Bo Diddley is dead. As far as I can figure, that leaves just Buddy Guy and Etta James as the only surviving stars of the great fifties era of Chess Records.

Bo Diddley Beat was a throbbing primeval guitar stomp that runs through everything thats good in music. No Bo Diddley, no Stones, VU, Clash, or a million more people who knew what his guitar was saying to them every time that sound was heard. He was the man who established the guitar + rhythm = fucking equation. No Bo and all you are left with is diddley!

My friend Dick Heckstall-Smith played with him for three years in the 80s. They first met during the sound check for their first gig together. Diddley was positioning the musicians where he wanted them to be onstage. Dick, a tenor sax player, had the temerity to ask where he wanted him to stand. I won't say exactly what Mr Diddley said, because a) I can't remember exactly, and b) it was fairly abusive, but what it amounted to was that he wanted him to stand somewhere he couldn't see or hear him. This position changed, and they got on. Bo was all about the beat, Dick was all about the mathematical beauty the possibilities of music constantly gave him. Despite this seemingly unbridgeable gulf, they both understood one thing. Guitar + Rhythm = , well, you know the rest. Anyway, this mix is a tribute with a few examples of the man himself plus some of the many who followed his lead.

Bo Diddley was a gunslinger, Bo Diddley was one of the reasons people still use their ears. Hey Bo Diddley!