SANG HIS WAY OUT OF ANGOLA THE SAME PLACE WHRE C-MURDER AND DUMB ASS BOSIE-JUST= GOES TO SHOW IF U HAVE TALENT U CAN SING YA WAY OUT OF JAIL --BUT U CAN'T RAP YA WAY OUT OF PRISON
The tone of Lomax is patronising and Leadbelly's responses make me ashamed for the way I imagine he was obliged to speak. He was worth far more than the film allowed to be seen.
Leadbelly is one of my favorite blues musicians of all time and i think everything about his life is incredibly fascinating. I'm glade he never quite his day-job though because the dude sucks at acting hahaha
@ILoveNirvana1000 if u listen close, Lomax says "nigra," a derivation of "negro" not nigger, quite common for the day and wasnt meant to be derogatory. LBJ used the same term
( lol ) Lomax and Leadbelly are hilarious there. They fulfill every stereotype of their respective races to the utmost.
It's good to see this up again. A marvel that a film of the great musician was taken and survives. One can only imagine if such good fortune were granted Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. Quite moving glimpses of America too during the time.
@lifestraight I think they call it a reenactment because of the lighting. The most difficult thing to keep consistent is the lighting of a piece. You switch from one camera to the next and find that it doesn't look the same. Go back and shoot the inconsistent scene with new lighting. The same thing happens when you don't have the same film in each of the cameras. Gets technical.
Shreveport, LA been goin live since the wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy wayyyyyyy wayyyyy back in the day...( by the way this is based on his true life story) (do your research)
Leadbelly was an entertainer: an individual who had the creative drive, work ethic, and skill to intrigue us on many different stages. Acting happened to be something that Leadbelly could've done very convincingly. Imagine if this story were made into full length feature film, starring the "real" Leadbelly? It's an instant classic Ladies and Gents!
GOODNESS This man was huge and will go down as sexy in my book nothing more sexy than a huge black man. Altho i hate the way they have him acting as a slave in this...SAD
@miniraptorX See Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell's excellent 1992 biography The Life and Legend of Leadbelly, (Harper-Collins), which discusses the filming in detail (pp.163-167). The authors also note that the live footage of Leadbelly in the newsreel 'brought a sample of authentic black folk music to an audience of millions'.
message from warrington uk, my hero, i discovered the week after i discovered robert johnson and learnt all about him... terrible acting but what he couldnt do with a 12 string wasnt worth knowing.... spent half my week salary to get his biography to the uk... if id ever get into tattoo's ... him... walt disney... jeff healey and a jar of marmite would be up on my skin lists
@colujomes Yea the Lomax father and son went to the South looking for "authentic american folk music." they thought they hit gold when they found him at a prison in the south because he had been isolated from mainstream culture. turns out when they brought him to nyc to showcase him, he clearly was playing music that wasnt his own, but from a wide array of influences. Authentic american folk music simply doesnt exist.
@Isaac2c "... he wasn't playing music of his own, but from a wide array of influences. Authentic american folk music simply doesn't exist."
By definition, folk music isn't anyone's own.
Folk music is not a collection of museum pieces, its a bunch of songs that folks used to sing and still sing. And change. The SCA song "Old Time Religion" is a perfect example of how folk music is made.
Folk music isn't written, its played and shared, just as Lead Belly shared the songs he had learnt.
Theres a difference between "authentic" vs pure. There is no pure music. Its a mixture of all kinds of things European/Anglo influences songs,ballads like "Gallows Pole" that go back to Medieval England
The bards sure did not play it the way Leadbelly did. "Kisses Sweeter than Wine" was an Irish ballad that Leadbelly heard sung in NYC and syncopated it / Is it "Folk Music" Damn sure it is! Is it Pure? What is pure As in racial purity - No way!
It sadens me deeply to see how badly black people were treated.The bluesmen made rock 'n roll, so talented yet so poor. Sickens me to see now such untalented musicians making so much money and them real musicians lived a poor and hard life. When i listen to the real blues like the likes of leadbelly, robert johnson, big bill etc i can feel the music & the power; it inspires me & changes the way i play guitar completely. Without listening to these guys i dont think my guitar would have a voice.
