Rear-View Mirror: Bo Diddley's incredible rhythmic legacy

Every week Rich Terfry looks back in our Rear-View Mirror at a great song from the good ol’ days.

Rock and roll legend Bo Diddley just wanted to be a cowboy. He discovered the beat that bares his name accidentally, when he was trying to figure out how to play this famous cowboy song from Gene Autry.

Diddley interpreted that beat and this became his signature. 

This signature lick was so popular and iconic, it's as if Bo Diddley was a graffiti writer, tagging his name all over the works collected in the rock and roll museum.

Here are just some of the examples of artists who used the beat in their songs.

Buddy Holly, "Not Fade Away"

Elvis Presley, "His Latest Flame"

The Who, "Magic Bus"

George Michael, "Faith"

U2, "Desire"

Listen to Diddley's sound in his own and other people's music in the full version of Rear-View Mirror.

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Here are some other great editions of Rear-View Mirror:

CCR, "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"

Howlin' Wolf, "Smokestack Lightning"

Bobby Womack, "Across 110th Street"

Roy Orbison, "In Dreams"

Foggy Hogtown Boys, "Man of Constant Sorrow"

Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here"

Neil Young, "Cortez The Killer"

Bob Dylan, "Subterraneon Homesick Blues"

Little Eva, "Loco-Motion"

Elvis Costello, "Watching the Detectives"

Jimmy Cliff, "The Harder They Come"

The Verve, "Bittersweet Symphony"

Roberta Flack, "Killing Me Softly with his Song"

R.E.M., "Radio Free Europe"

Radiohead, "No Surprises"

Led Zeppelin, "Ramble On"

Glen Campbell, "Wichita Lineman"

Rolling Stones, "Beast of Burden"

John Cougar Mellencamp, "Pink Houses"