Manfred Mann – Do Wah Diddy Diddy

I’ve been blogging since 2017 and someone asked me about this song not long ago. I told them yea…I posted that one. Well, no I didn’t post this one so now is the time. I first heard this over a friend’s house in the 80s…his dad had this song among his singles collection of the early to mid-sixties.

This song was from one of the biggest years in popular music. It was released in 1964 by Manfred Mann. It was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who were looking to recreate the gibberish gold they struck on The Crystal’s hit “Da Doo Ron Ron.” In the UK they had already had success with 5-4-3-2-1 and Hubble Bubble (Toil and Trouble) but had yet to break through in America. This song did the trick…and well! The original name of the song was Do Wah Diddy…but the band added the extra Diddy to the end.

This was not the original version. That version was The Exciters but it tanked. Actually, it’s a pretty good version…I’ll post it at the bottom as well. Manfred Mann’s version fits well into the British Invasion and this made them known really quick. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #1 in the UK. They followed this one up with another hit called Sha La La.

Paul Jones was the lead singer at the time of Manfred Mann. He heard this song by the Exciters and knew it had potential. Most of the group was not very happy with recording this song but finally did it. The band found that touring the US a thoroughly miserable experience, and decided that they weren’t going back again. So, while they would continue to have big hits in Britain for the rest of the decade, they only had a few minor successes in the States.

They would have more success in the 70s with a revamped band named Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

The original version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KzRY2ando4

Doo Wah Diddy Diddy

There she was just a-walkin’ down the street, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Snappin’ her fingers and shufflin’ 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 walkin’ next to me, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Holdin’ my hand just as natural as can be, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
We walked on (walked on) to my door (my door)
We walked on to my door, then we kissed a little more

Whoa-oh, I knew we was falling in love
Yes I did, and so I told her all the things I’d been dreamin’ of

Now we’re together nearly every single day, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
A-we’re so happy and that’s how we’re gonna stay, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Well, I’m hers (I’m hers), she’s mine (she’s mine)
I’m hers, she’s mine, wedding bells are gonna chime

Whoa-oh, I knew we was falling in love
Yes I did, and so I told her all the things I’d been dreamin’ of

Now we’re together nearly every single day, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
A-we’re so happy and that’s how we’re gonna stay, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Well, I’m hers (I’m hers), she’s mine (she’s mine)
I’m hers, she’s mine, wedding bells are gonna chime

Whoa-oh-oh-oh, oh yeah
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do, we’ll sing it
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do, oh yeah, oh, oh yeah
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

39 thoughts on “Manfred Mann – Do Wah Diddy Diddy”

  1. Manfred Mann was a great cover band. In African-American folklore of the early twentieth century, the imaginary town of Diddy Wah Diddy was something like a synonym for heaven, or for the Big Rock Candy Mountain of the folk song — a place where people didn’t have to work, and where food was free everywhere. This place had been sung about in many songs, like Blind Blake’s ‘Diddie Wah Diddie’. Diddy-Wah-Diddy is, perhaps, the best known of Florida’s mythical places. The original story about a hidden-away town with unlimited food was among the folk tales collected by Zora Neale Hurston while working with the Federal Writers Project in 1938. Hurston wrote that Diddy-Wah-Diddy was “reached by a road that curves so much that a mule pulling a wagonload of fodder can eat off the back of the wagon as he goes.” Bob Wills wrote a song called ‘That’s What I Like About The South’ which mentions a place called Doo Wah Diddy. Willie Dixon wrote a song for Bo Diddley called ‘Diddy Wah Diddy’.

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      1. Shangri-La works for me but there actually was a Shangri-La for Genghis Kahn, so maybe more like the Garden of Eden. In Diddy-Wa-Diddy it was said that the trees grew barbequed chickens and there were rivers of milk and I think this may have been Biblical going back to the time of Moses where the Promised Land was supposed to be a land of Milk and Honey. Now I want some of those barbequed chickens.

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  2. One of those songs that sticks with you once you hear it. Did not know this wasn’t the original version, but hadn’t heard of The Exciters either. I remember this tune mostly from being used to great comic effect in Bill Murray’s 1981 “Stripes.”

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  3. Nice to hear the original of “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” – first time I did! Great song!

    During my teenage years, I listened a lot to Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, especially their late ’70s albums “Watch” and “Angel Station.” I still like their music, especially from “Watch”.

    I think I first heard Mann’s rendition of “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” on a Sunday night oldies radio show moderated by my then-favorite host and music expert Frank Laufenberg. He introduced me to lots of great ’60s and ’50s music. Back then, I was compiling “Oldies” mixtapes on music cassettes, and much of that came from his radio show.

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    1. It’s one of the most catchy songs ever…you can’t get it out of your head…even if you wanted to! It’s such a fun song…I first heard it on an oldies channel in the mid 1980s…that is where I learned a lot of sixties songs I didn’t grow up with.

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      5. Yep. I think it’s my favorite album. It came out in February 1978. Manfred Mann were quite popular in Germany. I recall my first parties where some of their music was played. Davy’s was one of the songs, as well as “Don’t Kill It Carol” from the follow-on “Angel Station”.

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  4. Max , I mean how many people can handle 4 maracas at one time? Paul Jones was a master. Besides that I like his vocals and the song. All those British bands pulled out those nuggets from the other side of the water. Good for you to always give a nod to the originals. Rightfully so.

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    1. The more I learn about Jones the more I like him.
      It’s always cool to see where something comes from…I had no clue about this one.

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  6. Always loved this song and as mentioned I can’t hear it now without picturing Bill Murray and Stripes, one of the fumiest half a movie ever, it was all down hill when the pulled out the RV! Brilliant job as they did on several other cover songs.

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  7. Yep, like the Hollies, far bigger in the Commonwealth than the States.
    Paul Jones put out a few I still like ‘I’ve Been A Bad Bad Boy’ ‘High Time’ and even the juvenile ‘Poor Jenny.’ Hey, I wuz a kid at the time!

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  10. Both versions sound good but I’m used to Manfred Mann’s version. I was in love with this song as a little kid. There was something about it I found irresistible. The maracas and the keyboards give it that extra oomph.

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