Bo Diddley - Down Home Train
The chugging railroad rhythm is Bo Diddley's signature guitar sound and it's more than amply demonstrated here in this quintessential train tune from 1956. The song, about a man going home to see his baby, starts with Diddley asking for a ticket to MaComb, Mississippi. An interesting choice as Big Bad Bo left McComb for Chicago aged just 7 years. Seems he was a Mannish Boy after all. Today's selection was called Down Home Special when it was originally released on Chess's subsidiary Checker, but it's name change to Down Home Train somewhere along the way to this Golden Goodies reissue, which is apparently legit and was pressed by Chess back in the day. On it, Willie Dixon strums the bass and Jerome Green shakes the maracas. I'm not sure who blows the whistles.
Labels: chicago, mississippi, rhythm and blues, rock'n'roll