Elizabeth Cotton - Freight Train

[DumbBabyRecords]

beauty beauty beauty.

[porphyry77]

man, that's awesome

[zenmeister451]

Bless her...how sweet.

[markinpenna]

I get a kick out of the "This video has never been seen by anyone" line. True when posted, maybe, but off by over 83,000 now! I'm glad 83,000 people got to see this heartfelt performance. Thanks for posting.

[wwxoxww]

in respect of elizabeth please remove this

[CanadianFolkBlues]

@wwxoxww why would they do that?!

[Nightbirdrocks]

Thanks for sharing! She was a legend!

[mark1138]

this is music.

[michelafossa]

this video is so beautiful is makes me wanna cry.

[loubich76]

respect!!!

[guscus69er]

Bring back guys in tight shirts and short shorts with gold earrings!

[HollaAna]

This is priceless.

[thelumptube]

Too bad she cant sing no more!

[julesdurel]

If you disliked this your an asshole

[vikingbiff]

the voice may be old, but the fingers be nimble, "SMOK'IN" !

[brahipster]

So beautiful...

[bgreensp]

Living long enough to be able to play a song that you wrote 80 years before is a feat that I am sure only she has done! This is an extraordinary video and an amazing woman. Thanks for posting.

[rosesredvioletsblue]

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (January 5, 1895 – June 29, 1987) was an American blues and folk musician, singer, and songwriter. She developed her own style of picking, come to be known as 'cotton picking' .....[Wikipedia] -an amazing woman, musician, and teacher! A legend. thank you, for posting this!

[3439ra]

oh my. to bad to be her and know she couldent do it much longer

[LIVEKLIFE]

Freight Train~~ Freight Train~~~~ Go so fast~~~~

[Pawnsmate]

WOW 92 and still singing? If I'm ALIVE at age 92 I think I'd save my breath. Another reason I'm not Elizabeth Cotton!

[steve89z]

never heard of her til right now.the power of youtube and the internet to educate me and everyone else!

[Apostle0fLove]

freight train freight train run so fast.... ive reached 92 at last

[OKittilotO]

*WTF I'm scared!! Sure she's 92, and she died, but this is so scary!

[Ernesto081480]

what year is this

[Taylor510ceL9]

As I recall it was August 1986. It was a Saturday night.

[twywell]

Priceless. Since she died at age 92 this must have been one of her last performances.

[sathomaso]

at first i thought "man, her voice sucks in this video" until i read the description and learned she was already 92 years old in this one. holy crap, that's pretty amazing then!!!! thanks for sharing :)

[pdl4a]

hi Taylor,

have you got any more footage of this concert ? As I live in Belgium (Europe that is, think beer, chocolates & the Battle of the Bulge) you can imagine how hard it is to find any lp, cd or dvd of this great icon of american folkmusic.

Thanks again for sharing this, I can sincerely say it brought tears to my eyes...

[lyon406]

the secret is out......Dick Dale learned to play the guitar (upside down) by watching Libby.....LOL

[anon540]

I'm not sure it's physically possible to play a guitar upside down.

[darsvedder]

@anon540 don't tell her that

[vauxhall908]

american history in your face..... libby's amazing!!!!!

[mcfrdmn]

Excellent performance

[mrcmxoner]

No words for this... AMAZING!

[aricandisgood]

What a graceful lady, she's a real performer.

[savzac]

Outstanding! Good to see her playing this at 92!

[kdlkg]

im speechless. i have to learn this song. amazing video!

[kdlkg]

wow! nice video.

[dohertykaki]

I love her so much!

[rosesredvioletsblue]

Amazing!! Elizabeth Cotton wrote "Freight Train" at age 12! This video is from 2006. I'll have to google for

information about this amazing woman.

She's delightful - she gets the crowd to

participate in singing!!!

Thank you!!!

Wonderful video.

[BigEasy2979]

they don't make em like that anymore!!!!!

[smokey3985]

This was written when Elizabeth was 12. She later lived with Mike and Peggy Seeger. Mike first recorded her, and later she sang with Mike and Peggy's older half-brother Pete. Yes, she does play the guitar upside-down, and plays it very well.

[keoki9]

Coolest Granny on the planet!

[vermillionfantasies]

Keep on trucking!!!!!!

[gillshaker]

Bittersweet Treasure

You so right!

[scrag10]

that was painful. yes, I understand thumb me down.

[Olen1009]

Note, by the way, that she plays backwards and upside down because she learned picking on a normal banjo, but she was left-handed. Her style is now called "Cotton-Picking"...!

[Olen1009]

Researching her, I see her birth reported as 1893 and 1895. She died June 29, 1987 in Syracuse, NY...about 10 months after this recording. But, at least she lived to receive a Grammy, which happened 2 years before this recording.

