ABBA - Pick a bale of cotton

[DannyBrightman]

My God guys JUST HAVE FUN WITH THIS SONG!!!! ABBA DID THIS SO PEOPLE COULD HAVE FUN AND DANCE TO IT, ABBA IS NOT RACIST JUST BECAUSE THEY RECORDED A SONG THAT WAS MADE BY BLACK PEOPLE... And just to clear out I AM NOT A RACIST PERSON.... LOVE ABBA AND LOVE THE SONG.... Peace...

[SpeegBJ]

Goofy, and I don't mean Disney.

[rocknrosh]

europeans singing black workfield songs... oh popculture you so crazy!!



[reno1uest]

They did bring a certain magic to On Top of Old Smoky.

[ELVIS4221]

WITH THOSE CLOTHES THEY SURE ARE READY TO DO SOME PICKIN.

I HATE TO ADMIT IT HOWEVER, I AM A CLOSET ABBA FAN(HE SAID WHILE IN UTTER EMBARRASSMENT).

THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN SOMETHING SOOTHING AND SWEET ABOUT, "DANCING QUEEN, "FERNANDO", "TAKE A CHANCE ON ME"....ECT....

I CANT BELIEVE I'M REVEALING THIS ABOUT MYSELF. I NEED TO WASH MY

MOUTH OUT WITH SOME INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH .....

PLEASE DONT TELL ANYONE OF MY ABBA REVELATION.

[somesortanaughty]

@ELVIS4221 It will be all over the news next week...thought i could earn a few bucks ;D

[ehchadd]

this song is no more racist than any other modern rock and roll/soul/hip-hop/funk music which has evolved from the black spirituals, work songs and country blues of the american south at the turn of the 20th century. The melody is not a disco-fication of a sad slavery song - listen to the Leadbelly link at the right! - it is a fast-tempo WORK song, which sowed the seeds of today's dance music.

[TheDarthHater]

idk something about white folks singing slave songs seems racist and wrong on so many levels... and the melody makes it even more racist... picking cotton sounds so upbeat... someone whip me please...

[Chilax]

when did abba become slaves?

[bostonteabagger71739]

uhhhhhhg. fuck this shit.

[perimest]

I dont think ABBA are racists but its not correct to make a happy-peppy disco-song out of a sad slavery song, which is about the troublesome work of black slaves in a cotton field.

[Thx1138d]

I do not see the song as sad but it was just trying to make the best of a bad situation

[imaStonesFan]

a note to uneducated folks: a black man wrote this song Pick a bale of cotton now how the hell is it racist? his name was "led-belly" You all need HISTORY Lessons. Even white people from the south picked cotton also.

[MusicIsMySoul1950]

how is ABBA racist they only covered the song since when was covering a song racist the buffaloes also covered the song does that mean their racist aswell

honestly people are a bit silly

[MusicIsMySoul1950]

love all of the songs they are great

[VanoGamkrelidze]

One of the few covers by ABBA, which wasn't even a proper studio album track. Love this!

Some of the comments are ridiculous though. Love ABBA forever!

[defmx04]

Racism.....Up-Tempo-Fun!!!!

[agnetha9]

Awesome images, and love the songs. Superb video on the whole! Thanks!

[mangyfish69]

ABBA sucks!

[MusicIsMySoul1950]

@mangyfish69 if you dont like the band then why comment

[luchinicali]

THIS IS ONLY A LITTLE SHOW ABOUT HOW BIG LEADBELLY WAS,AND HIS LONG AND AMAZING LEGACY.

[sonnierburbaugh]

ummm. gross. ABBA is great. Don't get me wrong. But somehow this seems obscene. Maybe I am a crazy person. 

[ajgolfer1]

WTF

picking cotton is not a fun lets go to the disco club and take some uppers activity

its back breaking work

this is an abortion of blues music

[putocanelas]

my music teacher wants me to play it on drums xD

[money226156]

this song is hilarious! i Love ABBA!!!

[Putingrad]

Best. Country/Blues Band. EVER!!!

[VanoGamkrelidze]

@Putingrad ABBA is not a country/blues band. Never.

[raducha23]

nice work, i dont know some pictures........from family album ? :o)

[Sahbisun]

G'darn it! I can find many versions of none blacks singing this song. But pickin cotton was somethin they didnt have to do too much of. Hmm? Just like the water melon thingy....they sing about it more then blacks, but black are accused of loving water melon. Something is assbackwards and twisted with some folks.

