I've Seen Them All

Lyrics: Bo Diddley
Music: Bo Diddley

Played by Bo Diddley with the Grateful Dead on 25 March 1972. Much of it is clearly improvised, but it's a piece that has featured in many of his concert performances over the years. One example is below

[sung]
You know I love you, honest I do
And I hope like the devil, baby, that you love me too
I love you, I love you, love you, love you, love you
Whoa darling, I do, yeah

[spoken]
Nineteen fifty eight
Nineteen fifty eight was a hell of a year
Yes, that was the year that rock 'n' roll got a toe-hold
I'm here to tell you all about it, baby

You wasn't cool
Unless you had a nineteen fifty seven Chevrolet
With pipes
And a foxtail hanging from your radio antenna
Outta sight mudflaps
(Have mercy)
And most of all the cats had something written on the side of the door
For all of their girls to dig
Usually you would see something on it like "Sweet Daddy"
(Have mercy)
What I had on mine was "Daddy Whipped Cream"

[sung]
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh

[spoken]
I've seen 'em all
I've been on stage with some of the greatest
Cats like
Jimmy Clanton
The magnificient Bobby Darin
Fabian
Chuck Berry
Jimmy Reed
And the uncomparable John Lee Hooker

[sung]
Whoa
Whoa-oh-oh
Whoa-oh-oh
My my my my my my
Whoa-whoa, oh-oh
Baby, baby, baby

[spoken]
I've seen 'em all
Elvis Presley
Sarah Vaughan
And the great Dinah Washington
Brook Benton
And my man, outta sight cat, Ray Charles
James Brown and the famous Flames
[sung]
Whoa-oh-oh
[spoken]
Hank Ballard, and the Midnighters
Chubby Checker

[sung]
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes
Baby you know I've seen 'em all
Whoa-oh
My baby, baby
Whoa-oh
[spoken]
I'm here to tell you 'bout it
Yeah, if you don't think I know what I'm talking about
Go home and ask your
Big brother or your big sister
(Have mercy)
Better still, go home and ask mum and dad about it
They might tell you the truth (laughs)
[sung]
Hey, I've seen 'em all

[sung]
Oooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-wee
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

[spoken]
Before I step back
I've got to tell you about this
In nineteen fifty eight
Going back to the Brooklyn Fox Theater
And the Paramount
(Have mercy)
I remember the times when the kids used to come and
To see the show and they'd bring their lunch
Because they didn't go to school
The school officials used to send out the truant officers to get 'em
He end up bringing his lunch too
'Cause we was in there sockin' it to 'em

[sung]
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-oh
[etc]

And right now I'm gonna take you back to 1958
I'm gonna name a few people here what's responsible for what you dig in the day, baby
From the very beginning we had cats like the late, great Muddy Waters
John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed
Bo Diddley
The great Chuck Berry
The magnificent Elvis Presley

The killer, Jerry Lee Lewis

People like Fats Domino
Ray Charles
Little Richard
Poor brother Sam Cooke
Brother James Brown
The Rolling Stones
I've seen 'em all
I've seen 'em all

People like Chubby Checker

The Shirelles
The Chantells
Aretha Franklin
[So so] Tina Turner

Brother B, B.B.King

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah

Jimi Hendrix

Sister Janis Joplin
The Grateful Dead
Lord have mercy
I've seen 'em all

Right now I want you to clap your hands just a little bit
Come on y'all
Everybody clap your hands
Let's get a groove going on, see you move, come on baby