[JosephNScott]

"Researching her, I see her birth reported as 1893 and 1895." According to the 1900 census, 1893.

[skydiver555]

your all fags stop saying thankyou

[Elston1969]

Beautiful, thanks for sharing !

[MORGAN999]

Wow! This made me cry. Absolutely beautiful!

Thank you so much for posting this!

[jhollender]

I was there that night. I remember thinking how strong she was to still have the will and willingness to gift us with her songs, And yet how week and frail she apeared and sounded. It is a bitter sweet treasure to see and hear this recording. Ty 4 posting, and Thank You Ms. Cotten. RIP

[fridrikur]

Why did he have to smoke her in the face. Rude public and crowd. Didn't they realize this was a legend?

[Taylor510ceL9]

This was 1986 smoking was much more common. Nobody even noticed this back in those days.  How far we have come since then!

[fridrikur]

And thank god for that. :) Yes you are right the times have changed.

[CanadianFolkBlues]

@Taylor510ceL9 not very far, sacrificing our personal liberties for "the greater good"

[crazyminti]

this made me cry :) i love this. elizabeth cotton, u will live on in your music. even if you are no longer on this world, a part of you still is.

[teenwhaletail]

It was like angels singing to me from heaven her voice.. Simply heavenly, I would tap that ace..

[fkidder]

this is awesome!

Thanks so much for the share.

She has an incredible history.

[nabimusodarimoskow]

she's the grand old woman

[teddy54BS]

She died at the age of 92, does anyone know the exact date of this video?

For me, this great Lady has written one of the best american folk songs.

[Taylor510ceL9]

As I recall this was Saturday evening August 23, 1986.

[OKittilotO]

@Taylor510ceL9 Holy... August 23 is my sister's birthday and August 24 is my birthday...

[ayayay111]

i don't understand how they could possible think that was good, she was an awful singer

[fkidder]

just wait until your stars become old, punkster.

[7saltesild]

Her voice are not like cotton-:)!!

[funwigfive]

Wonderful! Thanx

[funwigfive]

Wonderful! Thanx

[puptentacle]

Anyone who loves the blues would have to get choked up listening to this. All the pioneers and originals are gone now and we are left only with these few precious video clips to remember them by. I can't thank you enough for posting this, Taylor.

[markinpenna]

She wrote this eighty-one years earlier! I was there, that wet night at the 1986 Philadelphia Folk Festival. It was an honor to hear her. Like history before our eyes. She died the following June.

[arjhendrix]

here wishing you the worst i can think of for now-------->>>>>>>>>----------­----------

HOPE U CAN sing like her when uz a nonagenarian.

BUT with NOT more than a dozen people around you.

BIGG IFFY tho', not my doing.

(me2 in da same boat)...

rootz inc. gotta go back...never get out of these blues alive...JLH.

[arjhendrix]

'dooosara' aur teesra....

(2nd and 3rd....look for '__' in cricket/s,better still,ask the right one)

[arjhendrix]

the above/below was for the critic section....those missing the point and restricting themselves to her being in/out tune.

missi cotten here forever on U2ooB!

[rahneejr]

right on Great Mama Cotten, thank you!

[phranquis]

This woman was a powerhouse of musical and lyrical talent.  The entire world is missing a remarkable artist and innovator.

RIP Libba Cotten.

[coffeescup]

crying

[pourikkou1]

R.I.P Elibabeth Cotten, you'll be sorely missed, i hope shes riding the freight train all the way to heaven without getting off.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLizz­yxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[pordoklani1]

A LEGEND!

[RolnThundr]

wow! this is beautiful! gave me chills.

[schokker64]

Brought tears to my eyes, thank you.

[thepickle4]

shut the fuck up

[phranquis]

Shut it, you jerk.

[unoalice]

as will YOU one day, remember...asshole

[vernats]

what a lady!!

[andreasgrossmann]

a legend

[ZXC5000]

Beautiful, both song and lady, I cried too, thankyou

[redrock505]

yeah makes you cry hey,?

[Labaron26]

Beautiful lady..as I wipe my eyes...May God bless her.

[scully001]

Beautiful video. Thank you so much for sharing.

[pqowieur1]

Her voice may have been failing with age but listening with the heart, I can still hear her singing so young. Forever young.

[rockitmn]

what an absolute treasure!! excuse me while I wipe the tear from my cheek....

[plunka5]

Thanks for sharing this wonderful performance by a legend. She is truly beautiful!

[thompsonlake]

WOW...SO COOL

[moojdrummer1]

thank you so much for posting this wonderful piece of American music history!

