Leadbelly was the OG..dude killed folk and just released number 1 hits in order to get pardoned now thats gangsta fuck you lil wayne..and plus how many of his songs are used by others..Black Betty, Pick a Bale of Cotton, Mignight Special, House of the Rising Sun and the list goes on..
It is supposed to be a whip for slaves that was nicknamed "black betty" according to Wikpedia. I thought is was about a black lady but it seems not to be so this time...well. well
@ScotsmanRex if you listen to the sound - you will hear a kind of "whip" sound...listen to the way it is sung, you can almost feel the pain as the whip goes down your spine.
@apugarcia Lead Belly mixes up the lyrics, he doesn't remember the song - again, I'm a big Lead Belly fan, I researched where he got it from. The oldest recorded version is by James "Iron Head" Baker
That version is a lot better, backing vocals and lyrics that do make sense. I bet Huddie heard it in prison and added it to his repertoir to impress Lomax.
I was unaware that Irene, Goodnight dated back that far. The first version I heard was done as a rock and roll number (1?!) back in 1960 or '61. I heard it again on Leadbelly's Last Sessions when I got the records back in 1965. I think I got mthe impression from them that he'd written it. Come to think of it now, the notes stated that the ARRANGEMENT was his.
People should pay more attention to Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson and others from that period. Has anyone heard the song Irene? Is anyone aware that Leadbelly wrote it? He also sang House of the Rising Sun (I think maybe it was his arangement of it, too) long before The Animals recorded it. The "slap" in Black Betty is leadbelly clapping his hands.
@bruce8420 He did write Rising Sun (or he 'collected' it. Sometimes hard to tell with Leadbelly). But the arrangement is Dave Van Ronk's, taken from him by Dylan, then taken from Dylan by the Animals.
@bruce8420 If the "Irene" you're referring to is "Goodnight Irene" then you are incorrect about Lead Belly's authorship. The song can be traced back to the 1880s. As with many of his recordings, Lead Belly called upon his extensive library of songs and put them to his own arrangement
I participate in a music appreciation club at my school and we went through the history of this song quite a bit and I was the only person in the club who knew it wasn't ram jams song aside from the teachers
@Screamosinger100 Me too, and there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes remakes are better, and sometimes not. Ray Charles did remakes, and his versions are better.
we found love on single muslims dating site ( ADVERT WHILE LISTINING TO THIS FINE TUNE ) ohh my god i nearly shit my self. im listining to black betty and young single muslims are looking for poontag QUALITY the world is going to ok lol PS DO YOU THINK THE CLAP IS HIM SLAPPING BETTIES ASS WOOOHOOO
John and Alan Lomax recorded this trad. song first time in 1933, performed by James Baker a.k.a. Iron Head. The following year was Led Belly's shift, recorders were father and son Lomax again. At the recording time the both performers were convicts, Lead Belly 'coz he had eaten aluminum instead of led and Baker because he had used a pseudonym Rusty Iron Butt... Wikipedia knows..
@johnnyghee ....what the hell you mean our culture.? who in the fuck do you and your people think you are. That's what I thought. Thieves, Liars, Rapist and the list goes on.
@zipperell Hey little minded man...don't you get so high and mighty. Mistakes were made in the past...including the SALE of slaves by black Africans...... Music however is universal.... House of the Rising Sun, St Jame's Infirmary, Careless love and many others have their roots In England...some as far back as the 1500s.... Cool down and be appreciative of the music.
thanks for the background about this song...had no clue that the song was originally done by Huddie William Ledbetter. Luv his singing voice...and no, there's not many that can play that many instruments. Sounds like you've done your research thoroughly....where did you get your info from,so that those of us that might be interested in his history (and the history of others of that time and generation) can also read-up on this period in American history.
@friendlyisle it really depends on how you count it. Its in 4/4. If you count his rhythm as quarter notes then its on the second beat every other measure. If you count his singing as eighth notes then on the and of three every measure. and im white too. stop promoting stereotypes :D
it could've been about a whip, a 17th-18th century musket, a woman, a pentitentary wagon. Buts its very debatable. clearly one of those songs thats meaning has changed over time. but no one is really "wrong" about what it means
.. ya'll are jealous, you got 4-5 people, the newest mesa boogie amp and a cry baby wah pedal, and a sweet new DW kit, and a stingray. and your sitting in your garage playin for zip.. this guy on the other hand dont have squat.. look whos the legend...
To me this doesn't sound at all like a Blues.... yes it's Black/African American and sounds like a work song It has a rhythm and the clapping imposes a beat. Listen to it again and close your eyes . Imagine using a hoe in a field or perhaps a hammer in a forge(dubious).
The great thing about Leadbelly for me is the way he links the late 19th and the 20th centuries... many of his songs will have come from his early days (true folk songs) while many later were influenced by other trends.
