Diddy Wah Diddy

In 1965, before Captain Beefheart’s avant-garde explorations and before they even recorded, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band were already the best Rolling Stones-style rhythm & blues band in California. On this reputation, the Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles sent the Magic Band for a month-long residency to Denver’s own Whiskey A Go Go in the fall of 1965.

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band 1965

The building that housed Denver’s Whisky A Go Go was originally a dinner club called The Sultan’s Table. In 1965 it became the Whisky A Go Go, then The Batcave, The Posh and The Bird. In 1967 it opened as Barry Fey’s famous Family Dog psychedelic nightclub, where Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band played yet again that year. (The location is now Denver’s most well-known adult nightspot PT’s Showclub!)

Left to right: Don Van Vliet, Alex St. Clair, Doug Moon, Jerry Handley, Rich Hepner

While in their 1965 residency at the Denver Whisky A Go Go, the Magic Band noticed the exceptional blues guitar playing of Rich Hepner. Hepner was playing in Denver high-hair band The Fantabulous Jags at The Pussycat A Go Go on Sante Fe, just down the street from The Whisky.

The Fantabulous Jags

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band recorded two 45s for A&M Records with Rich Hepner, the first being one of the best 60s garage (or 60s punk) records, the now-famous Diddy Wah Diddy. Hepner left the band after these two singles.

Beefheart’s version seems to be a stomping rearrangement of the Bo Diddley song from ten years before. Here are audio-only snippets of both to compare:

Bo Diddley – Diddy Wah Diddy (1956)
Captain Beefheart – Diddy Way Diddy (1966)

Colorado’s Rich Hepner must have influenced the Beefheart arrangement, perhaps even unconsciously, as it clearly resembles the version by Colorado’s biggest rock band of the early-1960s, The Astronauts, who released many albums on major record label RCA Victor. Diddy Wah Diddy kicks off side two of the LP AOK-Astronauts Orbit Kampus. Snippet:

Astronauts – Diddy Wah Diddy (1964)

This makes the Astronauts recording from 1964 the first ’60s punk version of this classic song. Captain Beefheart’s amazing version only missed becoming a national hit because yet another band, Boston’s The Remains, had similar chart action covering the song at the same time! Here is a snippet of their 45:

The Remains – Diddy Wah Diddy (1966)

As you can hear, The Remains’ version bears little resemblence to the Astronauts or Beefheart versions. To finish, here is one last link to a video of Australian band Running Jumping Standing Still in 1966 covering the Beefheart Diddy Wah Diddy arrangement that seemed to start with Colorado’s own Astronauts in 1964:

Beefheart photos borrowed from the Captain Beefheart Power Station.

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Posted in: Music

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 9th, 2010 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Diddy Wah Diddy”

Wayne Yaffee October 20th, 2010 at 8:47 am

This is an incredible website! I’m trying to find info/recordings on Ron Henry, a former professional baseball player (Denver Bears)who later sang around Denver in the 1970s. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Becky April 10th, 2011 at 2:43 pm

Notice you did not make reference to the 1928 version by Blind Blake of which there is a recording and only one photo to my knowledge. The other versions since Blind Blake’s vary in different degrees i.e. spelling of song by Blake is Diddie Wa Diddie later changed by those who recorded it to, Diddy Wah Diddy. I am not a sociomusicologist, just finding it interesting how similar yet are separate.

Tom Lundin April 20th, 2011 at 7:57 am

Hi, Blind Blake’s tune is substantially different than the one that evolved into what these guys were doing in the early ’60s. I have been looking to find if there is an interim version between Blake’s version and Diddley’s in ‘55 to explain how it got that way, but haven’t found it. Thanks for the comment!

Dirk McDougal April 28th, 2012 at 10:09 pm

This is a great website and I love coming here to read all the old stories about Denver’s music scene years ago from the 50’s thru the 70’s.

Here’s a slight correction – in the piece you refer to 1601 W Evans /
The Family Dog as “Barry Fey’s” –
The Dog was actually “run” by Chet Helms out of San Francisco, who was originally Big Brother / Janis’s manager and owner/operator of the Avalon Ballroom in SF. Chet passed away recently (June 2005)

Barry Fey at the time managed a local opening act “Eighth Penny Matter” and also booked the LOCAL bands to open for national headliner bands like Big Brother with Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver, etc that Chet booked. It was Chet’s club, though Barry did approach Chet originally in San Francisco to tell him about the venue at 1601.

Chet ran the “Family Dog” on west Evans until the last show with the Doors on Dec 31, 1967 – then left town, mostly due to constant harassment from Detective John Gray and the Denver PD narcotics squad.

It was after Chet Helms left that Barry took over the “Dog” or sometimes “Denver Dog” and booked acts like Cream, Blue Cheer, and the Byrds along with local bands like Tommy Bolin’s “American Standard” through the summer of 1968, when 1601 West Evans was finally shuttered as a Denver music venue forever.

I was here then, knew all parties involved, and played in a group based out of Denver, but if you ask Barry I’m sure he’ll tell you basically the same thing, and I think it’s also in his book “Backstage Past.”

Keep up the good work on the website. I can’t read enough about the Denver band scene from the 60’s / 70’s.