"Diddy Wah Diddy" | ||||
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Single by Bo Diddley | ||||
B-side | "I'm Looking for a Woman" | |||
Released | 1956 | |||
Recorded | November 10, 1955 | |||
Studio | Universal Recording Corp. (Chicago) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:28 | |||
Label | Checker 832 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Willie Dixon, Ellas McDaniel | |||
Producer(s) | Leonard Chess, Phil Chess | |||
Bo Diddley singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"Diddy Wah Diddy" on YouTube |
"Diddy Wah Diddy" is a song written by Willie Dixon and Ellas McDaniel, known as Bo Diddley, and recorded by the latter in 1956. [2] [3] The song shares only its title with Blind Blake's song "Diddie Wah Diddie" recorded in 1929. Over the years, the Bo Diddley song has been covered by many bands and artists, including the Astronauts, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, the Remains, the Twilights, Taj Mahal, the Sonics, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Ty Segall Band, and the Blues Band among others. [4]
"Diddy Wah Diddy" was Bo Diddley's fourth single release on Checker Records, and was released in early 1956. [5] The song was recorded on November 10, 1955 at Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. [6] The recording featured The Moonglows on backing vocals, Willie Dixon on bass, Jody Williams along with Bo Diddley on guitar, Clifton James on drums, Jerome Green playing the maracas, and Little Willie Smith on harmonica. [6] [7] [8]
Lyrically, the song makes mention of the mythical town of Diddy Wah Diddy. It was not unusual in the early part of the 20th century for African Americans in the southern states (particularly in Florida) to speak of various mythical cities and countries such as Beluthahatchie, Ginny Gall, [9] Diddy Wah Diddy and West Hell as if they were real. [10] Of all the imaginary locations that were in common usage at the time, folklorist and ethnomusicologist Benjamin A. Botkin has noted that Diddy Wah Diddy was "the largest and best known of the Negro mythical places." [11] It was commonly believed that in Diddy Wah Diddy food could be found in abundance, the townsfolk did not have to work, and people and animals had no concerns. [12] Dixon and McDaniel's song is sung from the point of view of a man whose lover lives in this mythical location, as evidenced by such lines as...
She loves her man, just is a pity
Crazy 'bout my gal in Diddy Wah Diddy
Ain't no town, and it ain't no city
But oh, how they love in Diddy Wah Diddy
The song is often confused with Blind Blake's similarly titled 1928 song, "Diddie Wa Diddie", which was also covered by various bands and artists mostly under the name "Diddy Wah Diddy". [13] [14]
"Diddy Wah Diddy" | ||||
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Single by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band | ||||
B-side | "Who Do You Think You're Fooling" | |||
Released | March 1966 | |||
Recorded | January 1966, Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California | |||
Genre | Blues rock | |||
Length | 2:22 | |||
Label | A&M 794 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Willie Dixon, Ellas McDaniel | |||
Producer(s) | David Gates | |||
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band singles chronology | ||||
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Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band recorded a blues rock version of the track, produced by David Gates (later the leader of Bread), in January 1966 at Sunset Sound Recorders studio in Hollywood, California. [15] [16] [17] The song was the band's first single, released on the A&M label in March of that year. [15] [16] Some copies of the single incorrectly credit the songwriter as "A. Christensen". [17] The song soon gained interest and became a regional hit, with the band promoting it in May, on the TV show Where the Action Is , in a mimed segment filmed on a California beach. [16] [18]
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band personnel
The first known cover of the song was by the Colorado-based rock band The Astronauts, on their RCA album The Astronauts Orbit Kampus, in 1964. [15] [19]
Around the same time as the Captain Beefheart version, in mid-1966, the Remains, from Boston, released a garage rock version of the song which became a hit in the East Coast charts. [16]
The Sonics covered the song as a garage rock version around 1966, and it was included in the 1991 release of Maintaining My Cool and the 2004 Sundazed reissue of the album Introducing the Sonics. [14] [20] [21]
Two Australian bands, The Twilights, and Mike Furber and the Bowery Boys, covered the song, again in 1966. Another Australian band, Running Jumping Standing Still, recorded a version in 1967, which charted #13 in Melbourne. [14]
In 1974 Ry Cooder recorded the song, under the title "Ditty Wah Ditty", for his album Paradise and Lunch , in an acoustic guitar and piano duet with Earl "Fatha" Hines. [22] [23]
A cover by blues rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds appeared on their 1982 album T-Bird Rhythm . [24]
A garage rock cover of "Diddy Wah Diddy" was recorded by the Ty Segall Band for their 2012 album Slaughterhouse .
8 Eyed Spy (Lydia Lunch) released a version in 1980.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers covered the song in a 1997 rendition of the track which is available on their compilation live album The Live Anthology .
Indianapolis post-punk electronic band Last Four (4) Digits covered the song on a local sampler Red Snerts, [25] released in 1981.
Don Van Vliet was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the Magic Band, he recorded 13 studio albums between 1967 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues, free jazz, rock, and avant-garde composition with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist wordplay, a gravelly voice, and a wide vocal range. Renowned as an enigmatic persona, Beefheart frequently constructed myths about his life and was known to exercise an almost dictatorial control over his supporting musicians. Although he achieved little commercial success, he sustained a cult following as an influence on an array of experimental rock and punk-era artists.
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"Who Do You Love?" is a song written by American rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley. Recorded in 1956, it is one of his most popular and enduring works. The song represents one of Bo Diddley's strongest lyrical efforts and uses a combination of hoodoo-type imagery and boasting. It is an upbeat rocker, but the original did not use the signature Bo Diddley beat rhythm.
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"Willie and the Hand Jive" is a song written by Johnny Otis and originally released as a single in 1958 by Otis, reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #5 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song has a Bo Diddley beat and was partly inspired by the music sung by a chain gang Otis heard while he was touring. The lyrics are about a man who became famous for doing a dance with his hands, but the song has been accused of glorifying masturbation, though Otis always denied it. It has since been covered by numerous artists, including The Crickets, The Strangeloves, Eric Clapton, Cliff Richard, Kim Carnes, George Thorogood, The Bunch, and in live performances by The Grateful Dead. Clapton's 1974 version was released as a single and reached the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 26. Thorogood's 1985 version reached No. 25 on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart.
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The Five Faces of Manfred Mann is the debut British and second American studio album by Manfred Mann. It was first released in the United Kingdom on 11 September 1964 by His Master's Voice. In late October/early November, the album was released in Canada by Capitol Records. The Canadian track listing was almost the same as the UK version, except it included the hit "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" instead of "I've Got My Mojo Working". The record has been called "one of the great blues-based British invasion albums; it's a hot, rocking record that benefits from some virtuoso playing as well".
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