@tubemagpie this is what the original blues was, if it doesn't sound like the blues to you, you need to open your ears, get some real delta music and learn. It is a version of call and response. I suppose you could call it folk music, but to say it isn't the blues, just means to me you have a very narrow idea of what the blues should be, and if you have studied the blues at all, its evident there are several types of blues music, not just 1-4-5 Stevie Ray or B.B. King (two of the best).
@jcvitte1 First an apology..i was distracted and accidentally voted your comment down:
Having spent the best part of the last 50 years studying Blues and Folk Music I do know what I'm talking about.
Leadbelly was picked up by the Lomaxes as a Folk Singer (extraordinary) and was their driver for some time.
He described himself as a Folk singer and differentiated between different genres that he sang. (BTW I had the pleasure to meet Alan Lomax many years ago).
@jcvitte1 Part 2: You should check up on the history of this song: First recorded by Lomaxes back in 1933. Sung by a chap called Baker and a group. It is noted in the Library of Congress as a worksong and when Leadbelly recorded it he did so with at least two others this is his first commercial recording of it.Please do not seek to lecture me on the subject,I have forgotten more about it than most people ever knew and I know a few people who know more than I ever did,all older than me.
@jcvitte1 Part 3 You should understand that "The Blues" developed out of music such as worksongs, field hollers and chants. There was also an influence from European music. The term Blue meaning sadness goes back to Elizabethan times.
Interesting to note that you refer me to delta music that is just one form of Blues music from one small part of the country. Go to Texas or the Appalachians.
Vaughan is a mere copy of King , Hooker and other electric blues artists...
@jcvitte1 Part 4..One thing I think we can all agree on is that we enjoy the music which is what matters:
I always live in hopes that some where there is a forgotten cylinder recording of some blues singer from the earliest days of recording...Tommy Johnson was supposedly the earliest (or near it) blues recording artist but I always think there is a touch too much "Country" influence from Jimmie Rodgers....
@t:Tommy Johnson's music had a Rodgers influence? 1/Tho a few years younger, Johnson began his pro music career years before Rodgers. Perhaps influence went the other way. 2/The only track I've heard that strikes me as country is a previously unknown, recently discovered,'lost' recording. 3/Artists like Tommy (& Robert) Johnson, had white producers who decided what tunes should/shouldn't be recorded. Many so-called 'blues' artists were in fact much more eclectic than we'll ever know.
Didn't know this existed. I thought it was ram jam ( not really but it was the only version i heard until now) and was always curious why they made a song about a black woman. This is so cool, its like rust on an antique or the smell of a box that hasn't been opened for a hundred years.
January 1736, Benjamin Franklin publishes "The Drinker's Dictionary" in the Pennsylvania Gazette offering 228 round-about phrases for being drunk. One of those phrases is "He's kiss'd black Betty."
@DudeXMyster There realy isn't an "original" writer of this song. Most of the ones Leadbelly sang are old folk songs. It would kinda be like trying to figure out who wrote twinkle twinkle little star. Although there are a lot of songs that he recorded before anyone else. House of the Rising Sun, Black Betty, Midnight speical......ect.
haha get off the internet and go outside.. or stop talking shit about other peoples music and see if you can make your own.. then post it.. so we can talk shit about you.. but foremost.. GO OUTSIDE!!!!!!
Mr Ledbetter paid his ''debt to society''. I love his music. It speaks of an old time when happiness was found in simple things. I also enjoy his unusual synchopation. Like so many in the South, music or cadence seems inborn. whether it manifests itself in literature, music or the canvas, it emanates from the haunting & haunted Southern bond to the land itself. ok, I love RanJams version as well
Huddie Ledbetter, along with being a groundbreaking singer-guitar player, was also a bona-fide genuine homicidal knife wielding nigger. God Bless America.
I like how 75% of the comments are about metal, despite the fact that the contents of this video have nothing to do with metal. Lrn 2 relevant comments
.....Led Zepellin was third generation white boy blues morphed into the late 60's early 70's rock genre by overdriven guitar, etc. ... Jimmy Page has humbly given credit to all his influences many, many times over the past 4 decades.....including Leadbelly.....
Been reading some of the comments (Oh GAWD there are morons...) You have to remember, some of these tunes were sung in cotton fields and WITHOUT a band accompaniment. Some of these were "call and response" cadences and are the BASIS of Blues and Jazz and later Rock, Country, Bluegrass. They didn't subscribe to ridged time/ bar/ measure, sometimes these "spirituals" meandered and spun tales of woe and frustration. This is beautiful and it's poetic.
WHY DO PEOPLE TALK ABOUT METAL ON ONE OF THE BEST GENRES OF MUSIC? Who cares about Metal when listening to this? Who cares about rhythm and time? Or even the fact there's no actual instrument being played. Music like this is made with soul, not the musician's talent. Please SOMEONE agree that Metal shouldn't have even been brought up..
He claps in between the 3 and 4 count....precisely in between.... that means he IS on beat and for those of you that can't hear that, don't have natural rhythm beyond a standard 1&3 beat.
