My Ding a Ling

Dave Bartholomew 24/12/1918 – 23/06/2019

Not only is this the original version from 1952 but it appears to me an early inspiration for Ska.

Playing the guitar like ringing a bell

There’s been another dead popstar recently. Charles Berry was taken from us at the young age of 90. I only saw him live once in the 1980s. I thought he looked ancient then (he was around 59 at the time) and he was mostly just going through the motions. He redeemed himself at the end with a great “Johnny B Goode”. He appeared to still enjoy playing that tune. But ask many people and they only remember Charles’ 1972 hit (Number one here and in the US) version of the novelty song “My Ding-a-ling” (and actually recorded live at the Locarno Coventry England of all places).

Charles had used the tune for “My Tambourine” a few years earlier and must have been aware of the song from the time of it’s original recording in 1952 by musician/songwriter David Bartholomew who incidentally is still alive at the age of 98.

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Charles made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. Nowadays people can find fame without even leaving their bedrooms. Jess Greenberg has received millions of UToob “hits” for her cover versions of rock songs. Admittedly she’s easy on the eye and it helps that she can also play her guitar like ringing a bell.

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PS: Check out Jess’ version of “Voodoo Chile” too!