Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates, December 30, 1928 ā June 2, 2008), k… Read Full Bio ↴Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates, December 30, 1928 ā June 2, 2008), known as Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm & blues and rock & roll singer, guitarist, songwriter and music producer. He is cited as a key figure in the transition of blues into rock and roll, by introducing more insistent, driving rhythms and a harder-edged guitar sound. His use of African rhythms and the signature "Bo Diddley beat", a simple five-accent hambone rhythm, is a cornerstone of r&b, rock, pop and hip hop. In recognition of his achievements, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He is also recognized for his technical innovations, including his distinctive rectangular guitar.
Born in McComb, Mississippi, as Ellas Otha Bates, he was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed. In 1934, the McDaniel family moved to the South Side of Chicago, where he dropped the Otha and became Ellas McDaniel. He was an active member of Chicago's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he studied the trombone and the violin, becoming so proficient on the violin that the musical director invited him to join the orchestra. He performed until he was 18. However, he was more interested in the pulsating, rhythmic music he heard at a local Pentecostal church and took up the guitar.
Inspired by a performance by John Lee Hooker, he supplemented his income as a carpenter and mechanic by playing on street corners with friends, including Jerome Green (c. 1934ā1973), in the Hipsters band, later renamed the Langley Avenue Jive Cats. Green became a near-constant member of McDaniel's backing band, the two often trading joking insults with each other during live shows. During the summer of 1943ā1944, he played at the Maxwell Street market in a band with Earl Hooker. By 1951 he was playing on the street with backing from Roosevelt Jackson on washtub bass and Jody Williams, whom he had taught to play the guitar. Williams later played lead guitar on "Who Do You Love?" (1956).
In 1951 he landed a regular spot at the 708 Club, on Chicago's South Side, with a repertoire influenced by Louis Jordan, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters. In late 1954, he teamed up with harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold, drummer Clifton James and bass player Roosevelt Jackson and recorded demos of "I'm a Man" and "Bo Diddley". They re-recorded the songs at Chess Studios, with a backing ensemble comprising Otis Spann (piano), Lester Davenport (harmonica), Frank Kirkland (drums), and Jerome Green (maracas). The record was released in March 1955, and the A-side, "Bo Diddley", became a number one R&B hit.
The origin of the stage name Bo Diddley is unclear. McDaniel claimed that his peers gave him the name, which he suspected was an insult. He also said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother knew. Harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold said that it was a local comedian's name, which Leonard Chess adopted as McDaniel's stage name and the title of his first single. Guitar craftsman Ed Roman stated that it was McDaniel's nickname as a Golden Gloves boxer.
A diddley bow is a homemade single-string instrument played mainly by farm workers in the South. It probably has influences from the West African coast. In the American slang term bo diddly, bo is an intensifier and diddly is a truncation of diddly squat, which means "absolutely nothing".
On November 20, 1955, Bo Diddley appeared on the popular television program The Ed Sullivan Show. When someone on the show's staff overheard him casually singing "Sixteen Tons" in the dressing room, he was asked to perform the song on the show. Because he could not read, when he saw "Bo Diddley" on the cue card, he thought he was to perform both his hit single and "Sixteen Tons". Sullivan was furious and banned Bo Diddley from his show, reputedly saying that he wouldn't last six months. Chess Records included Bo Diddley's "Sixteen Tons" on the 1960 album Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger.
Bo Diddley's hit singles continued in the 1950s and 1960s: "Pretty Thing" (1956), "Say Man" (1959), and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" (1962). He also released numerous albums, including Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger and Have Guitar, Will Travel. These bolstered his self-invented legend. Between 1958 and 1963, Checker Records released eleven full-length Bo Diddley albums. In the 1960s he broke through as a crossover artist with white audiences (appearing at the Alan Freed concerts, for example), but he rarely aimed his compositions at teenagers. The album title Surfing with Bo Diddley derived from his influence on surf guitarists rather than surfing per se.
In 1963, Bo Diddley starred in a UK concert tour with the Everly Brothers and Little Richard. The up-and-coming Rolling Stones were billed as a supporting act.
He wrote many songs for himself and also for others. In 1956 he and guitarist Jody Williams co-wrote the pop song "Love Is Strange", a hit for Mickey & Sylvia in 1957. He also wrote "Mama (Can I Go Out)", which was a minor hit for the pioneering rockabilly singer Jo Ann Campbell, who performed the song in the 1959 rock and roll film Go Johnny Go.
Bo Diddley included women in his band: Norma-Jean Wofford, also known as The Duchess; Gloria Jolivet; Peggy Jones, also known as Lady Bo, a lead guitarist (rare for a woman at that time); Cornelia Redmond, also known as Cookie V; Debby Hastings, who led his band for the final 25 years. After moving from Chicago to Washington, D.C., he set up one of the first home recording studios, where he not only recorded the album Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger but produced and recorded his valet, Marvin Gaye. Bo Diddley co-wrote the Marquees' record "Wyatt Earp", the first single to feature Gaye. It was released on Okeh Records, after the Chess brothers turned it down. During this time, Moonglows' founder Harvey Fuqua sang backing vocals on many of Bo Diddley's home recordings. Gaye later joined the Moonglows and followed them to Motown.
Over the decades, Bo Diddley's performing venues ranged from intimate clubs to stadiums. On March 25, 1972, he played with the Grateful Dead at the Academy of Music in New York City. The Grateful Dead released part of this concert as Volume 30 of the band's concert album series, Dick's Picks. Also in the early 1970s, the soundtrack of the ground-breaking animated film Fritz the Cat contained his song "Bo Diddley", in which a crow idly finger-pops to the track.
Bo Diddley spent some years in New Mexico, living in Los Lunas from 1971 to 1978, while continuing his musical career. He served for two and a half years as a deputy sheriff in the Valencia County Citizens' Patrol; during that time he purchased and donated three highway-patrol pursuit cars. In the late 1970s, he left Los Lunas and moved to Hawthorne, Florida, where he lived on a large estate in a custom-made log cabin, which he helped to build. For the remainder of his life he divided his time between Albuquerque and Florida, living the last 13 years of his life in Archer, Florida, a small farming town near Gainesville.
In 1979, he appeared as an opening act for the Clash on their US tour and in Legends of Guitar (filmed live in Spain, 1991), with B.B. King, Les Paul, Albert Collins, and George Benson, among others. He joined the Rolling Stones on their 1994 concert broadcast of Voodoo Lounge, performing "Who Do You Love?" with the band. Sheryl Crow and Robert Cray also appeared on the pay-per-view special.
