________
"Play to express, not to impress"
Website - YouTube

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Who Do You Love?

Bo Diddley

I walked 47 miles of barbed wire,
Used a cobra snake for a neck tie.
Got a brand new house on the roadside,
Made out of rattlesnake hide.
I got a brand new chimney made on top,
Made out of human skulls.
Now come on darling let's take a little walk, tell me,
Who do you love,
Who do you love, Who do you love, Who do you love.

Arlene took me by the hand,
And said oooh eeeh daddy I understand.
Who do you love,
Who do you love, Who do you love, Who do you love.
The night was black and the night was blue,
And around the corner an ice wagon flew.
A bump was a hittin' lord and somebody screemed,
You should have heard just what I seen.
Who do you love, Who do you love, Who do you love, Who do you love.

Arleen took me by my hand, she said Ooo-ee Bo you know I understand
I got a tombstone hand and a graveyard mind,
I lived long enough and I ain't scared of dying.

Who do you love (4x's)

by Bo Diddley

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

There are no words sufficient, but that's been happening a lot lately. RIP, Bo.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgzn7VyoqEw&feature=related

Charles Davidson · From: Phenix City Alabama, USA

Bo was an original no doubt.DYKBC.
_________________
Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC !

Rich Weiss · From: Woodland Hills, CA, USA

I guess I can reply to this one.
I was in a bass player in a band in the late sixties, and we had rehearsals in Bo's studio-garage, in Chatsworth.
He actually was our manager.
It was about that time that country-rock was developing, and we asked Bo if had any old pedal steels lying around, and amazingly enough, he did.
He sold me my first steel, called a BeeJay, for a hundred and fifty bucks.
And that got me started.
RIP - Bo

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

A friend of mine asked Bo for an autograph. Bo obliged, writing his name on a condom wrapper! Last time I saw it, it was in the middle of a big frame in my friend's office.

David Doggett · Posted 2 Jun 2008 5:04 pm

Bomp ditty bomp bomp, bomp bomp
Bomp ditty bomp bomp, bomp bomp

Bo Diddly, Bo Diddly, where you been?
'Round the world...

And he won't be back again. Sad

One of the greatest. We'll miss you 'round this world, Bo.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Such sad news. RIP Brother Bo.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting.

David Doggett · Posted 2 Jun 2008 5:23 pm

Here's a good clip of Bo with a couple of dozen name musicians: Bo

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

And there won't be another quite like Bo Diddley.

David Doggett · Posted 2 Jun 2008 6:20 pm

Here's Bo doing "When the Saints Go Marchin' In": Bo with the Saints
I guess he's with them now. Smile

David L. Donald · From: Koh Samui Island, Thailand

How many people actualy get a groove named after them??
The Bo Diddly Beat.

A classic; real down home swampy.
Part New Orleans funeral,
part Chicago juke joint
part African tribal ritual.

You KNOW this guy had gigged around
to come up with this amalgamation.

Fine guitarplayer and performer.
You see him on the TV and you KNOW who it was.
No mistaking Bo Diddly.

RIP Bo you made us move and groove.
_________________
DLD, Chili farmer. Plus bananas and papaya too.

Real happiness has no strings attached.
But pedal steels have many!

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Bo Diddley is the reason I became a musician. I saw him in 1958 when I was 12 years old at one of Alan Fried's shows at the Brooklyn Paramount theater. At one point he jammed with the Isley Brothers, It was the most intense and exciting experience of my life up to that point.

That was the day I knew I had to play music.
_________________
Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

In the 60's we played a club in Buffalo, NY that was all motorcycle gangs, chiefly The Road Vultures. Their theme song was "Hey Road Vultures", sung to Bo Diddly.

The president of the club used to sit in, and he would do this song. He'd sing Hey Road Vultures and the whole club would echo that. Nothing like hearing 50 or so gun and knife wielding bikers do the answer part.

David Doggett · Posted 2 Jun 2008 7:25 pm

Apparently Bo played mostly with an open tuning. So a lot of his licks lay out really well on steel. And with a 12 string extended E9 or uni you can get that power chord Bo Diddley beat. Smile

Jody Sanders · From: Magnolia,Texas, R.I.P.

RIP Mr. Bo Diddly. You were one of the greatest. I am so glad that I was able to see you perform live. May GOD bless and keep the family akways, Jody.

CrowBear Schmitt · From: Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France

i always dug that sweet thang that Bo & the bass player used to fight over for on stage
"Say Man " was a fun tune

Rip Bo
We'll diddly on without ya'

robert kramer · From: Nashville TN

Here is 6/2/08 New York Times obit for Bo Diddley:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/arts/music/03diddley.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin#

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

David, Bo usually strung up to the standard E major.

Mark Lind-Hanson · From: Menlo Park, California, USA

The night Bo Diddley banned the Beat
How do you play with a legend without doing it the legendary way? By learning his lesson of keeping himself new.

By Dave Alvin, Special to The Times
3:35 PM PDT, June 2, 2008
"Whatever you do, DO NOT play 'the Beat!'"