Huddie William Ledbetter was born in 1888 and died in 1949 so the best sound recordings of him might be when he was an elderly man. He could play the 12 string, mandolin, piano, harmonica, violin, concertina, and accordian. Can you do that? He was unjustly put in prison and worked on a chain gang that would have killed the likes of you on the first day of work.
He wrote songs about cowboys, prison, work, Adolf Hitler, dancing, sailing, liquor, blues, women and racism. Do that!
@DadBlameIt ... i realize that. he was key early figure in blues and folk music. I'm not putting him down, you misunderstood my point. usually the old blues guys had rough and tumble baritone's to go along w/ their touch looks (something leadbelly certainly had)... it was just sorta of odd to hear somone w/ a more higher sounding voice. I probaly should not have used the word feminine b/c he doesnt sound like a woman per say... more gospel influenced perhaps.
I'm a big time blues fan from way back, so I'm probably being sarcastic when I say that one stanza wonder Ram Jam is more bluesy than one of the pioneers of the blues
I thought the song was about the Civil War rifles that the Buffalo soldiers used, and the "bamba 'lam" was the sound of the rifles firing off. Hence the "jump steady, Black Betty" being the recoil of the rifle. The whip and the drop of the pick makes sense, too.
There is a time signature here, actually: 8/8. Leadbelly claps his hand on the sixth beat, leaving out only one clap ("Jump steady, Black Betty") to enter the verse. The song is an old Afro-American work/slave-song, the topic being the whip in the supervisor's hands (nicknamed Black Betty). The lead singer sang the verses while the rest of the group joined in at the chorus. The clap signifies the fall of the pick, hammer or shovel that the group was using so that the work would proceed in unison
@N0band It goes back way before that. It was a marching cadence in the American Revolution. It was about a painted "Brown Bess" rifle. Alternate before that Ben Franklin used it as a drinking reference, "He had kissed Black Betty" The whip reference was hearsay at best. Full points for trying to make a great song a slavery commentary though.
LMAOOO relax people .y'all(white folks) have been stealing from NEGROES all there lives,, this version is actually better since it means something in my opinion fuck that ram jam shit lmaoooo
White people always wanna fuss over what's not theirs just STFU lmaoooo
@RocketQueenMS any one with half a brain would know that idiots only learn there idiots if someone points its out to them from time to time( hence why there idiots they cant recognize foolish behavior even when its there own.). I was just giving them some real facts instead of what ever bull shit they bulled outta there ass
wow i think its really ignorant that people think this sucks, first of all led belly is awesome and many forms of music would not have been able to have been formed with out his influence. Also you cant compare one genre of music to the next especially if they are from different times periods. With the different mentalities ideologies and musical developments of the time of course this version sounds simple and uninteresting to us, more complicated musical styling either hadn't been invented
Leadbelly was the OG..dude killed folk and just released number 1 hits in order to get pardoned now thats gangsta fuck you lil wayne..and plus how many of his songs are used by others..Black Betty, Pick a Bale of Cotton, Mignight Special, House of the Rising Sun and the list goes on..
sideshowbobmarley 1 week ago 2
Comment removed
MeYouView 2 weeks ago
It is supposed to be a whip for slaves that was nicknamed "black betty" according to Wikpedia. I thought is was about a black lady but it seems not to be so this time...well. well
killerdillr 2 weeks ago 2
@killerdillr WOW did not know wow just sad what America was!
ScotsmanRex 1 week ago
@ScotsmanRex if you listen to the sound - you will hear a kind of "whip" sound...listen to the way it is sung, you can almost feel the pain as the whip goes down your spine.
killerdillr 1 week ago
@killerdillr yeah just sad!
ScotsmanRex 1 week ago
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@killerdillr WOW did not know wow just sad what America was!
ScotsmanRex 1 week ago
Kinda strange because I'm used to the Ram Jam version
HammerNHook 2 weeks ago
I knew this song from Ram Jam. I never understood why the teacher never allowed me to sing it in school.
Martijn26121972 3 weeks ago
I bet he sung this when he was fucking women
Technobanana 3 weeks ago
SLAP THAT BIATCH NIGGA
hipsterthanyou 3 weeks ago
Wow cool to hear the original version !
musicforumcomau 3 weeks ago
sounds like he's saying black titty
lovemusicmzipse 4 weeks ago
@lovemusicmzipse
No it doesn't ... Get your ears cleaned out dude.
BiosRouter 3 weeks ago
@lovemusicmzipse Not really.
JuniixForever 2 weeks ago
Great o g version
stephenroehrs 1 month ago
nirvana introduced me to leadbelly and ive been in love with his music ever since
138hyde 1 month ago 23
@138hyde
leadbelly introduced me to nirvana.
InanancuxI 2 weeks ago 3
@138hyde i so respect kurt for giving credit where credit was due. the whole grunge was baste on an evoloved version of blues. love for blues!
joshp6585 2 weeks ago
He sang his self out of (not jail) Prison... Twice!
tonycriss100 1 month ago 3
That's a lot of slaps to the ass.
