They call it the Bo Diddley Beat. That’s Bo Diddley doing the Bo Diddley Beat. Bo didn’t want you to get confused about who was doing what, and let the audience know right off who was who. Hey Bo Diddley! If Bo ever had a publicist, I’ll bet he didn’t have to work overly hard. Bo was always a vertically oriented entertainment complex all by hisself.
That beat has a lot of names. Many people call it: shave and a haircut, two bits. If you’re playing in a band below the Gulf of Mexico, er, America, um, well, south or east of the Bay of Campeche, anyway, you might call it the clave rhythm. Some people call it The Hambone. It’s basically straight out of Africa. Others might have done something like it before him, but Bo made it his own thang, and rode it for all it was worth. He was the iPhone and the kleenex and the frigidaire of the beat.
Lots of other guys mined the same ore. There are too many to list. Here are some notable ones.
Buddy Holly
Johnny Otis:
The Miracles:
It’s even buried in the middle of these two, though you have to listen a little harder to hear it:
Bo had unusual tastes in guitars. He played cigar box guitars at first, and made them himself. When he got some notoriety, he started having others made for him, including a “twang machine,” built in the same square shape, but from a solid piece of wood with a neck bolted on, and a regular pickup configuration. I was in Gruhn Guitars in Nashville back in the day, and they had one of his twang machines for sale. If I’d have bought it, I could sell it and retire tomorrow. I think it’s in the Metropolitan Museum of Art nowadays. I bought a Stratocaster instead because I was a broke-ass loser.
The guitar Bo’s playing in the video is his own design as well. Eventually, he had a guy who was laid off or retired or quit or fired or something from Gretsch guitars build the guitars for him. They had custom bodies with Gretsch necks bolted on, and Gretsch hardware. He called them Jupiter Thunderbirds. Bo gave one to Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and you can often spot him playing one. Although I doubt he’s still playing the original much. In 2005, Billy convinced Gretsch to throw in the towel and started making Bo’s design in their factory. They call it the Billy-Bo Jupiter Thunderbird.
That’s Norma-Jean Wofford playing her own Jupiter Thunderbird, singing, and shimmying in the Bo Diddley video up top. Somehow I’m reminded of this quote: Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.
7 Responses
I saw Bo Diddley perform at Shaboo.
Hi Gringo- That Shaboo? Awesome.
The very. It had an outstanding list of performers.
Rivaled only by Toad’s Place.
Rivaled only by Toad’s Place
This year Toad’s Place celebrates 50 years. Shaboo lasted until 1982, just a little more than a decade. The ostensible reason for Shaboo’s going under is that the big gasoline price increases in 1980-81 messed it up. But bands were still traveling between NYC and Boston–which is why so many big names ended up at Shaboo. Yes, there was a recession in 1980-82, but college students were probably Shaboo’s biggest customers, and they weren’t affected that much by the recession.
The recession didn’t help, but I doubt it was the main reason for Shaboo’s going under. One of the owners of Shaboo had a big cocaine habit, but he’s been clean for decades. (not rumor, but from multiple online sources.) I suspect that in getting funding for his habit, he dipped into some of Shaboo’s operating funds. I can’t prove that is what happened, but his habit and Shaboo’s going under were, from what I gather, fairly simultaneous. At least plausible.
Where’s Bow Wow Wow?
Ah yes. Good catch. The Burundi Beat!