It is difficult to imagine a world without Bo Diddley. “Hey, Bo Diddley” is about as an American chant as is “Hey, get offa my lawn.” But alas, our world today is Diddley-less as Bo Diddley checked out at age 79.
I didn’t know Diddley but that isn’t unusual because I didn’t know many rock n’ roll R & B legends although I think Ivory Joe Hunter visited our home once when I was a child and I chatted with Percy Sledge as he listed to an Astros game in his limo out in back of the old Texas Pelican Club in Vinton, La., although I doubt Percy remembers that or what he was doing five minutes before for that matter.
But I did see Diddley. He was the opening act, followed by Tower of Power, for Creedence Clearwater Revival at the very first rock concert I saw in Houston’s old Sam Houston Coliseum back in the early 70s. The fact that it was my first concert and that I got to see Diddley as well as my favorite band back then — Creedence not Tower of Power although they were pretty stout — and the fact that it was the 70s was … Oh, I forgot what I was going to say but it was a pretty good time to be alive and young.
So Hey Bo Diddley. Take it light, man.