@fIRsTRATmAN you do know that they wouldn't have made all that great music hadn't they suffered? Their struggle was responsible for the great music. and bluesgurugod: surely they built the infrastructure, but as slaves, not because they wanted to. i think you can't say because black slavery built the country, black people did, cause blacks aren't slaves . those slaves would much rather have been working for themselves. does the underpriviliged black underclass today build railways?
All of this rationalizations simply ignore the main point: African Americans were/are an oppressed people. Look at the situation with our president. There are those, too many, who challange his citizenship, his religion. Its all
"code" for he is the other. I am no fan of Obama but I know he was born in Hawaii and he is Christian And even if he were Muslim, why is that an issue.
The real issue, particular with white southerners, is reparations They are terrified of that discussion
HUDDIE is acting obviously ,and getting paid for it ,he didnt realise that three quarters of a century later ,the world would be watching him ,via the internet and still be speechless at the talent +wisdom +passion that he emits ,,,,thank god for blues men and women as our lives would be empty in this moment of time without them +the determination of those that promoted them +recorded them in such primitive dark times ,,,,,,thanx to you alll ,,,..
I saw NO "buffoonry" in Leadbelly's role or depiction here, considering all things i.e. the Jim Crow south, the times, what was said seemed not unlike many things I've heard said in person. (It was a re-enactment -- no doubt played on screen differently to one or more extents than what was said originally) but despite styles of speech, class, race & cultural differences, and the year.. HL was assertive, determined, got what he wanted, kept his little knife, too, once he said why he ought to have
John Lomax should be ashamed of himself to allow a great talent like Lead Belly to act like a buffoon. Thanks for posting this clip, because It has given me a different perspective of John Lomax.
It is really bizarre hearing people talk like that...so openly racist...I mean of course I've heard about it and seen it in movies, but it's odd hearing it from the actual time period and seeing it being completely accepted.
That was really LeadBelly???? Man, that film was GREAT! Thanks for posting this! It was well done even for back then! He seems like he could have made a find actor for sure! Awesome Awesome Video!!!! More people need to see this stuff!
Seeing this really makes me appreciate how far we have come as a society (although some are still yet to evolve). Leadbelly and others like him had to suffer these indignaties so I wouldn't have to. I feel so sad that they had to do this, but out of this pain came alot of good art that we still enjoy. Could you imagine Jay-Z, Usher, or even Jimi Hendrix having to do this. I think all black artists should see this. Race relations in this country may not be perfect, but we have come a loooong way.
The Spanish poet Lorca said Leadbelly's house in Harlem was the cultural center of America where he and his friends created new art forms every night.
I know I am not suppose to talk about politics but sometimes events and comments just tick me off.
Recently, after the Senate Health Care vote, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina made a comment that the 31% African American population in SC would "bankrupt the state and ruin the economy. Someone needs to remind the good senator who built the economy, the railroads, the levy camps, the harbor in Charleston, the roads, who built them who maintained them?
When you say, Republican which ones are you speaking. the Eisenhower ones who put country ahead of politics who appointed men like Earl Warren to the Supreme Court.; who spoke out against the Military Industrial complex and tax cuts as political gimmicks Those were great admirable men. Not like what we have today . I would love a Dwight D.Eisenhower and the 1956 Republican Platform
The comments at the end of this video putting the good Professor Ledbetter's work on par with the Declaration of Independence & other documents of monumental historical importance is right on the money. Leadbelly remains one of the greatest musical visionaries of all time & an absolute master of the folk rock idiom. He also apparently had a remarkable presence on camera & it would have been amazing to see him pursue a film career. A great 3 song live clip produced by Pete Seeger also survives.
Well, of course. Semantics. Simulated live, if you will. It's a great opportunity to see Leadbelly's dexterity on the guitar, though. He rips through "Pick A Bale Of Cotton" like the virtuoso that he was.
I can't believe this kind of footage is around. What a joy. I wonder what other gems are lying in federal reserves elsewhere? It really is amazing to see such a legend on film. Imagine (sic) if we had no videos of John Lennon? God bless these great bluesmen. They lived hard lives but devoted themselves to their craft without ever receiving financial the financial rewards that some of today's stars take enormously for granted. Leadbelly is a King!