That was the first thing Bo Diddley said to us before we walked onto the stage of the Music Machine club in West L.A. for two sets back in 1983. We were a mix of members of the Blasters and X who had agreed, with great enthusiasm, to back up one of our greatest heroes for free at a benefit show for the Southern California Blues Society.

To say that we were upset by his announcement/warning would be an understatement. How could you play Bo Diddley songs and not play the powerful, infectious and sensual Bo Diddley Beat?
Since Bo's first records for the Chess label back in the mid-'50s, his "Beat" (a primal and relentless mix of the old shave-and-a-haircut riff, Chicago blues grooves and Latin rhythms), had been borrowed, stolen or adapted by everyone from Buddy Holly to the Rolling Stones to David Bowie for their own hit records.

Now, even though Bo had utilized various permutations of the beat over the course of his long career, he was asking us to abandon it entirely in favor of . . . What? It's sort of like asking an actor to do Hamlet, but don't use any of Shakespeare's words.

Blasters drummer Bill Bateman and X drummer DJ Bonebreak, who were sharing the drum and percussion duties for the night, asked Bo to clarify what beat they should play. He tapped out some rhythm that stressed a different accent but, to be honest, I couldn't tell what the difference was. Fortunately, Bill and DJ picked up on his instructions and by the end of the first song Bo seemed pretty happy.

It was a very good band, with Bill and DJ teaming up for the essential duties on drums, timbales and maracas, X's John Doe and Blasters bassist John Bazz sharing the bass position while my brother Phil, who also played some harmonica, and I followed Bo as best we could on guitars.

Most of the songs in the first set were new songs that Bo had recently recorded but none of us had ever heard, let alone studied. We (and just about every other musician in the modern age) had been dissecting all of his old records for years with the passion of theology students pouring over the Dead Sea scrolls or physicists debating string theory. A couple of the songs in the set were straight blues that easily fell into a comfortable pocket, but the rest were extended one-chord, semi-funk jams that wound up sounding as much like "Bitches Brew"-era Miles Davis as they did classic Bo Diddley.

As the set progressed and I began to get comfortable with Bo's new beats, I started thinking that it was close-minded of me to expect him to play the old songs the same old way. Wasn't Bo Diddley as much of a musical revolutionary as Bob Dylan? Weren't his original recordings of "Mona" or "Who Do You Love" as musically unique, pivotal and influential in their day as Dylan's?

Maybe Bo wasn't the genius lyricist that Dylan is but in rock 'n' roll (or blues and folk), lyrics aren't everything. If Dylan could change the melodies, grooves and even lyrics to his songs in order to keep exploring the possibilities of his art, why couldn't Bo Diddley?

Some people would argue that Bo was one of the architects of funk and, if that's the case, why shouldn't he be allowed to follow his own rhythmic path to wherever it might lead him? Why should Bo Diddley have to be stuck in the past just because that's where a part of his audience (and perhaps his backing bands) wanted him to remain?

I remember smiling on stage like a goofball as I realized all of this and came to the conclusion that if you really dig Bo Diddley, then let Bo Diddley be Bo Diddley! I was a young guy at the time who was trying his best to replicate old music -- and that's the best way to learn, believe me -- but that night Bo taught me a lesson about growing and surviving as an musician/artist: Stay true to yourself.

After the first set I approached Bo backstage and told him what I had been thinking while I played with him. "That's right," he said laughing. "I already made all them old records years ago. Now I'm keeping myself new."

But as we walked back onstage for the second set, Bo turned to us, smiled and said, "You know, you boys are pretty good, so I'll tell you what: The first song is gonna be 'Mona' and you can play with the Bo Diddley beat." And we did.

Thank you Bo, for all your incredible music over the years and, especially, the wise life lesson you taught me.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Dave Alvin has been a member of the Blasters, X and the Knitters and leads his own roots-rock group, the Guilty Men.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

Sad, I loved BD. He was easily one of my very first inspirations as a young kid to just get a guitar and do it. We used to put on his LP's and stare at the album covers just to see BD and those very kool Gretsch Guitars !

I ran into Bo in the Charlotte Airport years back, he got off a plane and couldn't figure out which way to walk to get to the main terminal. I said hey to him and he said Hey, which way is the exit. I pointed him toward the terminal he said thanks and left ! I did say thanks for the Music .

RIP Bo, thanks for the great music...

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Dave Alvin said,"Maybe Bo wasn't the genius lyricist that Dylan is but,,,,"
When I first heard the lyrics in "Who Do You Love," the hairs on the back of my neck stood up! Some of his lyrics are GREAT!

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

What a great post, Mark!

I got to see The Man here on Oahu years back, and he had some turbonized version of his box guitar that he thumped away on for a couple of hours and had everybody grooving.

Mick Jagger sez Bo was an important influence on The Stones and a major part of thier sound.
Bo sez he never got paid diddley for his recordings and some of his performances.
It'd be nice to think Jagger and the boy's coughed up a little $ at some point as a sign of appreciation.