TheBeefyWizard35 1 month ago
Just imagine that the clapping sound is him turkey slapping black Betty
MrSmithdogg98 1 month ago 6
@MrSmithdogg98 oh great, now I can't get that thought out of my hand : (
MynZnusz 1 month ago
I love Leadbelly, but the original version (or at least oldest recording) is better.
MacBratt 1 month ago
@MacBratt Lead Belly died in 1949, what version are you talking about?
apugarcia 1 month ago
@apugarcia Lead Belly mixes up the lyrics, he doesn't remember the song - again, I'm a big Lead Belly fan, I researched where he got it from. The oldest recorded version is by James "Iron Head" Baker
That version is a lot better, backing vocals and lyrics that do make sense. I bet Huddie heard it in prison and added it to his repertoir to impress Lomax.
MacBratt 1 month ago
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it sounds like he's spanking Bettys ass while he sings
bossynav 1 month ago
I was unaware that Irene, Goodnight dated back that far. The first version I heard was done as a rock and roll number (1?!) back in 1960 or '61. I heard it again on Leadbelly's Last Sessions when I got the records back in 1965. I think I got mthe impression from them that he'd written it. Come to think of it now, the notes stated that the ARRANGEMENT was his.
bruce8420 1 month ago
Great x
liquidfxx 1 month ago
spiderbait does it better .
xxxEMINENTxxx 1 month ago
OHHH LEADBELLY, BEMBELAM OHHHH LEADBELLY BEMBALAM LEADBELLY LEADBELLY BEMBALAM
IGBB 1 month ago
Raw Root Soul
CreeMetis 1 month ago
home of the blues! Fuck yeah!
Bram25 1 month ago
People should pay more attention to Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson and others from that period. Has anyone heard the song Irene? Is anyone aware that Leadbelly wrote it? He also sang House of the Rising Sun (I think maybe it was his arangement of it, too) long before The Animals recorded it. The "slap" in Black Betty is leadbelly clapping his hands.
bruce8420 2 months ago
@bruce8420 He did write Rising Sun (or he 'collected' it. Sometimes hard to tell with Leadbelly). But the arrangement is Dave Van Ronk's, taken from him by Dylan, then taken from Dylan by the Animals.
RCPRussell 2 months ago
@bruce8420 If the "Irene" you're referring to is "Goodnight Irene" then you are incorrect about Lead Belly's authorship. The song can be traced back to the 1880s. As with many of his recordings, Lead Belly called upon his extensive library of songs and put them to his own arrangement
MNWreckingCrew 1 month ago
anyone else disgusted by the fact that this version is here and that version from the 1939 version on record has no sound?
louiesjeep 2 months ago
@louiesjeep I haven't seen it, but if it has no sound it's because of copyright issues.
Daintytwinkletoes 1 month ago
I honestly prefer this to ram jams remake of it
I participate in a music appreciation club at my school and we went through the history of this song quite a bit and I was the only person in the club who knew it wasn't ram jams song aside from the teachers
Screamosinger100 2 months ago
@Screamosinger100 Me too, and there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes remakes are better, and sometimes not. Ray Charles did remakes, and his versions are better.
Daintytwinkletoes 1 month ago
Greatness is timeless.
TheLysurgeon 2 months ago
wonderful and raw.
keithdra 2 months ago
turn around Black Betty "slap"
gottogotothebathroo1 2 months ago
I didnt know that Morgan Freeman is musican
TennaciousD94 2 months ago
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@TennaciousD94
I know that you are not funny.
zzrokk 2 months ago
@TennaciousD94 fuck you
CubsSuck05 2 months ago
Thank you for the history lesson.
bigkahuna1050 2 months ago
This is the original?
Pivotman1 2 months ago
@Pivotman1 Yes it is.
TheMasterMigel 2 months ago
@jollyross thats so damn funny LOL
jackjolli 2 months ago
new is old, old is new.
filiochtcares 2 months ago 3
this is ragtime this is the music, theres no beat thats gonna drop
some1schannel 2 months ago
i was honestly waiting for a beat to drop or something. fuck my life.
jaypee242 2 months ago 4
@jaypee242 ikr!! wtf
TheMuzikTrail 2 months ago
THE ORIGINAL & THE BEST. EASILY. by the SUPREME MR LEADBELLY.
schopenhaur100 2 months ago 3
THE ORIGINAL & BEST EASILY, by the SUPREME LEADBELLY.
schopenhaur100 2 months ago
My parents came up to my room and thought I was watching porn
Gaybitchnigga 2 months ago 68
@Gaybitchnigga that,s funny
gtibanez7 1 month ago
Wow, this isn't on my "best of Leadbelly" CD, I wonder why. Sing it, Huddie!!
casestudyification 2 months ago
Love this!
myjayhead 2 months ago
Black Betty is a whip.... Wow didn't see notice that until after i listened to it for a while.
senecavalley2010 2 months ago 3
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we found love on single muslims dating site ( ADVERT WHILE LISTINING TO THIS FINE TUNE ) ohh my god i nearly shit my self. im listining to black betty and young single muslims are looking for poontag QUALITY the world is going to ok lol PS DO YOU THINK THE CLAP IS HIM SLAPPING BETTIES ASS WOOOHOOO
deewilki 2 months ago
HOT ASS BEAT CLAP
CANOFSPAM9 2 months ago
@CANOFSPAM9 Hahaha OF
Kennard313 2 months ago
Amberlamps!
