A lot of my recent comments have been concerned about how established stars tried to adapt to the changing of the guard from silents to the talkies once Elvis started wiggling his hips and nailed shut the door to tin pan alley. That some were less successful than others has been ably demonstrated, but on this Johnny Ray does better than most, not least because he avoids tackling the sea change head on by becoming your dad down the local disco and instead delivers a part homage, part pastiche take on the Bo Diddley sound.There's precedent for that too - in May of that year, Buddy Holly cut a white bread version of 'Bo Diddley' that although faithful in structure, missed out on the voodoo of the original. Ray manages to go one better by adopting the style in essence but not losing sight of his own audience. It's all there on 'Yes, Tonight Josephine' - the shave and a haircut shuffle, the happy clappy female backing singers spouting a Greek chorus of nonsense ("Yip yip way bop de boom ditty boom ditty") and a lyric that exudes a lusty intent ("I will squeeze and hold you tight. Pack each kiss with dynamite"). It's 'Hey Bo Diddley' or 'Mona' in all but name and whilst Ray chugs through it with a purpose and swagger that befits Diddley himself, he deviates from Bo's template by not sourcing his bragging rights in rampant self belief and mythologising (one of Bo's trademarks), but by delivering a straightforward declaration of love that, thankfully, doesn't rely on any further plays on that awful title to get by. And by not trying to force on glass slippers that clearly don't fit, Ray makes 'Yes, Tonight Josephine' as accessibly joyous 'now' as it was 'then'.
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