From 1985 until he died, his touring band consisted of Jim Satten (guitarist, band leader, musical director); Scott "Skyntyte" Free, Nunzio Signore or Frank Daley (guitar); Tom Major, Dave Johnson, Yoshi Shimada, Mike Fink or Sandy Gennaro (drums); John Margolis, Dave Keys or personal manager Margo Lewis (keyboards); and Debby Hastings (bassist and musical director).
Bo Diddley performed a number of shows around the country in 2005 and 2006 with fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson and his band, consisting of Johnson on keyboards, Richard Hunt on drums and Gus Thornton on bass. In 2006, he participated as the headliner of a grassroots-organized fundraiser concert to benefit the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The "Florida Keys for Katrina Relief" had originally been set for October 23, 2005, when Hurricane Wilma barreled through the Florida Keys on October 24, causing flooding and economic mayhem. In January 2006, the Florida Keys had recovered enough to host the fundraising concert to benefit the more hard-hit community of Ocean Springs. When asked about the fundraiser, Bo Diddley stated, "This is the United States of America. We believe in helping one another". In an interview with Holger Petersen, on Saturday Night Blues on CBC Radio in the fall of 2006, he commented on racism in the music industry establishment during his early career, which deprived him of royalties from the most successful part of his career.
His final guitar performance on a studio album was with the New York Dolls on their 2006 album One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This. He contributed guitar work to the song "Seventeen", which was included as a bonus track on the limited-edition version of the disc.
Bo Diddley fought the sportswear brand Nike in his later years over alleged copyright infringement, specifically over the use of his likeness and the slogan "You don't know diddley." In 1989, he had worked with Nike on a commercial in the "Bo Knows" campaign and had entered into a licensing agreement with the company. The agreement ended in 1991.[29] When Nike began selling the apparel again in 1999, he felt that Nike should not continue to use the slogan or his likeness. Despite the fact that lawyers for both parties could not come to a renewed legal arrangement, Nike allegedly continued marketing the apparel and ignored cease-and-desist orders.[30] The lawsuit was filed by attorney John Rosenberg in Manhattan Federal Court.
On May 13, 2007, Bo Diddley was admitted to intensive care in Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, following a stroke after a concert the previous day in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Starting the show, he had complained that he did not feel well. He referred to smoke from the wildfires that were ravaging south Georgia and blowing south to the area near his home in Archer, Florida. Nonetheless, he delivered an energetic performance to an enthusiastic crowd. The next day, as he was heading back home, he seemed dazed and confused at the airport. His manager, Margo Lewis, called 911 and airport security, and the musician was immediately taken by ambulance to Creighton University Medical Center and admitted to the Intensive-care unit, where he stayed for several days. After tests, it was confirmed that he had suffered a stroke. Bo Diddley had a history of hypertension and diabetes, and the stroke affected the left side of his brain, causing receptive and expressive aphasia (speech impairment). The stroke was followed by a heart attack, which he suffered in Gainesville, Florida, on August 28, 2007.
While recovering from the stroke and heart attack, Bo Diddley came back to his home town of McComb, Mississippi, in early November 2007, for the unveiling of a plaque devoted to him on the Mississippi Blues Trail. This marked his achievements and noted that he was "acclaimed as a founder of rock-and-roll." He was not supposed to perform, but as he listened to the music of local musician Jesse Robinson, who sang a song written for this occasion, Robinson sensed that Bo Diddley wanted to perform and handed him a microphone, the only time that he performed publicly after his stroke.
Bo Diddley died on June 2, 2008, of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida. Garry Mitchell, his grandson and one of more than 35 family members at the musician's home when he died at 1:45 a.m. EDT (05:45 GMT), said his death was not unexpected. "There was a gospel song that was sung (at his bedside) and (when it was done) he said 'wow' with a thumbs up," Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at the deathbed. "The song was 'Walk Around Heaven' and in his last words he said 'I'm going to heaven.'"
His funeral, a four-hour "homegoing" service, took place on June 7, 2008, at Showers of Blessings Church in Gainesville, Florida, and kept in tune with the vibrant spirit of Bo Diddley's life and career. The many in attendance chanted "Hey Bo Diddley" as a gospel band played the legend's music. A number of notable musicians sent flowers, including George Thorogood, Tom Petty and Jerry Lee Lewis. Little Richard, who had been asking his audiences to pray for Bo Diddley throughout his illness, had to fulfil concert commitments in Westbury and New York City the weekend of the funeral. He took time at both concerts to remember his friend of a half-century, performing Bo's namesake tune in his honor.
After the funeral service, a tribute concert was held at the Martin Luther King Center in Gainesville, Florida and featured guest performances by his son and daughter, Ellas McDaniel Jr. and Evelyn "Tan" Cooper; long-time background vocalist Gloria Jolivet; and Eric Burdon. In the days following his death, tributes were paid by then-President George W. Bush, the United States House of Representatives, and many musicians and performers, including B. B. King, Ronnie Hawkins, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, George Thorogood, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Randolph and the Family Band and Eric Burdon.
He was posthumously awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree by the University of Florida for his influence on American popular music. In its People in America radio series, about influential people in American history, the Voice of America radio service paid tribute to him, describing how "his influence was so widespread that it is hard to imagine what rock and roll would have sounded like without him." Mick Jagger stated that "he was a wonderful, original musician who was an enormous force in music and was a big influence on the Rolling Stones. He was very generous to us in our early years and we learned a lot from him". Jagger also praised the late star as a one-of-a-kind musician, adding, "We will never see his like again". The documentary film Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street by director Phil Ranstrom features Bo Diddley's last on-camera interview.
In November 2009, the guitar used by Bo Diddley in his final stage performance sold for $60,000 at auction.
The beneficiaries of his estate have been fighting in court for a forensic accounting of his assets, currently valued around $900,000, with as much as $6,000,000 unaccounted for.
Bo Diddley achieved numerous accolades in recognition of his significant role as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll:
1986: Inducted into the Washington Area Music Association's Hall of Fame.
1987: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
1990: Lifetime Achievement Award from Guitar Player magazine.
1998: Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
1999: His 1955 recording of his song "Bo Diddley" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of lasting qualitative or historical significance.
2000: Inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and the North Florida Music Association's Hall of Fame.
2002: Pioneer in Entertainment Award from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters
2002: Honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards, along with BMI affiliates Chuck Berry and Little Richard.
2008: Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree posthumously conferred on Diddley by the University of Florida in August (the award had been confirmed before his death in June).
2009: Announcement of his induction into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame (induction to occur during Florida Heritage Month, March 2010).
