Bo Diddley

I'm sure you've all heard by now that Bo Diddley has died at age 79. He was a huge influence on not just the Stones (who covered "Mona", and used his beat on many other songs), but a whole generation of early rock and roll musicians, particularly those in England during the sixties.





The "Bo Diddley Beat" gets all the headlines, but I think his most lasting influence is his guitar – the impact of his rhythmic, distorted playing was visceral. Rest in peace, Mr. McDaniel.

Please Go Home

Flowers
Track 8
"Please Go Home" – 3:17




Yes! Now that's what I'm talking about. The Stones were always at their best extending the work of their 50s rock and roll heroes like Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly, and on "Please Go Home" they can be heard combining their native misogyny with a heavy Bo Diddley rhythm – Brian Jones's guitar sounds especially great. Add in some pseudo-psychedelic touches (that echo that comes in at the end of the chorus; the theremin) and you've got the makings of a great single.

Mona (I Need You Baby)

The Rolling Stones, Now!
Side 1, Track 6
"Mona (I Need You Baby)" (Ellas McDaniel) – 3:35



The old Bo Diddley number. I've always loved this song, some of Bo's best lyrics. He tries to write a love song, but is unable to get away from that beat, although it sounds slinkier than usual here – appropriate given the subject matter. The Stones don't stray far from Bo's version, which is wise. I agree with this man's opinion:

... this was R & B at it's best. It goes to show that London records never really wanted the blues stuff, but the commercial blasters like Around And Around. Mona (I Need You Baby), was as dark as any black musician could ever hope to sound.

It's true. This is the one thing that Bo Diddley added to the blues lexicon, which bands like the Stones and Them and the Kinks picked up on: that menace and despair made the blues, that you didn't have to rely on those hoary 12-bar shuffles to get it over. The menace here is all in the beat and that great guitar sound – the band sounds approximately 10,000 times more convincing on tracks like these than they do on, say, "Confessin' the Blues".

I Just Want to Make Love to You

England’s Newest Hitmakers

Side 1, Track 3

"I Just Want to Make Love to You" (Willie Dixon) – 2:17

Another blues classic – I think this one was already a standard by the time the Stones got to it. The original Muddy Waters version was slow and insistent with an air of menace running through it. At this point in his career, Mick can't really do menace – so the band double-times the tempo and turns the song into a Bo Diddley-style sexual come-on, complete with maracas. More excellent rhythm/lead guitar work from Keith.

Yet another lame harmonica part – I get the feeling that's not the last time I'll have to say those words. This one suffers further in comparison to Little Walter's sublime performance on the original. Man, that guy could really play.

Not Fade Away

England’s Newest Hitmakers

Side 1, Track 1

"Not Fade Away" (Norman Petty/Charles Hardin) – 1:48

The Stones take on Buddy Holly's great Bo Diddley ripoff, bringing forward the Bo-like elements that Holly downplayed – the shaker is practically the lead instrument on this track. Like the pre-Pete Best Beatles, the rhythm's in the guitars here, I can't even make out any drums at all on my muddy MP3 rip. Keith's acoustic really drives the track along. A nice little electric guitar/harmonica break in the middle.

God, Mick sounds so young here. There is no art in his performance, apart from the desire to do the blues right, without trying to sound black.

I always wonder what would have happened if that attitude took root among white musicians – what would have happened if the Stones and Them and very few others succeeded in convincing musicians that you could make a whole new kind of blues, that "authenticity" was a blind alley, a dead end? Would we have been spared the endless blues guitar wankathons of Clapton, Page, and the rest? God only knows.