[markeithmm89]

The song with black people are waaay better. Gay version

[DiiLeviiN42]

isch wolll geill

[honkydudeman]

,,,,RIDICOULOUS,,,,

[Crankpaw]

wtf

[AvatarSpyro]

Benny holding a gun to Bjorn's head? Srsly wtf. xD

(Its all in fun...)

[Afghanen]

is this a joke?? leadbelly must be turning in his grave...

[narcolepticviewr]

it is not racist that abba do these songs. however it is painful and the execution is corny and shows no deeper knowledge or respect for the culture that created these songs. what is painful about the song is the other injustices it highlights. reminds me of how pat boone in the 50s would do an atrocious version of every little richard song, and have a way bigger hit. because he was white. there is a racial memory of that pain that you can't facile away.

[petie71]

'Pick a bale of cotton' was taught in schools well into the 70s. It wasn't considered racist at the time (very different times!). I wouldn't be surprised if ABBA didn't really know what they were singing (these songs were chosen for them as a b-side to appeal to the U.S. audience, ironically enough). As for those who don't know who ABBA are, or think they are 'talentless' — erm, do your research. They are one of the most influential pop bands EVER and have sold over 400 million albums.

[cbfall]

WOW! Loulu94! It's CBFALL! Huge fan of ABBA! I've never seen these pictures of ABBA! Thanks for the post and posting cool ABBA music! :)

[AgentCarter]

they brutally assraped both songs

[frenklin]

abba had to rape everything didn't they

[dr23foxbody]

wtf the only guy can sing this song is the man leadbelly what is this crap abba

[nilpointdotcom]

someone send a copy of this song to paul mooney quick!

if only this was around to cheer black slaves in the field.

[apex347]

Hahahaha, this is how white America assumes Black people picked cotton. Dancing joyfully all the way!

[acidarrow]

not racist, just ignorant and talentless.

[TotalOverdoseGuru]

BEST SONG !

SHUT UP ALL YOU HATERS !

[purplestuff]

This is horrible. Seriously, I'm dry heaving!

[darraghtank]

this makes slavery fun !

[iwantwatermellon]

Wow...if I were to put the two most inappropriate things together, it would be ABBA and "Pick A Bale Of Cotton". This is hilarious! Now I'm going to be thinking about this song at times when it calls to be serious. This is odd haha...

[Adriika9]

<333

[dr23foxbody]

WTF?

[MJfanHolland]

Leadbelly is better when he does this song.

[doodahman1970]

Deputy Trudy Wiegel sang this (Pick  a Bale of Cotton) on Reno 911. I had no idea there were so many versions of this song.

[imscuba]

YEA KNEEGROWS! PICK DAT COTTON!

[jamie9000001]

lush

[EliaVettorato]

this song is beautiful! There's no racism!

[squirrelnutcased]

this is so bad. leadbellys was so much better. this takes out all the reality and soul of the song, it just makes it sound fake

[MoarOfTehRawkege]

Wow, I am not in the least bit happy with this, hahaha. Way too white, haha

[inkatrit]

It's not racist it's a tribute to leadbelly's music.

[rfw45]

It's just another testiment to pop/rock artists paying tribute to the blues.

[Nog64]

@rfw45 I believe the proper term is "steal"

[theclassicrockkid95]

Another great song

^_^

[greeneybeaney]

ABBA are not racist and never were, and never meant any harm by this song. Being racist is when you treat people differently. I love ABBA and I think they made a great version of this song!

[marksiwel]

Those Danish Cracker be picking on Black people you dirty jew

[marksiwel]

RACIST!

[averagewhiteguy3790]

@greeneybeaney they are white; therefore, they are racist.

[t3hc4t]

Wildly offensive! Thank you, ABBA!

[mebbmebbmibbmibb]

johnny cash did a version of it too?

and they were both in the past...

donate to the reparations fund if you really feel that bad...

[alex90ny]

makes picking cotton actually seem not so bad... sort of fun, actually!

[marksiwel]

tell that to the slaves, cracka!

[crewlla]

did you even check alex90ny profile. I checked both of you out maybe you should take back some of the crap your saying.

[patrickcorliss]

@alex90ny

Listen to Leadbelly's version. He really had fun with it.

[Izadeparis]

good old songs . great job with the pictures you have choised .

[Loulu94]

Old but not out,hehe.Thanks for the comment.

[claxi13]

Very nice video Louisa!!

[Loulu94]

Thanks a lot !

[roydoncrossing]

A lovely video Louisa-have not heard this one before!

Kind regards Bill