2010: Induction into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
In 2003, U.S. Representative John Conyers paid tribute to Bo Diddley in the United States House of Representatives. describing him as "one of the true pioneers of rock and roll, who has influenced generations".
In 2004, Mickey and Sylvia's 1956 recording of "Love Is Strange" (a song first recorded by Bo Diddley but not released until a year before his death) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of qualitative or historical significance. Also in 2004, Bo Diddley was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame and was ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In 2005, Bo Diddley celebrated his 50th anniversary in music with successful tours of Australia and Europe and with coast-to-coast shows across North America. He performed his song "Bo Diddley" with Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 20th annual induction ceremony. In the UK, Uncut magazine included his 1957 debut album, Bo Diddley, in its listing of the '100 Music, Movie & TV Moments That Have Changed the World'.
Bo Diddley was honored by the Mississippi Blues Commission with a Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker placed in McComb, his birthplace, in recognition of his enormous contribution to the development of the blues in Mississippi. On June 5, 2009, the city of Gainesville, Florida, officially renamed and dedicated its downtown plaza the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. The plaza was the site of a benefit concert at which Bo Diddley performed to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless in Alachua County and to raise money for local charities, including the Red Cross.
The 1988 video game Super Mario Bros. 3 featured a ghost-like enemy named Boo Diddley in homage to the legendary singer. In later games, the name was changed to Boo.
The "Bo Diddley beat" is essentially the clave rhythm, one of the most common bell patterns found in sub-Saharan African music traditions. One scholar found this rhythm in 13 rhythm and blues recordings made in the years 1944ā55, including two by Johnny Otis from 1948.
Bo Diddley gave different accounts of how he began to use this rhythm. Sublette asserts, "In the context of the time, and especially those maracas (heard on the record), 'Bo Diddley' has to be understood as a Latin-tinged record. A rejected cut recorded at the same session was titled only 'Rhumba' on the track sheets." The Bo Diddley beat is similar to "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes. Somewhat resembling the "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm, Diddley came across it while trying to play Gene Autry's "(I've Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle". Three years before his "Bo Diddley", a song with similar syncopation "Hambone", was cut by the Red Saunders Orchestra with the Hambone Kids. In 1944, "Rum and Coca Cola", containing the Bo Diddley beat, was recorded by the Andrews Sisters. Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" (1957) and Them's "Mystic Eyes" (1965) used the beat.
In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as either a one-bar or a two-bar phrase. Here is the count as a one-bar phrase: One e and ah, two e and ah, three e and ah, four e and ah (the boldface counts are the clave rhythm).
Many songs (for example, "Hey Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love?") often have no chord changes; that is, the musicians play the same chord throughout the piece, so that the rhythms create the excitement, rather than having the excitement generated by harmonic tension and release. In his other recordings, Bo Diddley used various rhythms, from straight back beat to pop ballad style to doo-wop, frequently with maracas by Jerome Green.
An influential guitar player, Bo Diddley developed many special effects and other innovations in tone and attack. His trademark instrument was his self-designed, one-of-a-kind, rectangular-bodied "Twang Machine" (referred to as "cigar-box shaped" by music promoter Dick Clark) built by Gretsch. He had other uniquely shaped guitars custom-made for him by other manufacturers throughout the years, most notably the "Cadillac" and the rectangular "Turbo 5-speed" (with built-in envelope filter, flanger and delay) designs made by Tom Holmes (who also made guitars for ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, among others). In a 2005 interview on JJJ radio in Australia, he implied that the rectangular design sprang from an embarrassing moment. During an early gig, while jumping around on stage with a Gibson L5 guitar, he landed awkwardly, hurting his groin. He then went about designing a smaller, less restrictive guitar that allowed him to keep jumping around on stage while still playing his guitar. He also played the violin, which is featured on his mournful instrumental "The Clock Strikes Twelve", a twelve-bar blues.
He often created lyrics as witty and humorous adaptations of folk music themes. The song "Bo Diddley" was based on the African-American clapping rhyme "Hambone" (which in turn was based on the lullaby "Hush Little Baby"). Likewise, "Hey Bo Diddley" is based on the song "Old MacDonald". The song "Who Do You Love?" with its rap-style boasting, and his use of the African-American game known as "the dozens" on the songs "Say Man" and "Say Man, Back Again," are cited as progenitors of hip-hop music (for example, "You got the nerve to call somebody ugly. Why, you so ugly, the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested").
The Bo Diddley Beat is a kind of syncopated five-accent clave rhythm. The Bo Diddley beat is named after Bo Diddley, who introduced and popularised the beat with his self-titled debut single. Although Bo Diddley was a rhythm and blues musician essentially, the beat is widely used in rock and roll and pop music.
The "Bo Diddley Beat" (1955) is perhaps the first true fusion of 3-2 clave and R&B/rock 'n' roll.
The Bo Diddley beat is essentially a 3-2 clave rhythm, one of the most common bell patterns found in Afro-Cuban music, and its origin goes back to the sub-Saharan African music traditions. But there is no documentation of a direct Cuban connection to Bo Diddley's adaptation of the clave rhythm. The Latin connection was so strong that Bo Diddley used maracas as a basic component of his sound. Bo Diddley has given different accounts regarding how he began to use this rhythm. In an interview with Rolling Stones magazine, Diddley said he came up with the beat after listening to Gospel music in church when he was 12 years old.
Sublette asserts: "In the context of the time, and especially those maracas (heard on the record), 'Bo Diddley' has to be understood as a Latin-tinged record. A rejected cut recorded at the same session was titled only 'Rhumba' on the track sheets." Somewhat resembling the Shave and a Haircut rhythm, Diddley came across it while trying to play Gene Autry's version of "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle".
According to ethnomusicologists, the Bo Diddley beat is similar to a folk tradition called "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes. "Handboning" can also be described as a form of corpophone - using your body for percussion. This is something that's inherent in African-American culture. You don't have a drum? Your body is the next best thing. You clap, slap and stomp. Corpophone excludes the voice and the introduction of the neologism as a classificatory category was added to the conventional scheme of idiophone, membranophone, chordophone, aerophone, and electrophone by the American ethnomusicologist Dale A. Olsen. The Bo Diddley beat is also akin to the age-old rhythmic pattern best known as "shave and a haircut, two bits." And it's been linked to Yoruba drumming from West Africa.
In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as either a one-bar, or a two-bar phrase. Here is the count as a one-bar phrase: One e and ah, two e and ah, three e and ah, four e and ah. The bolded counts are the clave rhythm.