Metallica1071991 3 months ago 3
@Metallica1071991
Niiiiiice
TexTheMerciless 2 months ago
@TexTheMerciless Glad someone got it.
Metallica1071991 2 months ago
@Metallica1071991 LMAO...
MrMrjonesandme 2 months ago
this is where it all happened
omgitsthatdude32 3 months ago
Thumbs up if spiderbait brought you here...
J3067 3 months ago 3
@J3067 Ram Jam brought me here... that's my favoritee version by far.
advacoRRR 2 months ago
@EvansvilleLT, LOL Hilarious.
StoneMKE 3 months ago
Gives me chills. He doesn't even need much accompaniment! Sweet, dark voice goes down like honey and hits like fine whiskey.
ladymesc1 3 months ago
man sang his way outa jail. 100% talent
justinejh 3 months ago 28
@justinejh sang his way out of prison for murder..... twice... 100% class
g0d0fr0kk 3 weeks ago
pardoned twice from a prison sentence for murder, for playing the governor a song. ain't to many modern musicians can say such.
streetcornerjames 3 months ago
He needs a Bambalance!
RomeoAloneo 3 months ago 5
did he make this song?
tdyyy1613 3 months ago
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tdyyy1613 3 months ago
John and Alan Lomax recorded this trad. song first time in 1933, performed by James Baker a.k.a. Iron Head. The following year was Led Belly's shift, recorders were father and son Lomax again. At the recording time the both performers were convicts, Lead Belly 'coz he had eaten aluminum instead of led and Baker because he had used a pseudonym Rusty Iron Butt... Wikipedia knows..
OttovonEarth 3 months ago
this is the coolest. i love the american culture and the influence of black people on our culture.
johnnyghee 3 months ago 4
@johnnyghee ....what the hell you mean our culture.? who in the fuck do you and your people think you are. That's what I thought. Thieves, Liars, Rapist and the list goes on.
zipperell 3 months ago
@zipperell Hey little minded man...don't you get so high and mighty. Mistakes were made in the past...including the SALE of slaves by black Africans...... Music however is universal.... House of the Rising Sun, St Jame's Infirmary, Careless love and many others have their roots In England...some as far back as the 1500s.... Cool down and be appreciative of the music.
tubemagpie 1 month ago
ooh! blackberry
MrJuanpox 3 months ago 5
thanks for the background about this song...had no clue that the song was originally done by Huddie William Ledbetter. Luv his singing voice...and no, there's not many that can play that many instruments. Sounds like you've done your research thoroughly....where did you get your info from,so that those of us that might be interested in his history (and the history of others of that time and generation) can also read-up on this period in American history.
snowy16100 3 months ago
i like the part where he talks about black betty
EvansvilleLT 3 months ago 167
@EvansvilleLT I hate the part where you're unoriginal and stupid.
Okamifanj 3 months ago
it sounds like he's spanking Bettys ass while he sings
jollyross 3 months ago 205
@jollyross SHIT DIDNT SEE THIS I THINK SO SLAP
deewilki 2 months ago
@jollyross He is!
sakichirox 2 months ago
@jollyross it,s my turn next
J3067 2 months ago
@jollyross He is. It was one of his favourite instruments.
SweetZombiJesus 2 months ago in playlist music 2
@jollyross something about ur comment makes me want to be Betty and makes me look at u like a really bad boy... Ready for ur spanking?
IamDottieDandridge 1 month ago
6/8 time??? Thank you - I was having a really hard time keeping the bveat with the hand clap. I'm white - ha, ha. . .
friendlyisle 3 months ago 2
@friendlyisle it's 4/4. he's clapping on the 2nd beat of every second measure.
cheesesteak93 3 months ago 2
@cheesesteak93 Thanks cheesesteak93 - Now I get it!
friendlyisle 3 months ago
@cheesesteak93 unless you consider his singing as eighth notes. then its on the and of three every measure :D
duztin5391 3 months ago
@friendlyisle it really depends on how you count it. Its in 4/4. If you count his rhythm as quarter notes then its on the second beat every other measure. If you count his singing as eighth notes then on the and of three every measure. and im white too. stop promoting stereotypes :D
duztin5391 3 months ago
it could've been about a whip, a 17th-18th century musket, a woman, a pentitentary wagon. Buts its very debatable. clearly one of those songs thats meaning has changed over time. but no one is really "wrong" about what it means
shedevil92 4 months ago
un éxito blanco lo precede una rola de una persona de color!!!!!
abueloX3 4 months ago
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this is the best music there is! if you love raw blues you might like Rat Stomp :)
youtube.com/user/ratstompmusic
Our song Reckless Woman and Searching the Forest have a Delta blues style with slide guitar and fingerpicking
ratstompmusic 4 months ago
@tubemagpie You tell 'em!!!!
aspenrebel 4 months ago
once again the original is so much better than the remakes.
thanks for posting this.
