Among African Americans in the early twentieth century, Diddy Wah Diddy was known as a mythical town in the South where food was plentiful and no one had to work -- sort of like the hobo's Big Rock Candy Mountain (where the "cops have wooden legs" and "the hens lay soft-boiled eggs"). Zora Neale Hurston used "Diddy-Wah-Diddy" as the title of a collection of folk tales, published in 1938 by the WPA Writers' Project. In the title story, Hurston explained that Diddy Wah Diddy could only be "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.” Upon arrival, a traveler could find a sweet potato pie that kept growing larger as it was eaten: "Nobody can ever eat it all up. No matter how much you eat it grows just that much faster.”
The words have become song lyrics in various iterations, not always referring to the town.
Manfred Mann:
Bo Diddley (audio only):
Leon Redbone:
Blind Blake (audio only)
Dolly Dots
Taj Mahal
Stripes:
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