@bluesgurugod your spot on my friend, and they say downloading of the internet is killing music, it may be killing the music industry but at the end when ppl can't make great wads of cash from it anymore we will be left with just music again and at that time all music will be as good as this. If there had never been a music industry I am pretty sure the likes of Lennon and Michael Jackson would still be with us, they would still be rich but not stoopid rich.
The truth is far more interesting, yet this mythologized (and now offensive) version of the Leadbelly-Lomax story is, nonetheless, a rare precious document of America's greatest folksinger. A handful of photos and only a few minutes of film exist, besides the many wonderful songs. See the Smithsonian Last Sessions recordings and the Moses Asch/Alan Lomax, eds., The Leadbelly Songbook.
Actually Lomax and Leadbelly were great friends and lomax "stood by" him in times when it wasn't looked on as an easy thing to do. It was the times! They both received benifit from their friendship....
There is a great book "The Land where the Blues Began" it was written by Lomax's son. It documents the Blues, race segregation and the fact that African Americans were responsible for the development of the South's Economy. African Americans built the railroads, canals, levy banks and roads in most Southern states. Many of these works are still in existence and still useful. and African Americans were never compensated for them.
All very true, same as the Irish building the railroads and inner cities with about the same results back then. Thanks for the explanation..Jleoblues.
This is the kind of information our history books ignore. There is a movement calling for compensation to African American families for the damages of slavery and segregation. I am not sure I agree with that but I believe we need a discussion about the contributions of African Americans to our society. Too many of us believed that we closed the book on race when Barak Obama was elected president. We were wrong
@jleoblues I agree to a point again also. I would certainly be opposed to compensation at this point. I think the native american has had a much more difficult path than most and unfortunately still does to a large degree. All that said, I guess a person that wants to "climb up" has a better chance here than in most places in the world and we as a nation are not as bad as many would have us believe.
I would agree but there have been many instances of injustices. I am very disturbed by these "tea baggers" and anti immigrant rants and calls of "socialism" Every year 40,00+ Americans die from no health insurance (American Journal of Public Health Sept 2009) There is still a level of hatred and intolerance in this country. Not as bad as the attitudes depicted in this newsreel but they are there and need to be confronted.
jesus christ... i don't know how to feel about this. I love Leadbelly and Mr. Lomax did a lot of good for American Folk and Blues... but... jesus christ, I don't know how to feel about this... fuckin America sometimes man...
Wow, this is good stuff! It's eye-opening to see the power relationships depicted here (I hope they were more attributable to the scriptwriter and director than to Lomax and Lead Belly). It makes Guthrie's choice to perform as a duet with Lead Belly a more courageous one than I'd ever considered.
Yes, that is Lead Belly, and he is 'acting', i.e. recreating actual events that took place only a year or two before this was shot. Apparently it's the only film with live sound ever shot of him.
wow that gotta be leadbelly the one and only he should have done movies
23hooey 3 days ago
SANG HIS WAY OUT OF ANGOLA THE SAME PLACE WHRE C-MURDER AND DUMB ASS BOSIE-JUST= GOES TO SHOW IF U HAVE TALENT U CAN SING YA WAY OUT OF JAIL --BUT U CAN'T RAP YA WAY OUT OF PRISON
TheGODOFDEBAUCHERY 1 week ago
The Negros 2day need to act more like Leadbelly..
crayhead 3 weeks ago
Comment removed
zep68cd 1 week ago
The tone of Lomax is patronising and Leadbelly's responses make me ashamed for the way I imagine he was obliged to speak. He was worth far more than the film allowed to be seen.
slepycitron 1 month ago
I've read that Lomax in real life was actually scared shitless of Leadbelly, who really was a genuine badass...
77montana77 1 month ago
This is one of the best songsters I've ever heard. I believe Texas let him go for murder. Damn, no overdubs just good music.
