In Memoriam: Elias Otha Bates McDaniel (AKA Bo Diddley), 1928-2008

[thatcrazycajun]

Just one day short of what would have been his 80th birthday, blues/rock legend Bo Diddley has passed away of heart failure at his Florida home today. With thanks again to filkertom  for the news and link, here is Yahoo! News' obituary. Tom also has some YouTube links to samples of the man's work on his page.

Between him and B. B. King, the two of them were the blues. Everyone from the Rolling Stones to George Thorogood and the Destroyers acknowledged him as an influence, and even Bo Jackson tried to imitate him (if only for a shoe commercial)...but ain't nobody could touch the Originator. And the really sad part is that he was cheated out of so much of the money he should have earned for his talents...even as he piled up honors like membership in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy Awards and played for world leaders.

Good night, sir, and thank you. Watch out for the Devil when you get to the crossroads.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure they were *all* the blues. Bo was Mississipppi and Chicago; BB was Memphis.. but you can't forget Clapton. I think you can probably get away with saying that about everybody else was influenced by one or more of these three, including the Allmans (without which there would not be Southern Rock)...

Meanin' no disrespect to the gentlemen, though. (Interestingly? One of BB's favorite singers, who got him into some places he wouldn't have got into? Sinatra.)

Oh, and something else I realized. "Sweet Home Alabama"? I finally figured something out after listening to that song for over two decades... that's not a pure rock song. Straight-ahead rock and roll is boom, bah, boom, bah. This is syncopated: boomboom, bah, boomboom, bah, boomboom, bah, turnaround... which is a blues move. Which they would've got from Duane Allman, who played a lot with Clapton. (No, it's not your classic 8- or 12-bar blues, it's four-bar... but it's blues all right.)

I met the devil in a field
I said, "Oh, finally, did you bring my contract?"
And the secret he revealed
is that he waits for no one, and he's never made a single deal!
    -- Gaia Consort

'sides. Devil's no threat to Bo. He'd whip out that square guitar and play circles around Old Scratch, and probably make him cry. OTOH, he'd probably give him an invitation to a certain French Quarter jazz club (http://www.echoschildren.org/NonCDlyrics/DevilsMusic.htm), what's frequented by this trumpet-playin' cat named Gabe... though if Bo was smart, when Gabe said "let's git", he wouldn't linger :)

Wherever you end up, kind sir, may the drinks be cool, the audience warm, and blues? dangerous.

[luscious-words.livejournal.com]

*sheds quiet tears* Another one...I was saddened to hear the news when the Welshman mentioned it last night.