MrKirkenstein 4 months ago 4
This is the origin of the blues......Y'all
.
Freakinfamousfrankie 4 months ago
.. ya'll are jealous, you got 4-5 people, the newest mesa boogie amp and a cry baby wah pedal, and a sweet new DW kit, and a stingray. and your sitting in your garage playin for zip.. this guy on the other hand dont have squat.. look whos the legend...
tdstudd1996 4 months ago
when was this recorded?
donnyponcho1 4 months ago
To me this doesn't sound at all like a Blues.... yes it's Black/African American and sounds like a work song It has a rhythm and the clapping imposes a beat. Listen to it again and close your eyes . Imagine using a hoe in a field or perhaps a hammer in a forge(dubious).
The great thing about Leadbelly for me is the way he links the late 19th and the 20th centuries... many of his songs will have come from his early days (true folk songs) while many later were influenced by other trends.
tubemagpie 4 months ago
Just heard a version by someone called Sheryl Crow.....cough splutter!
tubemagpie 4 months ago
@tubemagpie this is what the original blues was, if it doesn't sound like the blues to you, you need to open your ears, get some real delta music and learn. It is a version of call and response. I suppose you could call it folk music, but to say it isn't the blues, just means to me you have a very narrow idea of what the blues should be, and if you have studied the blues at all, its evident there are several types of blues music, not just 1-4-5 Stevie Ray or B.B. King (two of the best).
jcvitte1 4 months ago
@jcvitte1 First an apology..i was distracted and accidentally voted your comment down:
Having spent the best part of the last 50 years studying Blues and Folk Music I do know what I'm talking about.
Leadbelly was picked up by the Lomaxes as a Folk Singer (extraordinary) and was their driver for some time.
He described himself as a Folk singer and differentiated between different genres that he sang. (BTW I had the pleasure to meet Alan Lomax many years ago).
tubemagpie 4 months ago
@jcvitte1 Part 2: You should check up on the history of this song: First recorded by Lomaxes back in 1933. Sung by a chap called Baker and a group. It is noted in the Library of Congress as a worksong and when Leadbelly recorded it he did so with at least two others this is his first commercial recording of it.Please do not seek to lecture me on the subject,I have forgotten more about it than most people ever knew and I know a few people who know more than I ever did,all older than me.
tubemagpie 4 months ago
@jcvitte1 Part 3 You should understand that "The Blues" developed out of music such as worksongs, field hollers and chants. There was also an influence from European music. The term Blue meaning sadness goes back to Elizabethan times.
Interesting to note that you refer me to delta music that is just one form of Blues music from one small part of the country. Go to Texas or the Appalachians.
Vaughan is a mere copy of King , Hooker and other electric blues artists...
tubemagpie 4 months ago
@jcvitte1 Part 4..One thing I think we can all agree on is that we enjoy the music which is what matters:
I always live in hopes that some where there is a forgotten cylinder recording of some blues singer from the earliest days of recording...Tommy Johnson was supposedly the earliest (or near it) blues recording artist but I always think there is a touch too much "Country" influence from Jimmie Rodgers....
tubemagpie 4 months ago
@t:Tommy Johnson's music had a Rodgers influence? 1/Tho a few years younger, Johnson began his pro music career years before Rodgers. Perhaps influence went the other way. 2/The only track I've heard that strikes me as country is a previously unknown, recently discovered,'lost' recording. 3/Artists like Tommy (& Robert) Johnson, had white producers who decided what tunes should/shouldn't be recorded. Many so-called 'blues' artists were in fact much more eclectic than we'll ever know.
lazur1 1 month ago
Didn't know this existed. I thought it was ram jam ( not really but it was the only version i heard until now) and was always curious why they made a song about a black woman. This is so cool, its like rust on an antique or the smell of a box that hasn't been opened for a hundred years.
Defenestrati2700 4 months ago
huddie ledbetter was the man
Lyndonmidwestjuggalo 4 months ago 2
this is music i'd love to see in a blues documentary. or a civil rights documentary. either way, this music evokes ages past, very soulful.
spoonlessjoe98 5 months ago
this is Extremaly similar to son house
BleachTW 5 months ago
Some of his stuff is from chain gang work songs and slave songs.
kmc56 5 months ago
January 1736, Benjamin Franklin publishes "The Drinker's Dictionary" in the Pennsylvania Gazette offering 228 round-about phrases for being drunk. One of those phrases is "He's kiss'd black Betty."
retarddred 5 months ago
puts ramjam to shame
sirsadistic 5 months ago 4
Leadbelly is an American treasure, Spanish poet Lorca said where he was American culture was.
tanglestrangle 5 months ago
So is this the original?
camotophat 5 months ago
is he the original writer of this song?