AAtaak 2 months ago
This is why I love folk music... the stories and the history is wonderful
allenshepard 2 months ago
well its pretty self explanatory, has nothing to do with lighting..... its a REENACTMENT
joecain123 2 months ago
Leadbelly is one of my favorite blues musicians of all time and i think everything about his life is incredibly fascinating. I'm glade he never quite his day-job though because the dude sucks at acting hahaha
beLfism 4 months ago
That's an amazing video!
johnnydistortiontrio 4 months ago
" i aint heard so many good nigger songs" damn. i aint ever heard so many good songs from white or black people. RIP leadbelly
ILoveNirvana1000 4 months ago
@ILoveNirvana1000 if u listen close, Lomax says "nigra," a derivation of "negro" not nigger, quite common for the day and wasnt meant to be derogatory. LBJ used the same term
joecain123 2 months ago
( lol ) Lomax and Leadbelly are hilarious there. They fulfill every stereotype of their respective races to the utmost.
It's good to see this up again. A marvel that a film of the great musician was taken and survives. One can only imagine if such good fortune were granted Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. Quite moving glimpses of America too during the time.
ManilaSyndicate 5 months ago
BTW Lead Belly is a bad boy LOL
MrBuk86 6 months ago
I have only seen pictures of this, I never knew it was a video. WONDERFUL THANK YOU.
MrBuk86 6 months ago
if you can't tell that this is actually leadbelly, then you're obviously not a fan
DeltaBluesLivesOn 6 months ago
If that's really Leadbelly why does it say reenactment? I'm guessing the guys are real and the scenario is reenacted?
lifestraight 6 months ago 2
@lifestraight Exactly. The newsreel producers made Leadbelly and Lomax re-enact these moments.
colujomes 6 months ago
@lifestraight I think they call it a reenactment because of the lighting. The most difficult thing to keep consistent is the lighting of a piece. You switch from one camera to the next and find that it doesn't look the same. Go back and shoot the inconsistent scene with new lighting. The same thing happens when you don't have the same film in each of the cameras. Gets technical.
357ism 5 months ago
@357ism umm, they call it a reenactment because no cameras were on hand to film the real event, if it actually even went down this way which i doubt
joecain123 2 months ago
@joecain123 wasn't the newsreel a real event? I thought that's what we were talking about.
357ism 2 months ago
@357ism its a "reenactment" which suggests by its very name that it is a reenactment of an event and not the event itself.........
joecain123 2 months ago
@joecain123 so are telling me that a news event is not an event? What is then?
357ism 2 months ago
It is said that Leadbelly put shoe polish in his hair, to cover up the fact that he as significantly older than Martha! Great video! Ami, Israel
blindbonder 7 months ago
Shreveport, LA been goin live since the wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy wayyyyyyy wayyyyy back in the day...( by the way this is based on his true life story) (do your research)
weezyanasupafly 7 months ago
"We love your nigger music Mr nigger music man!"
"Mmm hmmm yessum boss white man massta, yessum!"
mypalrocco 7 months ago
Thank you sir this was quiet interesting.
GrigoriZhukov 7 months ago
"Just once more Leadbellay" epic southern drawl!!!
IamDottieDandridge 7 months ago
@postatility shutup
IamDottieDandridge 7 months ago
leadbelly was bad to the bone
aaronamccoy 7 months ago
This is NOT Leadbelly! It is Eddie Murphy,with the help of some deliberately stiff,"period piece"acting,and some technically altered film.
postatility 8 months ago
@postatility heh, another meth smoking troll...go back to your playstation little boy.
GrigoriZhukov 7 months ago
NO Lead Belly NO Beatles- I didnt make that up George Harrison did! go to the indiegogo site & look up leadbellyfilm
mherbert 8 months ago 2
@mherbert Does George say that in the film?
lifestraight 6 months ago
Leadbelly was an entertainer: an individual who had the creative drive, work ethic, and skill to intrigue us on many different stages. Acting happened to be something that Leadbelly could've done very convincingly. Imagine if this story were made into full length feature film, starring the "real" Leadbelly? It's an instant classic Ladies and Gents!
