Diddley Daddy
title: "Diddley Daddy" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1955-singles", "bo-diddley-songs", "songs-written-by-bo-diddley", "checker-records-singles", "the-rolling-stones-songs", "songs-written-by-harvey-fuqua", "1955-songs"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diddley_Daddy" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Diddley Daddy |
| cover | Diddley daddy.jpg |
| type | single |
| artist | Bo Diddley |
| B-side | She's Fine, She's Mine |
| released | {{cite magazine |
| date | June 11, 1955 |
| title | Reviews of New R&B Records |
| magazine | Billboard |
| page | 47 |
| accessdate | December 18, 2010 |
| url | https://books.google.com/books?id=iRwEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Diddley+Daddy%22&pg=PA47 |
| recorded | May 15, 1955 |
| studio | Universal Recording Corp. (Chicago) |
| genre | Rhythm and blues |
| length | |
| label | Checker 819 |
| writer | Ellas McDaniel, Harvey Fuqua |
| producer | Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Bo Diddley |
| prev_title | Bo Diddley |
| prev_year | 1955 |
| next_title | Pretty Thing |
| next_year | 1956 |
| :: |
| name = Diddley Daddy | cover = Diddley daddy.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Bo Diddley | album = | B-side = She's Fine, She's Mine | released = {{cite magazine | date = June 11, 1955 | title = Reviews of New R&B Records | magazine = Billboard | page = 47 | accessdate = December 18, 2010 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iRwEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Diddley+Daddy%22&pg=PA47 | recorded = May 15, 1955 | studio = Universal Recording Corp. (Chicago) | venue = | genre = Rhythm and blues | length = | label = Checker 819 | writer = Ellas McDaniel, Harvey Fuqua | producer = Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Bo Diddley | prev_title = Bo Diddley | prev_year = 1955 | next_title = Pretty Thing | next_year = 1956
"Diddley Daddy" is a song by Bo Diddley. The song was issued as a single on Checker Records in June 1955. His second single, it followed on the heels of the success of the eponymous "Bo Diddley". The song spent four weeks on the Billboard R&B chart in the summer of 1955,{{Cite book | last = Pruter | first = Robert | title = Doowop: the Chicago scene | publisher = University of Illinois Press | year = 1996 | page = 72 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=j06dhDdsgioC&q=%22Diddley+Daddy%22&pg=PA1956-IA2 | isbn = 978-0-252-06506-4}} peaking at No. 11.{{Cite news | title = Bo Diddley: Rhythm 'n' blues guitarist who was a formative influence on the development of rock 'n' roll | newspaper = The Daily Telegraph | date = 2008-06-02 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2066171/Bo-Diddley.html | accessdate = 2009-12-13}}
Writing and recording
The song was recorded on May 15, 1955, in Chicago. Originally called "Diddy Diddy Dum Dum",{{Cite journal | journal = Living Blues | title = Diddley Daddy | volume = 113–118 | page = 27 | year = 1994}} it started out as a Billy Boy Arnold composition, which Leonard Chess, owner of Chess Records (Checkers was a subsidiary label of Chess), had heard Arnold play and wanted Diddley to record. However, Arnold had just signed a contract with Vee-Jay Records, and had recorded the song the day before at Universal Recording Corporation. When Chess wanted Arnold to sing the song, the latter realized he had a contract, responding, "I can't do it...I just recorded it for Vee-Jay." Chess responded, "Goddam! Ain't this a bitch!" A solution, however, was found on the spot: Diddley and Harvey Fuqua, who happened to be around, rewrote the lyrics.{{Cite book | last = Glover | first = Tony | author2 = Scott Dirks | author3 = Ward Gaines | title = Blues with a feeling: the Little Walter story | publisher = Routledge | year = 2002 | pages = 147–48 | isbn = 978-0-415-93711-5 | url = https://archive.org/details/blueswithfeeling00glov/page/147
As it happened, the harmonica player Little Walter was in the studio, and he asked Billy Boy Arnold for his harp; Walter plays the long solo after the first verse (Arnold plays harmonica on the B-side, "She's Fine, She's Mine"). Also decided at "the spur of the moment" was to have Chicago doo-wop group The Moonglows sing background vocals.