DudeXMyster 5 months ago
@DudeXMyster yes. if this and many other songs that other people covered.
TheDocserge 5 months ago
@DudeXMyster There realy isn't an "original" writer of this song. Most of the ones Leadbelly sang are old folk songs. It would kinda be like trying to figure out who wrote twinkle twinkle little star. Although there are a lot of songs that he recorded before anyone else. House of the Rising Sun, Black Betty, Midnight speical......ect.
mixmastermeeks 5 months ago
haha get off the internet and go outside.. or stop talking shit about other peoples music and see if you can make your own.. then post it.. so we can talk shit about you.. but foremost.. GO OUTSIDE!!!!!!
GaviGallardo 5 months ago
Comment removed
GaviGallardo 5 months ago
OHHHHHH BLACK BETTY STOLE MY BABY, NIGGA GOT TO GET BETTY BACk
Thor12323 5 months ago
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTy
matopuk123 5 months ago
I love these old blues singers
TheRetirednavy92 5 months ago
Mr Ledbetter paid his ''debt to society''. I love his music. It speaks of an old time when happiness was found in simple things. I also enjoy his unusual synchopation. Like so many in the South, music or cadence seems inborn. whether it manifests itself in literature, music or the canvas, it emanates from the haunting & haunted Southern bond to the land itself. ok, I love RanJams version as well
panthercreek60 5 months ago
@panthercreek60 Congrats, yours is one of the very few intelligent comments this video has.
paireon 5 months ago
Huddie Ledbetter, along with being a groundbreaking singer-guitar player, was also a bona-fide genuine homicidal knife wielding nigger. God Bless America.
7mikethebike 5 months ago
@7mikethebike A little judgemental are we? I thought the word died in 1965. Gues there are a few who still feel it is an appropriate term.
wswalcott1 5 months ago
I like how 75% of the comments are about metal, despite the fact that the contents of this video have nothing to do with metal. Lrn 2 relevant comments
timboslice001 5 months ago
.....Led Zepellin was third generation white boy blues morphed into the late 60's early 70's rock genre by overdriven guitar, etc. ... Jimmy Page has humbly given credit to all his influences many, many times over the past 4 decades.....including Leadbelly.....
Enofrappini 5 months ago 2
this is the original most of led zeppelin was copied off him
karpatza 5 months ago
@RagtimeDorianHenry What year was this song done? Yikes!!!
aspenrebel 5 months ago
Been reading some of the comments (Oh GAWD there are morons...) You have to remember, some of these tunes were sung in cotton fields and WITHOUT a band accompaniment. Some of these were "call and response" cadences and are the BASIS of Blues and Jazz and later Rock, Country, Bluegrass. They didn't subscribe to ridged time/ bar/ measure, sometimes these "spirituals" meandered and spun tales of woe and frustration. This is beautiful and it's poetic.
dinein1970 5 months ago 3
More kick ass then the version of ram jam ........ NOT
Rob0crap 5 months ago
it would be awsome if someone put his singing on ram jam's music.
idoGutman22 5 months ago
@idoGutman22 Tried with a instrumental playing in the background of this, just didn't sound right to me.
thecrosby627 5 months ago
why are there always arguments on good songs? just shut up and listen, if someone says something stupid ignore them and they shut up faster
cory1thackston 5 months ago 4
@cory1thackston hell yeah mate, i can rock out to this :D
HUGELoneW0LF 5 months ago
WHY DO PEOPLE TALK ABOUT METAL ON ONE OF THE BEST GENRES OF MUSIC? Who cares about Metal when listening to this? Who cares about rhythm and time? Or even the fact there's no actual instrument being played. Music like this is made with soul, not the musician's talent. Please SOMEONE agree that Metal shouldn't have even been brought up..
sirbupsalotfilms 5 months ago 3
63 people have no clue...
doc955 5 months ago 3
@doc955 very true, very true
latashapollard 5 months ago
Haters can't really hear music.
konopliamir 5 months ago 2
He claps in between the 3 and 4 count....precisely in between.... that means he IS on beat and for those of you that can't hear that, don't have natural rhythm beyond a standard 1&3 beat.
FlyteOfTheDragon 5 months ago
for such a bad ass looking dude... he doesnt have the baritone you expect. almost sounds feminine.
kelvinkloud 5 months ago
@kelvinkloud
Huddie William Ledbetter was born in 1888 and died in 1949 so the best sound recordings of him might be when he was an elderly man. He could play the 12 string, mandolin, piano, harmonica, violin, concertina, and accordian. Can you do that? He was unjustly put in prison and worked on a chain gang that would have killed the likes of you on the first day of work.