RealRockandRoll 8 months ago
GOODNESS This man was huge and will go down as sexy in my book nothing more sexy than a huge black man. Altho i hate the way they have him acting as a slave in this...SAD
IamDottieDandridge 8 months ago
I was always told that Pick a bale of cotten was the only footage of leadbelly, I'm just curious, how do you know that this is actually Leadbelly?
miniraptorX 9 months ago
@miniraptorX See Charles Wolfe and Kip Lornell's excellent 1992 biography The Life and Legend of Leadbelly, (Harper-Collins), which discusses the filming in detail (pp.163-167). The authors also note that the live footage of Leadbelly in the newsreel 'brought a sample of authentic black folk music to an audience of millions'.
colujomes 9 months ago
message from warrington uk, my hero, i discovered the week after i discovered robert johnson and learnt all about him... terrible acting but what he couldnt do with a 12 string wasnt worth knowing.... spent half my week salary to get his biography to the uk... if id ever get into tattoo's ... him... walt disney... jeff healey and a jar of marmite would be up on my skin lists
warringtonditch 11 months ago
wow, cool footage, Leadbelly is an awful actor :D
horbergaren 11 months ago
wow
kidpink 1 year ago
is that leadbelly or an actor it looks and sounds enough like him.
adamtheskunk 1 year ago
@adamtheskunk That's the one and only Leadbelly.
colujomes 1 year ago 6
@colujomes Yea the Lomax father and son went to the South looking for "authentic american folk music." they thought they hit gold when they found him at a prison in the south because he had been isolated from mainstream culture. turns out when they brought him to nyc to showcase him, he clearly was playing music that wasnt his own, but from a wide array of influences. Authentic american folk music simply doesnt exist.
Isaac2c 1 year ago
@Isaac2c "... he wasn't playing music of his own, but from a wide array of influences. Authentic american folk music simply doesn't exist."
By definition, folk music isn't anyone's own.
Folk music is not a collection of museum pieces, its a bunch of songs that folks used to sing and still sing. And change. The SCA song "Old Time Religion" is a perfect example of how folk music is made.
Folk music isn't written, its played and shared, just as Lead Belly shared the songs he had learnt.
mikerickson01 10 months ago
Theres a difference between "authentic" vs pure. There is no pure music. Its a mixture of all kinds of things European/Anglo influences songs,ballads like "Gallows Pole" that go back to Medieval England
The bards sure did not play it the way Leadbelly did. "Kisses Sweeter than Wine" was an Irish ballad that Leadbelly heard sung in NYC and syncopated it / Is it "Folk Music" Damn sure it is! Is it Pure? What is pure As in racial purity - No way!
jleoblues 1 year ago
thank you for sharing this!!!! <3
sambobla 1 year ago
It sadens me deeply to see how badly black people were treated.The bluesmen made rock 'n roll, so talented yet so poor. Sickens me to see now such untalented musicians making so much money and them real musicians lived a poor and hard life. When i listen to the real blues like the likes of leadbelly, robert johnson, big bill etc i can feel the music & the power; it inspires me & changes the way i play guitar completely. Without listening to these guys i dont think my guitar would have a voice.
fIRsTRATmAN 1 year ago
@fIRsTRATmAN you do know that they wouldn't have made all that great music hadn't they suffered? Their struggle was responsible for the great music. and bluesgurugod: surely they built the infrastructure, but as slaves, not because they wanted to. i think you can't say because black slavery built the country, black people did, cause blacks aren't slaves . those slaves would much rather have been working for themselves. does the underpriviliged black underclass today build railways?
nakedtaxidermist 1 year ago
All of this rationalizations simply ignore the main point: African Americans were/are an oppressed people. Look at the situation with our president. There are those, too many, who challange his citizenship, his religion. Its all
"code" for he is the other. I am no fan of Obama but I know he was born in Hawaii and he is Christian And even if he were Muslim, why is that an issue.
The real issue, particular with white southerners, is reparations They are terrified of that discussion
jleoblues 1 year ago
Comment removed
AUSROTTENY2K 1 year ago
@AUSROTTENY2K It's 'Goodnight, Irene', one of Leadbelly's 'good nigra songs' that went on to become a folk and country standard.
colujomes 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Good Night Irene
deliciousmonkeys 10 months ago
I never heard so many good Negro songs. SHIT!... Where you think all the good ones came from?
skyehoyt1971 1 year ago
A rare and interesting film on one of the gifted blues singer of all times
3154fl 1 year ago
They have him speaking and acting like a damn slave.. it's great too footage of a blues legend but it hurts me to see him like that..
