You know a song is a true hit when multiple chart-topping artists record their own versions of the tune, and Bo Diddley‘s “Who Do You Love” certainly falls into that category.
Originally released by the pioneering rocker in 1956, “Who Do You Love” was successfully covered by Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks (featuring Robbie Robertson on guitar), George Thorogood and the Destroyers (whose take on the tune became a rock radio mainstay), and Quicksilver Messenger Service (who turned the classic into a critically acclaimed psychedelic jam lasting the entire side of an album).
Quicksilver Messenger Service was born from the same San Francisco acid-rock scene that gave the world the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, though they were the last of those groups to get a record deal, according to Uncut. While their self-titled debut has been remembered favorably, it was their second album, 1969’s Happy Trails, that would go on to be ranked among Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”
By the time they were recording Happy Trails, a lengthy interpretation of “Who Do You Love” had become a staple of Quicksilver Messenger Service’s concerts, and since the album was mostly recorded live at the Fillmores West and East, it made sense to include the cover. Of course, because the track came in at a little over 25 minutes long, it took up the entire first side (a shortened version played on the radio).
In his 1969 review of Happy Trails for Rolling Stone, Greil Marcus called “Who Do You Love” “one of the best rock and roll recordings to emerge from San Francisco, a performance that captures all the excitement and grandeur of the great days of the scene in a way that is almost too fine to be real.”
“If rock and roll really will stand, as the Showmen sang, it will be music like this that makes it that way,” Marcus wrote.
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“Quicksilver goes into it at full speed, John Cipollina’s guitar alternately harsh and sweet, clashing with Gary Duncan’s rhythm, Greg Elmore’s drumming simple and solid, never an iota of sloppiness, not a note missed,” he continued. “They use the infamous Bo Diddley rhythm not as a crutch, not as something for the rhythm section to play with while the lead takes it; Quicksilver finds dimensions of that ‘bump buddy bump bump — bump bump’ beat that no one has even suggested before, as they stretch it, bend it, move around it, as a motif or a bridge, as an idea rather than as a pattern.”
Marcus went on to praise the audience participation on the recording as a “beautiful example of the kind of communication rock and roll is all about. Cipollina takes over again, the excitement flashes, and finally David Friberg and his bass slowly take it apart and put it back together, with the chilling words whispered and hissed out to the audience — ‘graveyard mind…don’t mind dyin’ — the tension builds and they hit it all at once, guitars harder and harder. Elmore pounding, voices screaming; everything working. By the time the band yells ‘Bye!’ to the audience it’s just not to be believed.”
In addition to all the praise from critics, Quicksilver Messenger Service was also awarded the distinction of having their rendition of “Who Do You Love” included on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame‘s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.”
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