Take A Little Walk With Me Arlene

Yet another obit.

Bo Diddley has died. He'd been ailing for a while, so it wasn't a surprise. In fact, he lasted longer than the average rock and roller.

He was never half the hitmaker that Chuck Berry or Little Richard or Fats Domino were, but he's still one of the early kings of rock and roll. Plus he came with his own Bo Diddley beat. In the pre-iPod days I made quite a few mixed tapes, and Bo was one of those guys you could always count on to spice things up.

In 1955, he became a major R&B star right off the bat with both songs on his first single, "Bo Diddley" (no one said he was modest--he regularly used his name in his titles) and "I'm A Man." Other classics of the period include "Hey Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love?" (correct grammar: "Whom Do You Love?"). These songs still sound fresh today. Ironically, his only top forty hit was a novelty number, "Say Man," which go up to #20 in 1959. It's not even a song--it's essentially Bo and a friend playing the dozens with a backbeat. (Could be worse--Chuck Berry's only #1 hit was "My Ding-A-Ling.")

More than a decade before the Doors messed with Ed Sullivan, Bo got himself banned from the same show for refusing to sing Tennessee Ernie Ford's #1 hit "Sixteen Tons." Good for you, Bo--Ed never did understand rock and roll.

Bo remained ornery in later years. Even after being inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame he wondered what good it did him--he wasn't getting paid, after all.

I saw him once. I was in college and while walking along heard some music playing in a club. I went in and there was Bo, finishing his set. What was the song? "Say Man."