Critical praise
One of Bo Diddley's signature songs, "Diddley Daddy" evidenced Diddley's maturation process as an artist.{{Cite book | last = Dalton | first = David | author2 = Lenny Kaye | title = Rock 100: the greatest stars of rock's golden age | publisher = Cooper Square Press | year = 1999 | page = 23 | isbn = 978-0-8154-1017-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/rock10000davi/page/23 | last = Loder | first = Kurt | date = February 12, 1987 | title = Bo Diddley: The Rolling Stone Interview | magazine = Rolling Stone | page = F.2 | url = https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21023405/bo_diddley_the_rolling_stone_interview/2 | accessdate = 2009-12-10 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080606011121/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21023405/bo_diddley_the_rolling_stone_interview/2 | archive-date=June 6, 2008}} and an "infectious" "upbeat rocker".{{Cite news | last = Roos | first = John | title = Better Off Dread: Chris Isaak's Gift Is Pain | newspaper =Los Angeles Times | page = F.2 | date = 1998-06-13 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/30170876.html?dids=30170876:30170876&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+13%2C+1998&author=JOHN+ROOS&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=POP+MUSIC+REVIEW%3B+Better+Off+Dread%3A+Chris+Isaak%27s+Gift+Is+Pain&pqatl=google | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130131165603/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/30170876.html?dids=30170876:30170876&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+13,+1998&author=JOHN+ROOS&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=POP+MUSIC+REVIEW;+Better+Off+Dread:+Chris+Isaak's+Gift+Is+Pain&pqatl=google | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 31, 2013 | accessdate = 2009-12-10}} The Chicago Sun-Times said it combined "outrageous braggadocio with a beat that resounds like an endless sexual shudder."{{Cite news | last = Mcleese | first = Don | title = Diddley Spurs Trip to Heart of Rock Jungle | newspaper = Chicago Sun-Times | page = 3 | date = 1986-09-12 | url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB36D21E77A19BD&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM | accessdate = 2009-12-10}}
Marking Diddley's popularity in England, the Rolling Stones, who early in their career often played Diddley songs live,{{Cite book | last = Paytress | first = Mark | title = The Rolling Stones: off the record | publisher = Omnibus Press | year = 2003 | page = 31 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=toSbe1xQxToC&pg=PA31 | isbn = 978-0-7119-8869-9}} covered the song (along with Diddley's "Road Runner") on their first demo, recorded on March 11, 1963.{{Cite book | last = Wyman | first = Bill | author-link = Bill Wyman | author2 = Ray Coleman | title = Bill Wyman, Stone alone: the story of a rock 'n' roll band | publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 1997 | page = 123 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Zi79b9a2o0sC&pg=PA123 | isbn = 978-0-306-80783-1 |last=Stout |first=Gene |title=Bo Diddley Keeps Rock Rolling Along Path He Blazed Years Ago |newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |page=9 |date=1986-02-07 |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1986/8601030848.asp |accessdate=2009-12-10
Bo Diddley, Diddley Daddy
The title of the song has come to stand for Bo Diddley himself, as evidenced from articles about Diddley by Val Wilmer{{Cite news | last = Wilmer | first = Valerie | title = The Grand Diddley Daddy of Rock 'n' Roll | newspaper = The Observer | date = 1979-05-06}} and Stuart Colman.Stuart Colman, "Bo Diddley: The Diddley Daddy," in {{Cite news | title = They Kept on Rockin'; The Giants of Rock 'n' Roll | publisher = Blandfort | year = 1982 | location = Poole | pages = 73–82}} After Diddley's death, in 2008, the phrase directly referred to Diddley in various obituaries;{{Cite news | title = Diddley Daddy: Rock Pioneer Fathered More Than a Beat | newspaper = The Washington Times | date = 2008-06-06 | url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=WT&p_theme=wt&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=121263AB7744DD60&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM | accessdate = 2009-12-10}} the usage reflected Diddley's habit of self-reference{{Cite book | last = Larkin | first = Colin | title = The Guinness encyclopedia of popular music, Volume 2 | publisher = Guinness | year = 1995 | page = 162 | isbn = 978-1-56159-176-3 | url = https://archive.org/details/guinnessencyclop06lark |title=Rockers mourn Diddley the Daddy |newspaper=The Standard |date=2008-06-04 |url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=18&art_id=66740&sid=19190512&con_type=1 |accessdate=2009-12-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604143450/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=18&art_id=66740&sid=19190512&con_type=1 |archive-date=2011-06-04
Reissues
A Bo Diddley compilation CD issued in 1988 is also called Diddley Daddy. The song is featured on many greatest hits albums by Bo Diddley including 16 All-Time Greatest Hits and His Best.
Personnel
- Bo Diddley – lead vocals, lead guitar
- Little Walter – harmonica
- Jerome Green – maracas
- Clifton James – drums
- The Moonglows – backing vocals
Notable covers
- Rolling Stones, first demo
- The Liverbirds, a British all-female beat group, recorded the song for a 1965 single. Their version reached No. 5 on the German Singles Chart.
- Dutch Mason, Canadian blues musician. The song was a staple of his band's live set.
- The Super Super Blues Band (1968), Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley trio recorded it together as part of album "The Super Super Blues Band" for Chess Records.
- Chris Isaak, on Heart Shaped World (1989){{Cite book | last = Strong | first = Martin Charles |author2=John Peel | title = The great rock discography | publisher = Canongate | year = 2004 | page = 743 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_WoRAPJQ58sC&pg=PA743 | isbn = 978-1-84195-615-2}}
- The Pretty Things & Yardbirds Blues Band, on Chicago Blues Jam 1991 and Wine, Women & Whiskey (1994)
References
References
- (1997). "His Best". [[Chess Records]]/[[MCA Records]].
- Strong 303.
- Strong 841.
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