[surfsussman]

This is the most wonderful thing I've seen on YouTube. It's miraculous to even see this, and so incredibly generous that you're kind enough to share it. That made me tear up. What a woman and what a song.

Words can't begin to thank you for this.

[billfishoc]

If I am blessed to live as long as Elizabeth Cotton I hope to still be able play my guitar. She is a true classic, the real deal!

Wonderful performance!!!

[delterbluesman]

Elizabeth Cotten i have all of your cds i love them all !!!! and THANKS MIKE SEEGER FOR GETING HER MUSIC OUT THERE ML Blue Baltimore,Maryland RIP

[Kahrooch]

Beautiful. It brings tears to my eyes.

[musikgirl1]

Absolutely beautiful,and a great song too.

J

[moneypenny6]

I was at a Clearwater Revival in 1979 or 80, and she was there, unbeknownst to me..and when she started singing, I just fell apart. Now every time I hear the first few notes, I just start crying. I used to love to sing along, but now I just get too choked up, and can't sing !

[tsarka1888]

thank you for sharing this gem. thank you. She was an angel...

[LeddZeplin]

Was this by any chance the first blues song ever written?

[samuelshepard]

...

[JosephNScott]

"Was this by any chance the first blues song ever written?" It's not a blues song.

[madgeniusmusic]

Probably the most beautiful video I've ever seen

[sands4us]

Made me cry she is so sweet singing and playing. That performance was for her to enjoy her accomplishments in life one last time. Was great when it was suggested everyone sing along.

[jazzyjefferson05]

i love her. so sweet

[eli2lewy]

Many Thanks.

[Westerngitarre]

!!! thx for this, man !!!

[carloslaforce]

makes you weep and moan all night through

[ikansusu]

Wow ! What a nice tribute to the MOTHER of finger picking guitar!! Thank you for sharing.

[hogyndrwg]

Not her best performance, but at 92, just got to admire that so much!

[windowfan]

Thank you very much. Can you date and place this? Know who the guitar accompanist is? Is that Phoebe Snow on the left?

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Taylor510ceL9]

This was the 1986 Philadelphia Folk Festival (August 1986). I am sure that this was her last appearance. The guitar accompaniest is Dana Klip, who lives in New York, and the woman on the left is Elizabeth's grandaughter.

[steve5242]

I hope, if I ever reach that grand ole age that I'll be able to pluck my Gretch like that!

[Taylor510ceL9]

Maybe you will have a Taylor by then!:)

[DustyPigeons]

my heart breaks so beautifully when i see this gentile soul sing

she is strumming those beautiful notes in heaven and in our hearts

[pashalifi]

Amazing! Have to admit that got me tearful too. I'll never tire of hearing her sing this song...

[lappado]

listening to her singing her beautiful beautiful song at age 92 made me, a grown man, weep. it's just so moving.

[hazmattazz]

Unbelievable that she's on film at this age--80 years after she wrote the song. Priceless!!

[Taylor510ceL9]

Thank you for appreciating it.

[nashvillelespaul]

This was my first song to play and Mrs. Cotten is a folk music legend. She is amazing

[rombocop2]

I love this song (much respect to Mrs Cotten) but her voice in this version is absolutely AWFUL!!!

[Taylor510ceL9]

I can understand why you would say that, but when you are 92, I wonder how good your voice will sound. She died shortly after this performance. Elizabeth Cotton is an icon in folk music. I am glad that I got to see her before she died in spite of the deterioration of her voice in her last days. Freight Train was my first fingerpicking tune. When did you learn it?

[dana1952]

I just discoverd these videos.I never thoght to ceckk to see that Libba's videos were on you tube.I had already seen the rainbow quest videos but I wasn,t aware that there was any video of the Philly folk fest.Thanks for sharing that.I was the guy playing the black gibson guitar.those were good days for me and am thankful that libba and her family were kind enough to share part of their lives with me. thank you libba and god bless dana

[lynettekomidar]

go girl

[9dinjees]

That brought tears to my eyes...thanks.

[maak88]

24/1 2007 Hi You-All, Had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth for about ten minutes of private chat down by the riverside behind the Baptist Church in Woodstock Vermont about 1983. She was in for a feminist seminar and evening concert with Mike Seeger. Trucking with a lot more omph at that moment than in this clip, but great archive. We swing a version overhereabout in Sverige. Dave @ Woodpile

[wwwhatsup]

love the tech guy with the cig

[patguitarman]

I got a laugh out of that too

[bostonteabagger71739]

wow!

[carlidomin]

wow, what a legend!

[rontran9]

I adore Elizabeth Cotton.

[yattaran]

Thanks! Please share more of Elizabeth Cotten.

[Taylor510ceL9]

I will see what I can find.