Three years before Bo's "Bo Diddley" (1955), a song similar syncopation "Hambone", was cut by Red Saunders' Orchestra with The Hambone Kids. In 1944, "Rum and Coca Cola", containing the Bo Diddley beat, was recorded by The Andrews Sisters and later Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" (1957) and Them's "Mystic Eyes" (1965) used the beat. This rhythm occurs in 13 rhythm and blues recordings made in the years 1944ā55, including two by Johnny Otis from 1948.
Unfortunately, while Bo's sound was his trademark, he couldnāt copyright it, which may explain why Diddley has been overlooked and undervalued, even though his sound snakes through a hit list spanning two generations. Cover bands play the Bo Diddley beat formulaically but in Bo Diddley's hands, the beat was alive. He did something different with it every time he recorded it. It's the difference between copying and creating.
Other songs employing the Bo Diddley beat include "I Wish You Would" by Billy Boy Arnold (1955), "Willie and the Hand Jive" by Johnny Otis (1958), "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" (1961) by Elvis Presley, "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" by The Supremes (1963), "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves (1965), "Please Go Home" by The Rolling Stones (1966), "Magic Bus" (1968) by The Who, "1969" (1969) by The Stooges, "She Has Funny Cars" (1969) by Jefferson Airplane, Suzanne (1968/9) by Fairport Convention, "Panic in Detroit" (1973) by David Bowie, "Shame, Shame, Shame" by Shirley & Company (1974), "She's the One" (1975) by Bruce Springsteen, "American Girl" (1977) by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Rudie Can't Fail" (1979) by The Clash, "Deathwish" by The Police (1979), "Cuban Slide" by The Pretenders (1980),[6] "I Want Candy" (cover) by Bow Wow Wow (1982), "Freeze to Me" (1983) by David Wilcox, "Mr. Brownstone" (1987) by Guns N' Roses, "Faith" (1987) by George Michael, "Desire" (1988) by U2, "Movin' on Up" (1991) by Primal Scream, "Woodcutter's Son" (1995) by Paul Weller, "Doctor Looney's Remedy" by Parachute Express (1995), "Caress Me Down" by Sublime (1996), "Cannon Ball" by Duane Eddy (1996), "Screwdriver" (1999) by The White Stripes, "I'm Sorry I Love You" by The Magnetic Fields, and "The Big 5-0" (2004) by Stan Ridgway. "Party at the Leper Colony" (2003) by "Weird Al" Yankovic is a comedy song featuring the Bo Diddley beat.
More subtle uses of the Diddley beat include "Hateful" (1979) by The Clash and "How Soon Is Now?" (1985) by The Smiths.
Born in McComb, Mississippi, as Ellas Otha Bates, he was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed. In 1934, the McDaniel family moved to the South Side of Chicago, where he dropped the Otha and became Ellas McDaniel. He was an active member of Chicago's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he studied the trombone and the violin, becoming so proficient on the violin that the musical director invited him to join the orchestra. He performed until he was 18. However, he was more interested in the pulsating, rhythmic music he heard at a local Pentecostal church and took up the guitar.
Inspired by a performance by John Lee Hooker, he supplemented his income as a carpenter and mechanic by playing on street corners with friends, including Jerome Green (c. 1934ā1973), in the Hipsters band, later renamed the Langley Avenue Jive Cats. Green became a near-constant member of McDaniel's backing band, the two often trading joking insults with each other during live shows. During the summer of 1943ā1944, he played at the Maxwell Street market in a band with Earl Hooker. By 1951 he was playing on the street with backing from Roosevelt Jackson on washtub bass and Jody Williams, whom he had taught to play the guitar. Williams later played lead guitar on "Who Do You Love?" (1956).
In 1951 he landed a regular spot at the 708 Club, on Chicago's South Side, with a repertoire influenced by Louis Jordan, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters. In late 1954, he teamed up with harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold, drummer Clifton James and bass player Roosevelt Jackson and recorded demos of "I'm a Man" and "Bo Diddley". They re-recorded the songs at Chess Studios, with a backing ensemble comprising Otis Spann (piano), Lester Davenport (harmonica), Frank Kirkland (drums), and Jerome Green (maracas). The record was released in March 1955, and the A-side, "Bo Diddley", became a number one R&B hit.
The origin of the stage name Bo Diddley is unclear. McDaniel claimed that his peers gave him the name, which he suspected was an insult. He also said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother knew. Harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold said that it was a local comedian's name, which Leonard Chess adopted as McDaniel's stage name and the title of his first single. Guitar craftsman Ed Roman stated that it was McDaniel's nickname as a Golden Gloves boxer.
A diddley bow is a homemade single-string instrument played mainly by farm workers in the South. It probably has influences from the West African coast. In the American slang term bo diddly, bo is an intensifier and diddly is a truncation of diddly squat, which means "absolutely nothing".
On November 20, 1955, Bo Diddley appeared on the popular television program The Ed Sullivan Show. When someone on the show's staff overheard him casually singing "Sixteen Tons" in the dressing room, he was asked to perform the song on the show. Because he could not read, when he saw "Bo Diddley" on the cue card, he thought he was to perform both his hit single and "Sixteen Tons". Sullivan was furious and banned Bo Diddley from his show, reputedly saying that he wouldn't last six months. Chess Records included Bo Diddley's "Sixteen Tons" on the 1960 album Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger.
Bo Diddley's hit singles continued in the 1950s and 1960s: "Pretty Thing" (1956), "Say Man" (1959), and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" (1962). He also released numerous albums, including Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger and Have Guitar, Will Travel. These bolstered his self-invented legend. Between 1958 and 1963, Checker Records released eleven full-length Bo Diddley albums. In the 1960s he broke through as a crossover artist with white audiences (appearing at the Alan Freed concerts, for example), but he rarely aimed his compositions at teenagers. The album title Surfing with Bo Diddley derived from his influence on surf guitarists rather than surfing per se.
In 1963, Bo Diddley starred in a UK concert tour with the Everly Brothers and Little Richard. The up-and-coming Rolling Stones were billed as a supporting act.
He wrote many songs for himself and also for others. In 1956 he and guitarist Jody Williams co-wrote the pop song "Love Is Strange", a hit for Mickey & Sylvia in 1957. He also wrote "Mama (Can I Go Out)", which was a minor hit for the pioneering rockabilly singer Jo Ann Campbell, who performed the song in the 1959 rock and roll film Go Johnny Go.
