# Diddy Wah Diddy **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diddy-wah-diddy/100582 "2002-03-28T16:42:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shrieker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Shrieker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrieker)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diddy-wah-diddy/100582/1 "2002-03-28T16:42:37Z")
I’ve heard it all my life…‘so and so is gonna end up in Diddy Wah Diddy’. What is it? Where is it? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diddy-wah-diddy/100582/2 "2002-03-28T17:50:55Z")
_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:](http://www.deltaboogie.com/hawkeye/diddiewa/) > [@](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diddy-wah-diddy/100582/3 "2002-03-28T17:57:12Z")
From the cover of R. Crumb’s [Zap #1](http://w1.870.telia.com/~u87008863/bilder/zap135c.JPG) : 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!😃 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diddy-wah-diddy/100582/4 "2002-03-29T03:55:29Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diddy-wah-diddy/100582/5 "2002-03-29T04:55:36Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diddy-wah-diddy/100582/6 "2002-03-29T16:21:08Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diddy-wah-diddy/100582/7 "2002-03-29T20:35:28Z")
You talkin’ ta me? ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2002, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diddy-wah-diddy/100582/8 "2002-03-30T05:13:28Z")
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?”