4 minute read
Music history: When rhythm came to Rochdale
Bo Diddley will not be a familiar name to many Style readers but he is one of the few people who has had a musical rhythm named after themselves - and one that you will almost certainly recognise.
Think of songs such as Faith by George Michael, Mona by Craig McLachlan from Neighbours, Born To Hand Jive from the musical, Grease, and Not Fade Away by the Rolling Stones. They all have that same syncopated Bo Diddley rhythm.
It is known in the music business as "shave and a haircut, two bits". Try saying this phrase aloud and you will inevitably be feeling the Bo Diddley beat!
If you are still unclear, think of how tradespeople used to knock on your front door – five knocks, a slight gap and then two more! That, dear reader, is also the Bo Diddley beat.
Opinions differ widely about the origins of this extraordinary rhythm. It has been traced to sub-Saharan Africa, but also has links to drumming styles in West Africa and Cuba.
There are also links with the "ham-bone" folk tradition of street performers where they slapped and patted their chests, arms, legs and cheeks. This was used by Bobby McFerrin on his 1988 classic Don't Worry Be Happy.
Bo Diddley himself was an unlikely star. Born in Mississippi in 1928, Bo was signed to Chess Records in the mid1950s. His first hit was actually called Bo Diddley and this led to a string of hits, all having pretty much the same rhythm!
Bo developed a reputation as a dynamic live performer with his rectangular electric guitars, distorted sound and, unusually even these days, a female guitarist playing alongside him. This fellow guitarist was known simply as The Duchess, her real name was Norma-Jean Wolford. Bo and the Duchess made an unlikely but highly effective partnership.
Bo made his British debut in autumn 1963 as part of a tour headlined by The Everly Brothers and, much lower down the bill, a new English group called The Rolling Stones.
Bo was accompanied on the tour by The Duchess whose skin-tight gold lame catsuit fascinated both the press and the audiences!
During the tour no less than three of Bo's albums entered the British charts. His influence went further; many British pop groups such as the Kinks, Manfred Mann, the Moody Blues and the Yardbirds were covering Bo Diddley songs in their live sets and recordings.
Early the following year, the Rolling Stones reached Number 3 in the singles charts with their version of Not Fade Away, performed, of course, to the famous Bo Diddley beat! Just think of the first line: "I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be..". The rhythm is both inescapable and unmistakeable.
Bo Diddley returned to the UK in autumn 1965 and had The Duchess with him again, starting in the Lancashire town of Nelson on September 25th.
Bo reached Rochdale's Cubiklub on Thursday 7th October, having played Bristol the previous night and headed for London the next day.
Style readers need to remind themselves that in 1965 there was only a small fraction of today's motorway network in Britain. Pop musicians toured the country in vans with no luxuries, often sitting alongside or on top of amplifiers and guitar cases. Bo Diddley travelled separately in a car, but this was apparently not a very reliable vehicle. At a show in Portsmouth, 2000 people had their entrance money refunded as the artist's car had broken down on the way!
Happily, Bo Diddley returned to the UK in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. In 1982 and 1984 his British tours were successful and Bo attracted hip young Londoners to venues such as Dingwalls and the Lyceum.
There are quite a lot of Bo Diddley's performances on YouTube. Check him out on 1964's T.A.M.I. Show performing - what else? - the song named after himself! You will find yourself - as Rochdalians must have done all those years ago - joining in on the refrain: "Hey, Bo Diddley!" and tapping out the rhythm: "shave and a haircut, two bits!"
