Last week, rock and roll legend Bo Diddley suffered what turned out to be, fortunately, a relatively minor stoke. According to his website, his mobility has not been affected, but his speech has. He has a pretty good prognosis for recovery.

I remember debating the definition of a musical legend on these very pages a while back. With Bo, however, there is no debate. He exemplifies the word. He is, indeed, The Originator, as he is called.

Even if you've never listened to him, you've no doubt heard him. He's the writer of I'm a Man and Who Do You Love. He was the inventor of the "Bo Diddley Beat", first used in the song Bo Diddley and later used in a wide variety of songs, including I Want Candy, U2's Desire and the Rolling Stones' version of Not Fade Away. The hip -hop habit of naming yourself in your titles and singing about yourself started in the 1950s with Bo.

He was the first black performer to appear on the Ed Sullivan show, and as a result of that 1955 performance, he was the first black performer to be banned from it as well, for playing Bo Diddley instead of Tennessee Ernie Ford's Sixteen Tons as he was ordered to do.

He was, at one point, the sheriff of Bosque Farms, New Mexico, just about 20 minutes south of Albuquerque. He still wears the badge onstage. He says he moved from New Mexico to Florida becase NM was "too damn cold!!"

He was the first, and still only, rock legend that I have met.


It happened on April 22, 2001, just about a week before my first trip to New Orleans. Bo was playing at a local place called Midnight Rodeo, which has changed names at least once since then.  We didn't have a reserved table, but the place was mighty small and the people who had reserved the table directly in front of Bo didn't show up, so we snagged it - only a few times have I managed to be so close to a performer. Ol' Bo did a terrific show, and while the crowd was small, he had them up and jumping around like crazy. He also did a lot of flirting with my friend's wife, but all could tell that it was just in fun.

After the show, people lined up to go meet with Bo in a back room. We didn't notice that at first. so we joined the line late, just to be told that the line was closed as per Bo's orders. I argued our case to the guard, including the fact that I was with the woman Bo was flirting with the entire show. I don't think the guard cared about that, but he did look into my eyes, and saw that I had several drinks in me and absolutely nothing better to do than spend my evening arguing with him. We joined the line then.

Getting into the room, there was Bo sitting at a table with his band members. They were sharing a cake in honor of their road manager's last show with them (It was chocolate with chocolate frosting, Paula). I met with Bo, shook his hand, got his autograph on my ticket stub, and he offered me a piece of cake. While I ate, we chatted about his hometown and goofy shit like that. Then I got the rest of their autographs, said goodnight to this extremely jovial group of people, and went back out to the bar to bask in the knowledge that I had something to brag about for a few days!

Since Bo was so gracious to me and his other fans, I feel it's only appropriate to post about him today, and express my gratitude for his creations, his longevity, and for the fact that he's on the mend. It's also a chance to celebrate a little bit of his music.

Today's musical clip comes from a recording of Bo at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, NV. on July 1, 2004. By this time, he was slowing down a little compared to the rollicking show he gave in 2001. As he put it the second time I saw him, in 2003, "I got the shugah." He still did a fine show, though, and while he was required to sit down for part of the show, the "shugah" didn't keep him from jamming on that magnificent rectangular guitar of his.

This is a very fine recording of Bo starting his show with his signature song - literally- Bo Diddley, complete with Bo Diddley beat.  Click here and enjoy. And because it's such a nice jam, here is the second song of the same show, another Bo composition and one of the most covered songs in music history. A song with more versions than yeast has strains. Click here for I'm a Man.