He wrote songs about cowboys, prison, work, Adolf Hitler, dancing, sailing, liquor, blues, women and racism. Do that!
DadBlameIt 5 months ago 31
@DadBlameIt ... i realize that. he was key early figure in blues and folk music. I'm not putting him down, you misunderstood my point. usually the old blues guys had rough and tumble baritone's to go along w/ their touch looks (something leadbelly certainly had)... it was just sorta of odd to hear somone w/ a more higher sounding voice. I probaly should not have used the word feminine b/c he doesnt sound like a woman per say... more gospel influenced perhaps.
kelvinkloud 5 months ago
@DadBlameIt he did kill someone thats not really an unjust conviction
KiiNGB0NGx 3 months ago
Arctic Emmet,
I'm a big time blues fan from way back, so I'm probably being sarcastic when I say that one stanza wonder Ram Jam is more bluesy than one of the pioneers of the blues
Callmelennie 5 months ago
ur kidding right?
rktguy 5 months ago
it just struck me what this is .. he's nailing her. bamm alamm is the bed hitting the wall. all the remakes get it dead wrong
glutamine001 6 months ago 6
@glutamine001
If you're obsessed with sex you'll see it everywhere. This has nothing to do with sex.
seppsters 3 months ago
I thought the song was about the Civil War rifles that the Buffalo soldiers used, and the "bamba 'lam" was the sound of the rifles firing off. Hence the "jump steady, Black Betty" being the recoil of the rifle. The whip and the drop of the pick makes sense, too.
chevleclair 6 months ago
Wow, Fascinating.
Not quite as bluesy as Ram Jam, though (Snorf!)
Callmelennie 6 months ago
@Callmelennie How is Ram Jams version in any way more 'bluesy' than this....I prefer Ram Jams version but it's a hard rock version of a blues song
ArcticEmmet 5 months ago
There is a time signature here, actually: 8/8. Leadbelly claps his hand on the sixth beat, leaving out only one clap ("Jump steady, Black Betty") to enter the verse. The song is an old Afro-American work/slave-song, the topic being the whip in the supervisor's hands (nicknamed Black Betty). The lead singer sang the verses while the rest of the group joined in at the chorus. The clap signifies the fall of the pick, hammer or shovel that the group was using so that the work would proceed in unison
N0band 6 months ago 61
@N0band so your saying "black betty" is a whip, that means the whip had a baby and the damn thing went crazy... thanks for the laugh.
dtillman74 4 months ago
@N0band It goes back way before that. It was a marching cadence in the American Revolution. It was about a painted "Brown Bess" rifle. Alternate before that Ben Franklin used it as a drinking reference, "He had kissed Black Betty" The whip reference was hearsay at best. Full points for trying to make a great song a slavery commentary though.
jcon96 4 months ago
@N0band The time signature on the claps is a little odd, but it's there for sure.
The bit about black betty is cool. Another little nugget, thanks! :)
kmikl 4 months ago
@N0band Love learning things like this-history-thanks for the info
edzick917 4 months ago
@N0band thank you!
ambreal 3 months ago
@N0band Thank you for your information :)
djAbrasive 3 months ago
@N0band Thank you for this comment! - "you learn something new everyday", this is the best thing I have learned all week.
ztaalak 3 months ago
LMAOOO relax people .y'all(white folks) have been stealing from NEGROES all there lives,, this version is actually better since it means something in my opinion fuck that ram jam shit lmaoooo
White people always wanna fuss over what's not theirs just STFU lmaoooo
TEAMDAVID0 6 months ago
That is awfully good quality for something Leadbelly would have done. Are you sure that's him?
ChicoHarpoGroucho 6 months ago
those who "dislike" this just don't get the blues, thus by the transitive property, are musically tone deaf illiterates!
mary0mca0gypsy0eyes 6 months ago
@katie1868 wtf are you babbling about. anyone with half a brain knows that any negative response to this video is made by either a child or an idiot.
RocketQueenMS 6 months ago
@RocketQueenMS any one with half a brain would know that idiots only learn there idiots if someone points its out to them from time to time( hence why there idiots they cant recognize foolish behavior even when its there own.). I was just giving them some real facts instead of what ever bull shit they bulled outta there ass
katie1868 6 months ago
@katie1868 I apologize. I hate to see you wasting your time on a lost cause though. They almost never get it.
RocketQueenMS 6 months ago
@RocketQueenMS no worries man apology accepted. and i know lol people are hard headed luckily i have decent perseverance :p
katie1868 6 months ago
wow i think its really ignorant that people think this sucks, first of all led belly is awesome and many forms of music would not have been able to have been formed with out his influence. Also you cant compare one genre of music to the next especially if they are from different times periods. With the different mentalities ideologies and musical developments of the time of course this version sounds simple and uninteresting to us, more complicated musical styling either hadn't been invented
katie1868 6 months ago