First Song Choice - Doo Wah Diddy by Manfred Mann

The first song we chose as a group was "Doo Wah Diddy" by Manfred Mann. The song was actually originally performed by the Exciters in 1963 but was made famous when Manfred Mann did a cover in 1964. The song is originally performed in a pop rock genre, however, we will be covering it as a ballad. The song follows a simple chord structure and the lyrics represent that of a love song meaning it is easily turned into a ballad.

The song its self is very repetitive and follows the same lyric structure through out apart from a small section in the middle which splits the verses up. The repetitiveness of the song and the nonsense lyrics "Doo wah diddy, diddy dum diddy doo." are what i believe made the song so famous. Its memorable, yet annoying, making it a typical guilty pleasure song. We hate to love it.
(Slick Rocks, 2014)

Musically the song is very simple, it mostly consists of two chords (G and C) apart from the middle section which has some variation. The melody line is simple and slightly monotone with most of the expression coming from the singer not the notation. The drums seem to play a simple rock beat with a few variations and fills added. The lead singer plays the maracas to give the song more depth and texture. Overall the song is very simple, yet very effective. It is performed cleverly and the combination of lyrics, music and performance are what made this song so successful. As a group we need to make sure that we stay true to some aspects of this song in order to make sure that our ensemble performance is successful.