Bo Diddley included women in his band: Norma-Jean Wofford, also known as The Duchess; Gloria Jolivet; Peggy Jones, also known as Lady Bo, a lead guitarist (rare for a woman at that time); Cornelia Redmond, also known as Cookie V; Debby Hastings, who led his band for the final 25 years. After moving from Chicago to Washington, D.C., he set up one of the first home recording studios, where he not only recorded the album Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger but produced and recorded his valet, Marvin Gaye. Bo Diddley co-wrote the Marquees' record "Wyatt Earp", the first single to feature Gaye. It was released on Okeh Records, after the Chess brothers turned it down. During this time, Moonglows' founder Harvey Fuqua sang backing vocals on many of Bo Diddley's home recordings. Gaye later joined the Moonglows and followed them to Motown.
Over the decades, Bo Diddley's performing venues ranged from intimate clubs to stadiums. On March 25, 1972, he played with the Grateful Dead at the Academy of Music in New York City. The Grateful Dead released part of this concert as Volume 30 of the band's concert album series, Dick's Picks. Also in the early 1970s, the soundtrack of the ground-breaking animated film Fritz the Cat contained his song "Bo Diddley", in which a crow idly finger-pops to the track.
Bo Diddley spent some years in New Mexico, living in Los Lunas from 1971 to 1978, while continuing his musical career. He served for two and a half years as a deputy sheriff in the Valencia County Citizens' Patrol; during that time he purchased and donated three highway-patrol pursuit cars. In the late 1970s, he left Los Lunas and moved to Hawthorne, Florida, where he lived on a large estate in a custom-made log cabin, which he helped to build. For the remainder of his life he divided his time between Albuquerque and Florida, living the last 13 years of his life in Archer, Florida, a small farming town near Gainesville.
In 1979, he appeared as an opening act for the Clash on their US tour and in Legends of Guitar (filmed live in Spain, 1991), with B.B. King, Les Paul, Albert Collins, and George Benson, among others. He joined the Rolling Stones on their 1994 concert broadcast of Voodoo Lounge, performing "Who Do You Love?" with the band. Sheryl Crow and Robert Cray also appeared on the pay-per-view special.
From 1985 until he died, his touring band consisted of Jim Satten (guitarist, band leader, musical director); Scott "Skyntyte" Free, Nunzio Signore or Frank Daley (guitar); Tom Major, Dave Johnson, Yoshi Shimada, Mike Fink or Sandy Gennaro (drums); John Margolis, Dave Keys or personal manager Margo Lewis (keyboards); and Debby Hastings (bassist and musical director).
Bo Diddley performed a number of shows around the country in 2005 and 2006 with fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson and his band, consisting of Johnson on keyboards, Richard Hunt on drums and Gus Thornton on bass. In 2006, he participated as the headliner of a grassroots-organized fundraiser concert to benefit the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, which had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The "Florida Keys for Katrina Relief" had originally been set for October 23, 2005, when Hurricane Wilma barreled through the Florida Keys on October 24, causing flooding and economic mayhem. In January 2006, the Florida Keys had recovered enough to host the fundraising concert to benefit the more hard-hit community of Ocean Springs. When asked about the fundraiser, Bo Diddley stated, "This is the United States of America. We believe in helping one another". In an interview with Holger Petersen, on Saturday Night Blues on CBC Radio in the fall of 2006, he commented on racism in the music industry establishment during his early career, which deprived him of royalties from the most successful part of his career.
His final guitar performance on a studio album was with the New York Dolls on their 2006 album One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This. He contributed guitar work to the song "Seventeen", which was included as a bonus track on the limited-edition version of the disc.
Bo Diddley fought the sportswear brand Nike in his later years over alleged copyright infringement, specifically over the use of his likeness and the slogan "You don't know diddley." In 1989, he had worked with Nike on a commercial in the "Bo Knows" campaign and had entered into a licensing agreement with the company. The agreement ended in 1991.[29] When Nike began selling the apparel again in 1999, he felt that Nike should not continue to use the slogan or his likeness. Despite the fact that lawyers for both parties could not come to a renewed legal arrangement, Nike allegedly continued marketing the apparel and ignored cease-and-desist orders.[30] The lawsuit was filed by attorney John Rosenberg in Manhattan Federal Court.
On May 13, 2007, Bo Diddley was admitted to intensive care in Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, following a stroke after a concert the previous day in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Starting the show, he had complained that he did not feel well. He referred to smoke from the wildfires that were ravaging south Georgia and blowing south to the area near his home in Archer, Florida. Nonetheless, he delivered an energetic performance to an enthusiastic crowd. The next day, as he was heading back home, he seemed dazed and confused at the airport. His manager, Margo Lewis, called 911 and airport security, and the musician was immediately taken by ambulance to Creighton University Medical Center and admitted to the Intensive-care unit, where he stayed for several days. After tests, it was confirmed that he had suffered a stroke. Bo Diddley had a history of hypertension and diabetes, and the stroke affected the left side of his brain, causing receptive and expressive aphasia (speech impairment). The stroke was followed by a heart attack, which he suffered in Gainesville, Florida, on August 28, 2007.
While recovering from the stroke and heart attack, Bo Diddley came back to his home town of McComb, Mississippi, in early November 2007, for the unveiling of a plaque devoted to him on the Mississippi Blues Trail. This marked his achievements and noted that he was "acclaimed as a founder of rock-and-roll." He was not supposed to perform, but as he listened to the music of local musician Jesse Robinson, who sang a song written for this occasion, Robinson sensed that Bo Diddley wanted to perform and handed him a microphone, the only time that he performed publicly after his stroke.
Bo Diddley died on June 2, 2008, of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida. Garry Mitchell, his grandson and one of more than 35 family members at the musician's home when he died at 1:45 a.m. EDT (05:45 GMT), said his death was not unexpected. "There was a gospel song that was sung (at his bedside) and (when it was done) he said 'wow' with a thumbs up," Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at the deathbed. "The song was 'Walk Around Heaven' and in his last words he said 'I'm going to heaven.'"
His funeral, a four-hour "homegoing" service, took place on June 7, 2008, at Showers of Blessings Church in Gainesville, Florida, and kept in tune with the vibrant spirit of Bo Diddley's life and career. The many in attendance chanted "Hey Bo Diddley" as a gospel band played the legend's music. A number of notable musicians sent flowers, including George Thorogood, Tom Petty and Jerry Lee Lewis. Little Richard, who had been asking his audiences to pray for Bo Diddley throughout his illness, had to fulfil concert commitments in Westbury and New York City the weekend of the funeral. He took time at both concerts to remember his friend of a half-century, performing Bo's namesake tune in his honor.
