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Bo Diddley (song)

 

 
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Bo Diddley (song)
 
 
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"Bo Diddley" is a rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 song first recorded and sung by Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley , was an original and influential American rock and roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from blues music to rock & roll, influencing a host of legendary acts including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton....
 at the Universal Recording Studio
Universal Records

Universal Records is an United States record label owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as part of The Universal Motown/Universal Republic Group....
 in Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
 and released on the Chess Records
Chess Records

Chess Records was an United States record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
 subsidiary, Checker Records
Checker Records

Checker Records was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records. Like Cadet Records it stopped releasing records around 1971.Its most known artists include young Aretha Franklin, Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, J....
 in 1955. It became an immediate hit single that stayed on the R&B charts
List of number-one R&B hits (United States)

Listed here are Billboard magazine's number-one rhythm and blues hits from 1942–1959.Note: From June 22 1948 to October 13 1958, multiple charts were used, which explains the overlap in the dates of the charts....
 for a total of 18 weeks, 2 of those weeks at #1, and seven more weeks than its flipside (the B-side, "I'm a Man
I'm A Man (Bo Diddley song)

"I'm a Man" is a popular United States song songwriter and released by Bo Diddley in March 1955 on Checker Records as the A-side and B-side to his hit record "Bo Diddley "....
"). It was the first recording to introduce African rhythms into rock and roll
Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
 directly by using the patted juba
Juba dance

The Juba dance or hambone, originally known as Pattin' Juba , is a style of dance that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks....
 beat.






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"Bo Diddley" is a rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 song first recorded and sung by Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley , was an original and influential American rock and roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from blues music to rock & roll, influencing a host of legendary acts including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton....
 at the Universal Recording Studio
Universal Records

Universal Records is an United States record label owned by Universal Music Group, and operates as part of The Universal Motown/Universal Republic Group....
 in Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
 and released on the Chess Records
Chess Records

Chess Records was an United States record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
 subsidiary, Checker Records
Checker Records

Checker Records was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records. Like Cadet Records it stopped releasing records around 1971.Its most known artists include young Aretha Franklin, Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, J....
 in 1955. It became an immediate hit single that stayed on the R&B charts
List of number-one R&B hits (United States)

Listed here are Billboard magazine's number-one rhythm and blues hits from 1942–1959.Note: From June 22 1948 to October 13 1958, multiple charts were used, which explains the overlap in the dates of the charts....
 for a total of 18 weeks, 2 of those weeks at #1, and seven more weeks than its flipside (the B-side, "I'm a Man
I'm A Man (Bo Diddley song)

"I'm a Man" is a popular United States song songwriter and released by Bo Diddley in March 1955 on Checker Records as the A-side and B-side to his hit record "Bo Diddley "....
"). It was the first recording to introduce African rhythms into rock and roll
Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
 directly by using the patted juba
Juba dance

The Juba dance or hambone, originally known as Pattin' Juba , is a style of dance that involves stomping as well as slapping and patting the arms, legs, chest, and cheeks....
 beat. It was Bo Diddley's first recording and his first hit single. It is #62 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Song

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 traditional lullaby
Lullaby

A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process. As a result they are often simple and repetative....
 "Hush Little Baby
Hush Little Baby

Hush, Little Baby is a traditional lullaby and it is not known who wrote it, or when it was written, although it is thought to be American . The lyrics promise all kind of rewards to the child if he or she is quiet....
". When Bo Diddley started playing with it, his electric guitar
Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a type of guitar that uses pickup to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current, which is made louder with an instrument amplifier and a speaker....
 amplified the patted juba with his backup musicians on maraca
Maraca

Maracas is a native instrument of Puerto Rico. They are simple percussion instruments , usually played in pairs, consisting of a dried calabash or gourd shell or coconut shell filled with seeds or dried beans....
s and drums
Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
 unifying the rhythm. This combination of rock and roll, African rhythms and sactified guitar chord shouts was a true innovation.

He first titled his version "Uncle John" but before he recorded it, he changed the title to his own nickname 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. "Bo Diddley" was infused with waves of tremolo guitar, set to a children's chant. "I'm a Man
I'm A Man (Bo Diddley song)

"I'm a Man" is a popular United States song songwriter and released by Bo Diddley in March 1955 on Checker Records as the A-side and B-side to his hit record "Bo Diddley "....
" 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
Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music first created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s....
 drenched, rock and roll.

Cover versions

The song was covered
Cover version

In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song.In its current use, it can sometimes have a pejorative meaning — implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive version, usually in the sense of an "authentic" rendition, and all...
 by Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly

Charles Hardin Holley, known professionally as Buddy Holly was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his The Day the Music Died, Holly is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll." His works and...
 and became a posthumous hit for him, reaching #4 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The chart week runs from Sunday to Saturday, with the chart being printed in Music Week magazine , ChartsPlus , and published online on various sites ....
 in 1963. The song was also performed by Bob Seger
Bob Seger

Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock musician and singer-songwriter.After years of local Detroit-area success, recording and performing in the mid-1960s, Seger achieved superstar status by the mid-1970s and continuing through the 1980s with the Silver Bullet Band....
 and is on his 1976 live album
Live album

A live album – commonly contrasted with a studio album – is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances. Live albums may be recorded at a single concert, or combine recordings made at multiple concerts....
, Live Bullet
Live Bullet

Live Bullet is a live album by United States Rock and roll band Bob Seger, released in 1976 in music. It was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan, Michigan, during the heyday of that arena's time as an important rock concert venue....
. An energetic version by Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin

Janis Lyn Joplin was an United States singer, songwriter, and music arranger, from Port Arthur, Texas. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and later as a solo artist....
 is available on the 1999 box set Box of Pearls.

More recently, steel guitar great Robert Randolph has covered the song at some of his live shows.

External links