With his red, rectangular electric guitar slung over his shoulder, the bespectacled Ellas McDaniel burst upon the music scene with the signature song that he adopted as his name, “Bo Diddley.” A nursery rhyme of a song lyrically, it features a primitive but damned infectious shave-and-a-haircut rhythm beat that became Diddley’s trademark sound. Often duplicated in the annals of rock and soul, it has never sounded so good as in Diddley’s hands. In addition to his chicken-scratch guitar playing, band mate Jerome Green shakes a set of maracas and Lafayette Leake plays a mean barrelhouse piano.

As if the Bo Diddley beat weren’t enough to ensure the man’s mark on future generations, Diddley took the Delta blues of such Chicago transplants as Muddy Waters, plugged it in, and delivered the swamp blues “I’m a Man.” This sultry piece of braggadocio influenced everyone from The Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix to today’s rap acts.

And so it is fitting that Bo Diddley’s The Chess Box entry opens with these two numbers, “Bo Diddley” and “I’m a Man,” for they epitomize Diddley’s trademark style. Originally released as a double-sided single, traces of either song can be found throughout this double disc’s 45 cuts. There are the lullaby lyrics of “Hush Your Mouth” with its roots in the former song, while the haunting “Mona” and the pseudo-voodoo jibe of “Who Do You Love” draw inspiration from the latter number. Also, Bo sometimes recorded answer records to his earlier songs, as illustrated in “Hey Bo Diddley” and “ 500% More Man.”

But Bo’s swagger extended beyond larger-than-life characters. “The Story of Bo Diddley” demonstrates his keen sense of humour, while “Say Man” and “Signifying Blues” are showdowns between Diddley and Green in the street insult game known as the Dozens. Collaborations with Chess session writer Willie Dixon produced the make-believe land known as “Diddy Wah Diddy” and the rocking “You Can’t Judge a Book By its Cover.”

Bo's influential guitar work is given center stage on several instrumental cuts, like the Latin R&B of “Aztec” and on an untitled instrumental that sounds so drenched in surf music you get the feeling that Diddley was the first one on the beach.

In fact, it seems as if the next generation of rock and rollers to come along after Diddley were keenly listening to his records. The Yardbirds had a hit with a cover of “I’m a Man,” while The New York Dolls recorded his obscure song “Pills” for their debut album. By the time of that song, Diddley’s creative peak was heading toward an end, but his emphasis on rhythm over melody can still be heard in hip-hop and dance acts of today.

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