JustinMills24GC 1 year ago 11
HUDDIE is acting obviously ,and getting paid for it ,he didnt realise that three quarters of a century later ,the world would be watching him ,via the internet and still be speechless at the talent +wisdom +passion that he emits ,,,,thank god for blues men and women as our lives would be empty in this moment of time without them +the determination of those that promoted them +recorded them in such primitive dark times ,,,,,,thanx to you alll ,,,..
honkydudeman 1 year ago
Comment removed
humanbeing122112 1 year ago
@humanbeing122112 Hollywood will exploit anyone, of any color...
Thirdgen83 1 year ago
I saw NO "buffoonry" in Leadbelly's role or depiction here, considering all things i.e. the Jim Crow south, the times, what was said seemed not unlike many things I've heard said in person. (It was a re-enactment -- no doubt played on screen differently to one or more extents than what was said originally) but despite styles of speech, class, race & cultural differences, and the year.. HL was assertive, determined, got what he wanted, kept his little knife, too, once he said why he ought to have
howlingsandy 1 year ago
John Lomax should be ashamed of himself to allow a great talent like Lead Belly to act like a buffoon. Thanks for posting this clip, because It has given me a different perspective of John Lomax.
frg8888 1 year ago
what agreat find!
leadbones 1 year ago
Was that Lead singing to his wife near the end? x
pe4cefrog 1 year ago
@pe4cefrog Yep, that's Martha.
colujomes 1 year ago
@colujomes I thought so! thank you x
pe4cefrog 1 year ago
If Leadbelly was still around today, he would have fucked that prison guard up.
IronLion27 1 year ago
Ha ha ha, is this where nigga gangsta rap derives from?
DerAnstifter 1 year ago
It is really bizarre hearing people talk like that...so openly racist...I mean of course I've heard about it and seen it in movies, but it's odd hearing it from the actual time period and seeing it being completely accepted.
Leadbelly is a legend
sashavice 1 year ago 2
That was really LeadBelly???? Man, that film was GREAT! Thanks for posting this! It was well done even for back then! He seems like he could have made a find actor for sure! Awesome Awesome Video!!!! More people need to see this stuff!
Krinisty 1 year ago
Thank you, that was wondeful!
clownsandjugglers 1 year ago
ol' Angola-buddy, you want to stay as far away from there as you possibly can
bigjimsteelrod 1 year ago
Can't remember. Found it years ago.
colujomes 1 year ago
where do you get all these footages?
RohamK96 1 year ago
It's true though, someone was trying to cut his head off and that is why he has a big scar on his neck.
bigoldpenguin 2 years ago
LOL, "But it wasn't my fault, a man was trying to cut my head off (smiling)"
AUSROTTENY2K 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@AUSROTTENY2K
It's true though, someone was trying to cut his head off and that is why he has a big scar on his neck.
bigoldpenguin 2 years ago
Seeing this really makes me appreciate how far we have come as a society (although some are still yet to evolve). Leadbelly and others like him had to suffer these indignaties so I wouldn't have to. I feel so sad that they had to do this, but out of this pain came alot of good art that we still enjoy. Could you imagine Jay-Z, Usher, or even Jimi Hendrix having to do this. I think all black artists should see this. Race relations in this country may not be perfect, but we have come a loooong way.
camking88 2 years ago 3
The Spanish poet Lorca said Leadbelly's house in Harlem was the cultural center of America where he and his friends created new art forms every night.
13seven13 2 years ago
Man we have come a long way as a people and a country. I'm with you Donnatella, speechless...
midfi101 2 years ago
Wow wow wow--I am speechless!
Donnatella624 2 years ago
( lol ) The interaction between Leadbelly and Lomax is hilarious.
Love the scenes on the Library of Congress. A quite moving glimpse into the 1930s.