After the funeral service, a tribute concert was held at the Martin Luther King Center in Gainesville, Florida and featured guest performances by his son and daughter, Ellas McDaniel Jr. and Evelyn "Tan" Cooper; long-time background vocalist Gloria Jolivet; and Eric Burdon. In the days following his death, tributes were paid by then-President George W. Bush, the United States House of Representatives, and many musicians and performers, including B. B. King, Ronnie Hawkins, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, George Thorogood, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Randolph and the Family Band and Eric Burdon.
He was posthumously awarded a Doctor of Fine Arts degree by the University of Florida for his influence on American popular music. In its People in America radio series, about influential people in American history, the Voice of America radio service paid tribute to him, describing how "his influence was so widespread that it is hard to imagine what rock and roll would have sounded like without him." Mick Jagger stated that "he was a wonderful, original musician who was an enormous force in music and was a big influence on the Rolling Stones. He was very generous to us in our early years and we learned a lot from him". Jagger also praised the late star as a one-of-a-kind musician, adding, "We will never see his like again". The documentary film Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street by director Phil Ranstrom features Bo Diddley's last on-camera interview.
In November 2009, the guitar used by Bo Diddley in his final stage performance sold for $60,000 at auction.
The beneficiaries of his estate have been fighting in court for a forensic accounting of his assets, currently valued around $900,000, with as much as $6,000,000 unaccounted for.
Bo Diddley achieved numerous accolades in recognition of his significant role as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll:
1986: Inducted into the Washington Area Music Association's Hall of Fame.
1987: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
1990: Lifetime Achievement Award from Guitar Player magazine.
1998: Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
1999: His 1955 recording of his song "Bo Diddley" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of lasting qualitative or historical significance.
2000: Inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and the North Florida Music Association's Hall of Fame.
2002: Pioneer in Entertainment Award from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters
2002: Honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards, along with BMI affiliates Chuck Berry and Little Richard.
2008: Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree posthumously conferred on Diddley by the University of Florida in August (the award had been confirmed before his death in June).
2009: Announcement of his induction into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame (induction to occur during Florida Heritage Month, March 2010).
2010: Induction into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
In 2003, U.S. Representative John Conyers paid tribute to Bo Diddley in the United States House of Representatives. describing him as "one of the true pioneers of rock and roll, who has influenced generations".
In 2004, Mickey and Sylvia's 1956 recording of "Love Is Strange" (a song first recorded by Bo Diddley but not released until a year before his death) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of qualitative or historical significance. Also in 2004, Bo Diddley was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame and was ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
In 2005, Bo Diddley celebrated his 50th anniversary in music with successful tours of Australia and Europe and with coast-to-coast shows across North America. He performed his song "Bo Diddley" with Eric Clapton and Robbie Robertson at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 20th annual induction ceremony. In the UK, Uncut magazine included his 1957 debut album, Bo Diddley, in its listing of the '100 Music, Movie & TV Moments That Have Changed the World'.
Bo Diddley was honored by the Mississippi Blues Commission with a Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker placed in McComb, his birthplace, in recognition of his enormous contribution to the development of the blues in Mississippi. On June 5, 2009, the city of Gainesville, Florida, officially renamed and dedicated its downtown plaza the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. The plaza was the site of a benefit concert at which Bo Diddley performed to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless in Alachua County and to raise money for local charities, including the Red Cross.
The 1988 video game Super Mario Bros. 3 featured a ghost-like enemy named Boo Diddley in homage to the legendary singer. In later games, the name was changed to Boo.
The "Bo Diddley beat" is essentially the clave rhythm, one of the most common bell patterns found in sub-Saharan African music traditions. One scholar found this rhythm in 13 rhythm and blues recordings made in the years 1944ā55, including two by Johnny Otis from 1948.
Bo Diddley gave different accounts of how he began to use this rhythm. Sublette asserts, "In the context of the time, and especially those maracas (heard on the record), 'Bo Diddley' has to be understood as a Latin-tinged record. A rejected cut recorded at the same session was titled only 'Rhumba' on the track sheets." The Bo Diddley beat is similar to "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes. Somewhat resembling the "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm, Diddley came across it while trying to play Gene Autry's "(I've Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle". Three years before his "Bo Diddley", a song with similar syncopation "Hambone", was cut by the Red Saunders Orchestra with the Hambone Kids. In 1944, "Rum and Coca Cola", containing the Bo Diddley beat, was recorded by the Andrews Sisters. Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" (1957) and Them's "Mystic Eyes" (1965) used the beat.
In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as either a one-bar or a two-bar phrase. Here is the count as a one-bar phrase: One e and ah, two e and ah, three e and ah, four e and ah (the boldface counts are the clave rhythm).
Many songs (for example, "Hey Bo Diddley" and "Who Do You Love?") often have no chord changes; that is, the musicians play the same chord throughout the piece, so that the rhythms create the excitement, rather than having the excitement generated by harmonic tension and release. In his other recordings, Bo Diddley used various rhythms, from straight back beat to pop ballad style to doo-wop, frequently with maracas by Jerome Green.
An influential guitar player, Bo Diddley developed many special effects and other innovations in tone and attack. His trademark instrument was his self-designed, one-of-a-kind, rectangular-bodied "Twang Machine" (referred to as "cigar-box shaped" by music promoter Dick Clark) built by Gretsch. He had other uniquely shaped guitars custom-made for him by other manufacturers throughout the years, most notably the "Cadillac" and the rectangular "Turbo 5-speed" (with built-in envelope filter, flanger and delay) designs made by Tom Holmes (who also made guitars for ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, among others). In a 2005 interview on JJJ radio in Australia, he implied that the rectangular design sprang from an embarrassing moment. During an early gig, while jumping around on stage with a Gibson L5 guitar, he landed awkwardly, hurting his groin. He then went about designing a smaller, less restrictive guitar that allowed him to keep jumping around on stage while still playing his guitar. He also played the violin, which is featured on his mournful instrumental "The Clock Strikes Twelve", a twelve-bar blues.
He often created lyrics as witty and humorous adaptations of folk music themes. The song "Bo Diddley" was based on the African-American clapping rhyme "Hambone" (which in turn was based on the lullaby "Hush Little Baby"). Likewise, "Hey Bo Diddley" is based on the song "Old MacDonald". The song "Who Do You Love?" with its rap-style boasting, and his use of the African-American game known as "the dozens" on the songs "Say Man" and "Say Man, Back Again," are cited as progenitors of hip-hop music (for example, "You got the nerve to call somebody ugly. Why, you so ugly, the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested").
The Bo Diddley Beat is a kind of syncopated five-accent clave rhythm. The Bo Diddley beat is named after Bo Diddley, who introduced and popularised the beat with his self-titled debut single. Although Bo Diddley was a rhythm and blues musician essentially, the beat is widely used in rock and roll and pop music.
