Okay, I know I'm leaning a little hard on video posts lately. Still.
This song I've heard in the past couple of days. Not for the first time, but everything about it hit me this time. The shouts (barks) Muddy's band let out, maybe inspired by church revivals but mostly just adding to the immediacy. The very authoritative drumming. This came out in 1955. Rock 'n' roll mostly wouldn't rock this hard for some time. Just imagine how this must have sounded and felt back then. It still packs a charge.
Interesting to note that "Mannish Boy" was cowritten by Bo Diddley. Years later, George Thorogood would write the very similar "Bad to the Bone." The song's video shows a pool match between George and Bo.
2 comments:
This is an amazing song by an absolute genius of the blues. Neither of us knew Mannish Boy was co-written by Bo Diddley but that video of Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood was very cool - made even more so by having Bo together with him at the pool room.
Did I ever tell you Bo Diddley was one of the first bluesmen I saw in person? When I was about 17 the legal age was 21 but a boyfriend in his mid-20s borrowed a sister's driver's license for me to carry. The nightclub in Toronto was called le Coq d'Dor and we sat with another couple close to the slightly raised stage - the song I remember most clearly was Who Do You Love. That was the night I fell in love with the blues.
The video below doesn't have that one but it's an interesting general impression of his life and career.
https://youtu.be/zTmoDbFs-Xs?si=ASR-1xTkgXf87gcM
You can post videos anytime..
Ain't it, though? It might not be a matter of Diddley and Waters sitting down and writing the song together. It might have been more that there was a resemblance to Diddley's "I'm a Man" and Waters wasn't going to deny it. A great pair of songs in any case. George Thorogood--and to be fair, probably the video's director as well--seemed to know that Diddley's presence would raise things to another level.
That very much sounds like a way to fall in love with the blues. Lucky for you that your boyfriend's sister was the same general type, or bouncers were just more lenient back then. There's actually a photo here of Diddley playing at le Coq d'Or, although it seems to be a later date. The Duchess was still with him, though.
That's a nice rundown of his career. I'm glad Ed Sullivan turned out to be wrong.
More videos coming as needed.
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