ManilaSyndicate 2 years ago
What a grim time to be black in America. So Us and Them....
oo1ooo1oo 2 years ago
I know I am not suppose to talk about politics but sometimes events and comments just tick me off.
Recently, after the Senate Health Care vote, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina made a comment that the 31% African American population in SC would "bankrupt the state and ruin the economy. Someone needs to remind the good senator who built the economy, the railroads, the levy camps, the harbor in Charleston, the roads, who built them who maintained them?
jleoblues 2 years ago 13
@jleoblues Well, Lindsay graham is a POS. I'm a Republican, and Lindsay Graham is a disgrace...
Thirdgen83 1 year ago
@Thirdgen83
When you say, Republican which ones are you speaking. the Eisenhower ones who put country ahead of politics who appointed men like Earl Warren to the Supreme Court.; who spoke out against the Military Industrial complex and tax cuts as political gimmicks Those were great admirable men. Not like what we have today . I would love a Dwight D.Eisenhower and the 1956 Republican Platform
jleoblues 1 year ago
@jleoblues Amen
tcjj1983 1 year ago
@jleoblues men who have been dead for years?
AgentCarter 1 year ago
@jleoblues
I've driven through South Carolina, the 69% of the white population already bankrupted it.
byebyebirdie2 1 year ago
The comments at the end of this video putting the good Professor Ledbetter's work on par with the Declaration of Independence & other documents of monumental historical importance is right on the money. Leadbelly remains one of the greatest musical visionaries of all time & an absolute master of the folk rock idiom. He also apparently had a remarkable presence on camera & it would have been amazing to see him pursue a film career. A great 3 song live clip produced by Pete Seeger also survives.
MikeBlitzMag 2 years ago
The Pete Seeger film is not live. Leadbelly is miming in that one.
colujomes 2 years ago
Well, of course. Semantics. Simulated live, if you will. It's a great opportunity to see Leadbelly's dexterity on the guitar, though. He rips through "Pick A Bale Of Cotton" like the virtuoso that he was.
MikeBlitzMag 2 years ago
@colujomes you men dubbing?
DerAnstifter 1 year ago
@MikeBlitzMag However, I ind it rather funny that they call him NIGGA in such a natural manner. Ha ha ha.
DerAnstifter 1 year ago
God damn I love Youtube!!
I can't believe this kind of footage is around. What a joy. I wonder what other gems are lying in federal reserves elsewhere? It really is amazing to see such a legend on film. Imagine (sic) if we had no videos of John Lennon? God bless these great bluesmen. They lived hard lives but devoted themselves to their craft without ever receiving financial the financial rewards that some of today's stars take enormously for granted. Leadbelly is a King!
bluesgurugod 2 years ago 17
@bluesgurugod your spot on my friend, and they say downloading of the internet is killing music, it may be killing the music industry but at the end when ppl can't make great wads of cash from it anymore we will be left with just music again and at that time all music will be as good as this. If there had never been a music industry I am pretty sure the likes of Lennon and Michael Jackson would still be with us, they would still be rich but not stoopid rich.
yakacm 1 year ago
The truth is far more interesting, yet this mythologized (and now offensive) version of the Leadbelly-Lomax story is, nonetheless, a rare precious document of America's greatest folksinger. A handful of photos and only a few minutes of film exist, besides the many wonderful songs. See the Smithsonian Last Sessions recordings and the Moses Asch/Alan Lomax, eds., The Leadbelly Songbook.
emartinpedersen 2 years ago
I sure ain't offended by it, it was just the reality of the times.
birdstuckinchimney 2 years ago
I never heard so many good niggra songs. WTF?
jesse4630 2 years ago
thank you man
nicorefe 2 years ago
"just once more leadbellay"
haha, this is awesome.
captainpungent 2 years ago
Actually Lomax and Leadbelly were great friends and lomax "stood by" him in times when it wasn't looked on as an easy thing to do. It was the times! They both received benifit from their friendship....
trlstaff 2 years ago
Lomax was a paternalistic racist.