The "Bo Diddley Beat" (1955) is perhaps the first true fusion of 3-2 clave and R&B/rock 'n' roll.
The Bo Diddley beat is essentially a 3-2 clave rhythm, one of the most common bell patterns found in Afro-Cuban music, and its origin goes back to the sub-Saharan African music traditions. But there is no documentation of a direct Cuban connection to Bo Diddley's adaptation of the clave rhythm. The Latin connection was so strong that Bo Diddley used maracas as a basic component of his sound. Bo Diddley has given different accounts regarding how he began to use this rhythm. In an interview with Rolling Stones magazine, Diddley said he came up with the beat after listening to Gospel music in church when he was 12 years old.
Sublette asserts: "In the context of the time, and especially those maracas (heard on the record), 'Bo Diddley' has to be understood as a Latin-tinged record. A rejected cut recorded at the same session was titled only 'Rhumba' on the track sheets." Somewhat resembling the Shave and a Haircut rhythm, Diddley came across it while trying to play Gene Autry's version of "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle".
According to ethnomusicologists, the Bo Diddley beat is similar to a folk tradition called "hambone", a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes. "Handboning" can also be described as a form of corpophone - using your body for percussion. This is something that's inherent in African-American culture. You don't have a drum? Your body is the next best thing. You clap, slap and stomp. Corpophone excludes the voice and the introduction of the neologism as a classificatory category was added to the conventional scheme of idiophone, membranophone, chordophone, aerophone, and electrophone by the American ethnomusicologist Dale A. Olsen. The Bo Diddley beat is also akin to the age-old rhythmic pattern best known as "shave and a haircut, two bits." And it's been linked to Yoruba drumming from West Africa.
In its simplest form, the Bo Diddley beat can be counted out as either a one-bar, or a two-bar phrase. Here is the count as a one-bar phrase: One e and ah, two e and ah, three e and ah, four e and ah. The bolded counts are the clave rhythm.
Three years before Bo's "Bo Diddley" (1955), a song similar syncopation "Hambone", was cut by Red Saunders' Orchestra with The Hambone Kids. In 1944, "Rum and Coca Cola", containing the Bo Diddley beat, was recorded by The Andrews Sisters and later Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" (1957) and Them's "Mystic Eyes" (1965) used the beat. This rhythm occurs in 13 rhythm and blues recordings made in the years 1944ā55, including two by Johnny Otis from 1948.
Unfortunately, while Bo's sound was his trademark, he couldnāt copyright it, which may explain why Diddley has been overlooked and undervalued, even though his sound snakes through a hit list spanning two generations. Cover bands play the Bo Diddley beat formulaically but in Bo Diddley's hands, the beat was alive. He did something different with it every time he recorded it. It's the difference between copying and creating.
Other songs employing the Bo Diddley beat include "I Wish You Would" by Billy Boy Arnold (1955), "Willie and the Hand Jive" by Johnny Otis (1958), "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" (1961) by Elvis Presley, "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" by The Supremes (1963), "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves (1965), "Please Go Home" by The Rolling Stones (1966), "Magic Bus" (1968) by The Who, "1969" (1969) by The Stooges, "She Has Funny Cars" (1969) by Jefferson Airplane, Suzanne (1968/9) by Fairport Convention, "Panic in Detroit" (1973) by David Bowie, "Shame, Shame, Shame" by Shirley & Company (1974), "She's the One" (1975) by Bruce Springsteen, "American Girl" (1977) by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Rudie Can't Fail" (1979) by The Clash, "Deathwish" by The Police (1979), "Cuban Slide" by The Pretenders (1980),[6] "I Want Candy" (cover) by Bow Wow Wow (1982), "Freeze to Me" (1983) by David Wilcox, "Mr. Brownstone" (1987) by Guns N' Roses, "Faith" (1987) by George Michael, "Desire" (1988) by U2, "Movin' on Up" (1991) by Primal Scream, "Woodcutter's Son" (1995) by Paul Weller, "Doctor Looney's Remedy" by Parachute Express (1995), "Caress Me Down" by Sublime (1996), "Cannon Ball" by Duane Eddy (1996), "Screwdriver" (1999) by The White Stripes, "I'm Sorry I Love You" by The Magnetic Fields, and "The Big 5-0" (2004) by Stan Ridgway. "Party at the Leper Colony" (2003) by "Weird Al" Yankovic is a comedy song featuring the Bo Diddley beat.
More subtle uses of the Diddley beat include "Hateful" (1979) by The Clash and "How Soon Is Now?" (1985) by The Smiths.
Say Man
Bo Diddley Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Say man
What's that boy?
I want to tell you about your girlfriend
What about my girl?
But you don't look strong enough to take the message
I'm strong enough
I might hurt your feelings
My feelings already hurt by bein' here with you
Well, I was walking down the street with your girl the other day
Uh-huh
And the wind was blowin' real hard
Is that right?
And the wind blew her hair into my face
Uh-huh
Hee-hee, you know what else happened?
What happened?
The wind blew her hair into her face
Yeah?
And we went a little further, you want to hear the rest of it?
I might as well
The wind blew her hair into the street!
Hey, since you told me about my girl I'm gonna tell you about yours
I was walking down the street with your girl
Yeah?
I took her home, for a drink, you know
Took her home?
Yeah, just for a drink
Oh
But that chick looked so ugly she had to sneak up on a glass to get a drink of water
Hah-hah-hah-hah, well, you've got the nerve to call somebody ugly
Why you're so ugly the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested
That's alright
My mama didn't have to put a sheet over my head so sleep could slip up on me
Hey, looky here
What's that?
Where you from?
South America
What's that?
South America
You don't look like no South American to me
I'm still from South America
What part?
South Texas
Hah-hah-hah, where your western boots at?
I've got 'em on
Them ain't no boots you got on, they're broke in
Hey, looky here
What's that?
I've been trying to figure out what you is
I already figured out what you is
What's that?
You that thing I throw peanuts at
Ha-ha!
Hey, looky here
What's that?
You should be ashamed of yourself
Why?
Calling people ugly
I didn't calling you ugly
What'd you say?
I said you was ruined that's all
Oh, man, you know somethin'?
What?
You look like you been whupped with an ugly stick
Man, I ain't got nothin' to do with this but
I believe you're tellin' right
What's that boy?
I want to tell you about your girlfriend
What about my girl?
But you don't look strong enough to take the message
I'm strong enough
I might hurt your feelings
My feelings already hurt by bein' here with you
Uh-huh
And the wind was blowin' real hard
Is that right?
