Bo Diddley lived to be 79 in a profession that probably has the lowest life expectancy of any occupation in America -- blues great. Diddley died today after several months of ill health, and he was an American original:
Growing up, Diddley said he had no musical idols, and he wasn't entirely pleased that others drew on his innovations.
"I don't like to copy anybody. Everybody tries to do what I do, update it," he said. "I don't have any idols I copied after."
"They copied everything I did, upgraded it, messed it up. It seems to me that nobody can come up with their own thing, they have to put a little bit of Bo Diddley there," he said.
Here's a short but great video from 1960, of Diddley performing "Road Runner":
Damn. I had him on my draft board for the celebrity dead pool I'm in, and I took BB King instead....— Captain Awesome- Darn. I had him on my draft board for the celebrity death pool I'm in, but took BB King instead.— Captain Awesome
- B.B. King became a Republican, does commercials and presumably has health insurance unlike the others...he'll outlive me.— will
- He still tours every year, too!— Captain Awesome
- I hit the exacta. I had Bo Diddley on an exacata bet with Yves Saint Lauren. Pretty sweet payout on a $2 ticket :) I would have tossed in the old rag from the art museum, but she was not on the board. Also -- for those interested -- Ted Kennedy opened at 12:1 on my card back in January. He has been bet down to 4:1.. kinda like all the money going to Big Brown.— shoeshineboy
You see Will, if you become a Republican, you'll live a long and prosperous life.— jmc
Comment removed.
Will, I'm counting on you to post a comment about Cheney's West Virginia incest joke. Don't let me down.- Why would you count on Will for anything? You are better off with a few bucks in a celebrity death pool than relying on Will...— shoeshineboy
- The mid-to-late '50's politically might be considered the calm before the storm, but when it came to blues & seminal rock & roll, it was an extraordinary time. Bo Diddley was a true original & like Keith Richards has said, was a great influence. In 1980, I was sitting in a old Blues Club in Chicago watching the last set of one of Bo's shows. Keith, Bill & Ron (who had been playing at another, much bigger venue earlier that evening) stopped in to hang out & play a couple songs with a man who was obviously one of their heroes. What struck me at the time was that they didn't seem to be anything close to the successful music multi-millionaires they were & more like high school kids getting a chance to play with the band at the Prom. Have a safe trip, Bo...— yobill626
- Will --- BB King also lived a much cleaner life than a lot of these other guys.— yobill626
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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