MONA (Mick Farren)
“Mona (I Need You Baby)” is a song written by Elias McDaniel (real name of Bo Diddley) and was the B-side to his 1957 single “Hey! Bo Diddley”. According to Diddley’s obituary in The New York Times, “Mona” was a song of praise he wrote for a 45-year-old exotic dancer who worked at the Flame Show Bar in Detroit. The song also became the template for Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away”. (More from Wikipedia)
First on the agenda for Mick Farren as the Sixties came to a close was to fulfill his recording contract after he was thrown out of his own band. In March 1970, Farren released Mona – The Carnivorous Circus; essentially, this was Mick Farren’s first solo album, although the album is often credited to the Deviants. The album is bookended by the great Bo Diddley song “Mona”, though the largest part of the album was the meandering two-part “Carnivorous Circus”. There is also a rendition of the great Eddie Cochran song that was later made famous by the Who, “Summertime Blues”; their first release of “Summertime Blues” was on their 1970 Live at Leeds album.
(March 2014/1)
