Comments on: The Boogie-Woogie Rumble

by: Boogie Bob

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:03:32 +0000

RIP Bo Diddley he was a great man. Through all the research I’ve done about Boogie Woogie he’s definitely a key factor. May he live long in our hearts and in our music.

by: Edd H.

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:11:52 +0000

and while I’m here, I have to say I don’t understand how Diddley’s beat has much to do with second-line rhythms in New Orleans specifically. That seems like another world, to my ears. usually, those rhythms are arranged in not one-measure segments, as in the Diddley beat, but in two-measure segments, and there’s not much indication I hear of the clave being retained there. for a juicy ’70s rock version of the second-line beat, check out Captain Beefheart’s “Long Neck Bottles,” from the 1972 album Clear Spot. Perhaps I am hearing this wrong, so I’m all for being enlightened further on this questions. In general, I think the links between Latin rhythms and rock and roll is a fruitful area, and one that needs to be explored with an ear to what’s actually happening in the music itself.

by: Edd H.

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:05:48 +0000

Nice. The origin of the beat Diddley was known for is interesting. In his great book Cuba and Its Music, Ned Sublette says that the beat is derived from the clave–the organizing principle of Cuban music. “Cuban music doesn’t have a beat,” he writes. “The clave is not a beat, as we understand beats in North American music, although the clave could be used as a beat when North American musicians played it. (Exhibit A for that is Bo Diddley).” What in Cuban music (and in salsa, name it) was a way to organize musical ideas became in Diddley’s music (and in early rock and roll in general–Diddley just simplified it even more than the other rockers did) a 4/4 measure with that characteristic of clave–the space between two sets of rhythmic ideas, opposed as 2 beats and then 3–turned into something that grew out of Latin music/s 2/2 rhythms, and was now counted in 4/4. 1-2-3-(space)-and-4-and. one measure, big beat. I saw an obit somewhere for Diddley and the writer said the Diddley beat was in 5/4 time, which is just plain wrong. Count it out yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

by: Bill V.

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:17:40 +0000

Hats off to Charles Hughes for his enlightening tribute to Bates/McDaniel/Diddley. It is the rare journalist who can position such an artist in the context of Black Diasporan tricksters, New Orleans’ “second line” sounds, and the Mississippi-to-Chicago blues continuum. Dare we hope for a follow-up piece on Jerome Green, “Lady Bo” and “The Dutchess”?

by: Barry M.

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:47:45 +0000

Nicely said, suh. Bo has as much claim as anyone to being the source for the heavy, rumbling, metallic side of rock and roll– and he should also get more credit than he does for his tricky Latin-tinged novelties in the “Crackin’ Up” vein. Its widely known by now that he gave Mickey Baker “Love is Strange” and probably “Dearest,” the Mickey and Sylvia songs, in that same vein. He would have been better off if he’d been maybe a little more wily in his lifetime–but he’s going to be heard for a lnog long time.

by: Chris Manson

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:09:32 +0000

Well put, especially Dave Marsh’s comment. I just got bumped up to editor of the magazine I’ve been writing for the last four or five years, and my editorial is all about Bo Diddley.