1ivingHe11 2 years ago
There is a great book "The Land where the Blues Began" it was written by Lomax's son. It documents the Blues, race segregation and the fact that African Americans were responsible for the development of the South's Economy. African Americans built the railroads, canals, levy banks and roads in most Southern states. Many of these works are still in existence and still useful. and African Americans were never compensated for them.
jleoblues 2 years ago
All very true, same as the Irish building the railroads and inner cities with about the same results back then. Thanks for the explanation..Jleoblues.
trlstaff 2 years ago
This is the kind of information our history books ignore. There is a movement calling for compensation to African American families for the damages of slavery and segregation. I am not sure I agree with that but I believe we need a discussion about the contributions of African Americans to our society. Too many of us believed that we closed the book on race when Barak Obama was elected president. We were wrong
jleoblues 2 years ago
@jleoblues I agree to a point again also. I would certainly be opposed to compensation at this point. I think the native american has had a much more difficult path than most and unfortunately still does to a large degree. All that said, I guess a person that wants to "climb up" has a better chance here than in most places in the world and we as a nation are not as bad as many would have us believe.
trlstaff 2 years ago
I would agree but there have been many instances of injustices. I am very disturbed by these "tea baggers" and anti immigrant rants and calls of "socialism" Every year 40,00+ Americans die from no health insurance (American Journal of Public Health Sept 2009) There is still a level of hatred and intolerance in this country. Not as bad as the attitudes depicted in this newsreel but they are there and need to be confronted.
jleoblues 2 years ago
You can't stress enough how good that book is. Fuckin best read I ever had!
pedro3005 2 years ago
that was an actor playing lead belly was it not ?
parosite 2 years ago
No, that's Leadbelly himself.
colujomes 2 years ago
yassa boss
luoseno 2 years ago
Leadbelly's wife, Martha at 2:55
ccrdk 2 years ago
@ccrdk She's pretty
sashavice 1 year ago
"WOW..."
awmayne101 2 years ago
jesus christ... i don't know how to feel about this. I love Leadbelly and Mr. Lomax did a lot of good for American Folk and Blues... but... jesus christ, I don't know how to feel about this... fuckin America sometimes man...
PDXorcist 2 years ago 3
I hear ya man. I had the exact same reaction. I guess it was just a sign of the times.
n1n9tean 2 years ago
exploitative
PMishkin 2 years ago
Wow, this is good stuff! It's eye-opening to see the power relationships depicted here (I hope they were more attributable to the scriptwriter and director than to Lomax and Lead Belly). It makes Guthrie's choice to perform as a duet with Lead Belly a more courageous one than I'd ever considered.
dalehgeist 2 years ago
I suppose it was only fair that he got out of prison for singing a song. I know lots of people that should have been put in for doing the same thing.
357ism 2 years ago 2
I wish there was more film of lead belly other than this one and "three by leadbelly"
bugsycline 2 years ago
@bugsycline There are a few other videos of him, try searching (huddie) leadbetter or search by his song names
sashavice 1 year ago
@sashavice *ledbetter
sashavice 1 year ago
I read in the "Where Did you sleep Last Night" cd, that he wanted to go into acting, but he stuck with music
adubon 2 years ago
Why was he called Lead Belly? Was it something to do with lead or his belly?
357ism 2 years ago
There's a couple of stories about it, one was that he was shot in the stomach with buck shot
muzzaone1 2 years ago
I could sell you this great biography by Wolfe & Lornell if you really want the answer. Yours for one hundred of your English pounds.
colujomes 2 years ago
357ism, it's just a play on words with his name. Huddie Leadbetter.
Verfemdung 2 years ago
It was a prison thing.. All prisoners had nicknames and he was a hard ass, he worked hard and didnt take any shit..
Mully26 2 years ago
is lead belly acting in this?
cradonium 2 years ago
Yes, that is Lead Belly, and he is 'acting', i.e. recreating actual events that took place only a year or two before this was shot. Apparently it's the only film with live sound ever shot of him.
colujomes 2 years ago
This is not Alan Lomax. It's his father John Lomax (1:30). Alan Lomax was too young back then....
heyheymymy78 2 years ago
Of course you are right. I've corrected my silly mistake.
colujomes 2 years ago
thanks for posting this. amazing footage.
Margotbear 3 years ago