And the wind blew her hair into my face
Uh-huh
Hee-hee, you know what else happened?
What happened?
The wind blew her hair into her face
Yeah?
And we went a little further, you want to hear the rest of it?
I might as well
The wind blew her hair into the street!
Hey, since you told me about my girl I'm gonna tell you about yours
I was walking down the street with your girl
Yeah?
I took her home, for a drink, you know
Took her home?
Yeah, just for a drink
Oh
But that chick looked so ugly she had to sneak up on a glass to get a drink of water
Hah-hah-hah-hah, well, you've got the nerve to call somebody ugly
Why you're so ugly the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested
That's alright
My mama didn't have to put a sheet over my head so sleep could slip up on me
Hey, looky here
What's that?
Where you from?
South America
What's that?
South America
You don't look like no South American to me
I'm still from South America
What part?
South Texas
Hah-hah-hah, where your western boots at?
I've got 'em on
Them ain't no boots you got on, they're broke in
Hey, looky here
What's that?
I've been trying to figure out what you is
I already figured out what you is
What's that?
You that thing I throw peanuts at
Ha-ha!
Hey, looky here
What's that?
You should be ashamed of yourself
Why?
Calling people ugly
I didn't calling you ugly
What'd you say?
I said you was ruined that's all
Oh, man, you know somethin'?
What?
You look like you been whupped with an ugly stick
Man, I ain't got nothin' to do with this but
I believe you're tellin' right
The lyrics to Bo Diddley's song "Say Man" feature a humorous exchange between two men, where one attempts to insult the other's girlfriend, but ends up exposing his own girlfriend's faults in the process. The song is structured like a call and response, with one man taunting the other and the other responding in kind.
The opening lines set the tone, as one man challenges the other's ability to handle the truth about his girlfriend. The insult is quickly turned back on the accuser, as he is labeled "ruined" instead of his girlfriend. The song is peppered with insults about physical appearance, but it is all in good fun, with the two men laughing at their own jokes. The absurdity of the insults, such as the suggestion that one man looks like he has been "whupped with an ugly stick," adds to the comedic effect of the song.
Overall, "Say Man" is a lighthearted and entertaining song that showcases Bo Diddley's distinctive voice and guitar playing. The humorous exchange between the two men adds an element of storytelling to the song, and it has become a classic in the genre of comedic blues.
Line by Line Meaning
Say man
Hello, sir
What's that boy?
What is it that you want to talk about?
I want to tell you about your girlfriend
I have some news to share with you about the woman you are romantically involved with.
What about my girl?
What news do you have to share about her?
But you don't look strong enough to take the message
I am unsure if you can handle the news and it may be best to not share it with you.
I'm strong enough
I am confident that I can handle any news.
I might hurt your feelings
The news I have to share may be upsetting to you.
My feelings already hurt by bein' here with you
I am already unhappy with having to speak with you.
Well, I was walking down the street with your girl the other day
I saw your romantic partner walking with me on a street the other day.
Uh-huh
I understand what you're saying.
And the wind was blowin' real hard
It was a windy day.
Is that right?
Really? I didn't know that.
And the wind blew her hair into my face
The wind blew your girlfriend's hair in my direction.
Hee-hee, you know what else happened?
I have another funny story to share.
What happened?
Please tell me the rest of the story.
The wind blew her hair into her face
The wind continued to blow your girlfriend's hair around.
Yeah?
Interesting.
And we went a little further, you want to hear the rest of it?
We continued to walk a little further, would you like me to share the next part of the story?
I might as well
Sure, go ahead and share the rest of the story.
The wind blew her hair into the street!
The wind blew your girlfriend's hair into the busy street.
Hey, since you told me about my girl I'm gonna tell you about yours
Since you shared information about my girlfriend, I will now tell you something about yours.
I was walking down the street with your girl
I saw your girlfriend and was walking with her.
Yeah?
Yes, go on.
I took her home, for a drink, you know
I went to your girlfriend's home to have a drink.
Took her home?
You brought my girlfriend to your home?
Yeah, just for a drink
We only went to have a drink, nothing more.
Oh
I understand.
But that chick looked so ugly she had to sneak up on a glass to get a drink of water
Your girlfriend was so unattractive that she needed to hide behind the glass to drink water.
Hah-hah-hah-hah, well, you've got the nerve to call somebody ugly
You are being hypocritical by calling someone else unattractive.
Why you're so ugly the stork that brought you into the world ought to be arrested
You are so unattractive that even the stork who delivered you should be charged with a crime.
That's alright
I don't care what you say about me.
My mama didn't have to put a sheet over my head so sleep could slip up on me
My mother did not have to resort to any tricks to make me fall asleep because of my appearance.
Hey, looky here
Listen to what I have to say now.
What's that?
What do you want me to hear?
Where you from?
What is your place of origin?
South America
I am originally from South America.
You don't look like no South American to me
You do not appear to me as someone who is from South America.
I'm still from South America
Regardless of how I look, I am still from South America.
What part?
Which region specifically?
South Texas
I am originally from South Texas in the United States.
Hah-hah-hah, where your western boots at?
It is humorous to think of someone from South Texas not wearing western boots.
I've got 'em on
I am actually wearing the western boots you expected me to wear.
Them ain't no boots you got on, they're broke in
Those are not new boots but they are well-worn and almost broken in.
Hey, looky here
Listen to what I have to say now.
I've been trying to figure out what you is
I have been trying to determine what kind of person you are.
I already figured out what you is
I have already decided what kind of person you are.
What's that?
What do you think I am?
You that thing I throw peanuts at
You are the type of person I would throw peanuts at as a form of ridicule.
Ha-ha!
That's funny.
You should be ashamed of yourself
You should feel embarrassed about your behavior and words.
Why?
Why is that?
Calling people ugly
Insulting someone's physical appearance is not acceptable.
I didn't calling you ugly
I did not call you unattractive.
What'd you say?
What did you say then?
I said you was ruined that's all
I only said that you were damaged in some way.
Oh, man, you know somethin'?
You know what?
What?
What is it?
You look like you been whupped with an ugly stick
You appear as though you were beaten with an ugly stick because of your appearance.
Man, I ain't got nothin' to do with this but
I have nothing to do with your appearance or your girlfriend's appearance but...
I believe you're tellin' right
I think you are telling the truth.
Lyrics Ā© BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ELLAS MCDANIEL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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solange houle
Beautiful song thank you very much
Jamie and the More
He was a sheriff for a time in NM I'm told. I knew a guy who played sax with him
One Man
Rock On!. Bo Knoes.
Analyse
so happyš