Life with Bo Diddley

I can't recall the number of times I've breezed down the interstate or cruised through the downtown of a city I'm unfamiliar with, all set to the soundtrack of Bo Diddley's self-titled, debut album. A lot of the greats (most of them punk outfits) never do better than their first album (The Clash, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols), but that doesn't make them any less amazing in their later years.
"Bo Diddley" the album is the best piece of vinyl, tape, CD or digital album you could ever get from the legend. It plays like a greatest hits record because, in a way, it is (the album is a collection of his early singles).
Lots of people have covered "Who Do You Love?", but only Diddley owns the amazing track. The same can be said for "I'm a Man," a track that made it onto the debut album of another amazing musical talent, The Who, in the form of a cover.
And how many times has a musician or band put out a song named after him/her/themselves to stay on the charts for the better part of four and a half months? The song is "Bo Diddley," if you hadn't guessed by now, with its hambone-ish patted juba beat.
If not for that first album and it's place firmly entrenched in history, I take a little comfort today, in which the world loses one of its great musicians, that Bo Diddley's place in musical lore is pretty safe. He won't be relegated to the back pages as the guy with the rectangular guitar. No one can overlook how the man, born Ellas Otha Bates, took to changing the face of American music, in no small thanks to the late, great John Lee Hooker and a bigger share of God-given talent than most will ever dream of or desire.
Rest in peace, Bo Diddley.