Diddy Wah Diddy

[Shrieker]

I’ve heard it all my life…‘so and so is gonna end up in Diddy Wah Diddy’. What is it? Where is it?

[Colibri]

There’s a great big mystery, and it sure is worryin’ me.
This diddie wa diddie, this diddie wa diddie.
I wish somebody would tell me what
diddie wa diddie means.

-Blind Blake (Arthur Phelps)

From this site:

One of my favorite Blake songs is Diddie Wa Diddie. The message contained in it is a “mystery” whose answer might seem obvious to some, some could care less, and to those like myself, a timeless question whose answer can never be totally understood or revealed, only pondered.

The obvious answer lies in a theme that seems to capture most everyone’s interest. Sex. Diddie wa diddie is either the act of making love, or the male or female sexual organs.

Or, alternatively:

Another explanation comes from folklorist B. A. Botkin, in A Treasury of Southern Folklore. Under the heading, Mythical Places of the Florida Negro, the following definition is presented for the phrase Diddie Wa Diddie (Diddy- Wah-Diddy).

*This is the largest and best known of the Negro mythical places. Its geography is that it is “way off somewhere.” It is reached by a road that curves so much that a mule pulling a wagon-load of fodder can eat off the back of the wagon as he goes. It is a place of no work and no worry for man and beast. A very restful place where even the curbstones are good sitting- chairs. . . . *

The last explanation being like the Big Rock Candy Mountains or Fiddler’s Green.

[Labdad]

From the cover of R. Crumb’s Zap #1 :

Lady in the flowerpot hat: “I wish somebody would tell me what diddy wah diddy means.”

Mr. Natural: “If you don’t know by now, lady, don’t mess with it!!”

Sorry. Couldn’t resist!

[samclem]

And if anyone needs a more scholarly site, the OED cites it from 1788,

.

1788 GROSE Dict. Vulg. Tongue (ed. 2), Diddeys, a woman’s breasts or bubbies.

[kniz]

And then there is this variation:

There she was just a walking
Down the street singin’
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
Snapping her fingers
And a shuffling her feet singin’
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

She looked good (looked good)
She looked fine (looked fine)
She looked good, she looked fine
And I nearly lost my mind

Before I knew it she was walking
Next to me singin’
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
Holding my hand
Just as natural as can be singin’
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

[Colibri]

Aside from the Blind Blake tune, which has been covered by Ry Cooder and Leon Redbone, among others, there is also a completely different song “Diddy Wah Diddy” by Bo Diddley (1955), covered by Captain Beefheart (1966).

This little girl, sweet as she can be
I know she’s in love with me
Love is deep, she’s so pretty
But she lives way down in Diddy Wah Diddy

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find the rest of the lyrics, and I don’t have the Bo Diddley album that contains the song, so I’m not sure if Bo actually ever got to Diddy Wah Diddy.

[DooWahDiddy]

You talkin’ ta me?

[ElwoodCuse]

Who else read this thread title and instantly thought

“Tha she was,
Just-a walking down the street…”

Even though its technically “doo wah diddy?”