The Story of Bo Diddley Lyrics

Now listen here to the story of Bo Diddley
The rock 'n roll scene in general
Bo Diddley was born Ellis McDaniels
In a place called McCoom

In Mississippi about 1926
He moved to Chicago about 1938
Where his name was eventually changed to Bo Diddley
He practised the guitar every day and sometimes into the night

'Til his papa's hair began to turn white
His pa said "Son, listen here, I know"
"You can stay but, uh, that guitar's just got to go"
So he pulled his hat down over his eyes

And headed on out for them western skies
I think Bob Dylan said that
He hit New York City
He began to play the Apollo in Harlem

Good scene there
Everybody raved
One day, one night
Came a Cadillac, four headlights

Came a man with a big long fat cigar
He said "Come here son, I'm going to make you a star"
Bo Diddley said "Uh, what's in it for me?"
The man said "Uh, shut your mouth son and play the guitar"

"And you just wait and see"
Well, Bo made it, he made it real big
And so did the rest of the Rock 'n Roll scene along with him
And a white guy called Johnny Otis took Bo Diddley's rhythm

And changed into hand jive
And it went like this:

In a little old country town one day
A little old country man begin to play
Had two guitars and a beat-up saxophone
When the drummer said ??? those cats begin to ???

Oh baby, oooo we oh oh
Oooo la la that rock 'n roll
You hear me, oooo we oh oh
Oooo la la that rock 'n roll

Then the U.S. music scene, there was big changes made
Due to circumstances beyond our control
Such as payola
The rock 'n roll scene died after two years of solid rock

You got discs like, uh:
Take good care of my baby
Please don't ever make her blue
And so forth

About, uh, one year later
In a place called Liverpool in England
Uh, four young guys with mop haircuts
Begin to sing stuff like, uh:

It's been a hard day's night
And I've been workin' like a dog
And so on

A place called Richmond in Surrey
Way down in the deep south
Where the guys had long hair down their backs sang:
I want to be your lover baby
I want to be your man, yeah
And all that jazz

Well we been doin' this number "Bo Diddley"
For quite some time now
Bo Diddley visited this country last year
And we were playin' the Club A-Go-Go in Newcastle, our home town

And the doors opened one night
And to our surprise in walked the man himself, Bo Diddley
Along with him was, uh, Jerome Green, his maraca man
And the Dutchess, his gorgeous sister

Now we're doin', uh, we're doin' this number
Along with them came Rolling Stones and The Mersey Beats
They're all standin' around diggin' it
And I overheard Bo Diddley talkin'

He turned around to Jerome Green, he said
"Hey Jerome. What do you think of these guys doin our, our material?"
Jerome said "Uh, where's the bar, man. Please show me to the bar."
He turned around to the Dutchess and he said

"Hey Dutch. What do you think of these young guys doin' our material?"
She said ah, "I don't know. I only came across here to see the
Changin' of the guards and all that jazz."
But Bo Diddley looked up at me and he said, uh

With half-closed eyes and a smile
He said "Man". Took off his glasses. He said "Man"
"That sure is the biggest load of rubbish ever heard in my life"
Hey Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)

Oh Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
Yeah Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
Oh Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
Yeah Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
Oh Bo Diddley (Hey, Bo Diddley)
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"The Story of Bo Diddley" as written by Ellas Mcdaniel Eric Burdon
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
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