Bo Knows Funk!
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Artist:
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Album:Tales From the Funk Dimension
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No one (well it is MOG, so probably someone) will argue that Bo Diddley is in the pantheon of Rock and Roll, and you can't argue about Chess Records status as one of the most influential record labels of all time. But you don't necessairily think of Bo Diddley sides on Chess records that are funky, and you probably couldn't think of a scenario where Bo Diddley would cover a Odetta song and have it be funky enough to fuel a hip hop classic. If you thought real hard though, this is what it would sound like. (Strangley enough, Odetta's version is not devoid of funk either). So without further adieu, let me kick off Funky Friday with this. You might recognize the licks that laid the foundation for De La Soul's Buddy, but Bo's laid back funk is just right to me for ushering in the first sweat beads of summer 'round Brooklyn way. Where's my lemonade, Jerome?
Comments (21)
"Yeah Baby!"
It was not funky, or even good in any sense of the word. I got free tickets (fortunately) and was given a stack of them that the recipient couldn't give away. I handed the stack to someone when I went in, not wanting to miss the show trying to give them away. My then girlfriend (now wife), another friend, and I sat and watched for like an hour and a half of what looked like a man with dementia attempt to play songs from the Bo Diddley catalog. Well his back up band was a strange mix of musicians, who were not bad in anyway, and in fact carried Mr. Diddley as he went off on musical and non musical tangents. They stayed quiet and let Bo diddle on stage. About two songs in Bo started fiddling with an effects processor he claimed to have bought 20 years ago (so I'm guessing sometime in the 80's) and he said he had recently pulled it out of the closet and dusted it off and decided to play around with it . And so he did. For the whole rest of the concert. Gone was the beautiful sounds of his signature custom square Gretsch guitar. In it's place were the sounds of a really bad 80's effects processor and some wildly liberal interpretations of his back catalog (and not in a good way). The band stayed the course like a ship towards a light house, perhaps ignoring their bosses self indulgent experimentation in front of a (mostly) paying audience. Somewhere in the midst he started to write a song about Osama Bin Laden messing with the U.S. and how he was in for a heck of a surprise. It wasn't long after 9/11, so Bo was just staying relevant. Looking up,he also proceeded to throw in something about Bud Light into the song, too. We turned around and saw a neon Bud Light sign in the back of the theater. We were laughing our asses off. When the concert was over, we left glad we hadn't spent a dime on it, but still wishing we could get that time back. I still hope to this day, Mr. Diddley is well cared for in his old age and can just quietly pass on into the next world, leaving only his legacy behind.