Added: 3 years ago
From: mokaey
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  • Awesome

  • Awesome

  • sick post dude gj

  • ok so this might be the first recording (even though it could exist before from someone else that didn't record it) but who sings this then?

  • This has so much oomph and funk it dorsnt need any musical accompaniment

  • no

    

  • i like ram jams version better :(

  • Thanks for posting this! Bit of history is cool for me, I think it's a great song and love to know it's real "roots"! Cool...☺

  • Comment removed

  • just needs some drums and a guitar!!!!

  • Really good song i had no idea this was the original thanks for posting

  • :-.

  • Well you see he isnt writing or talking at all you ignorant fuck he is typing.P.S. I thought your name was dicksuck69

  • Isnt this a song about a flintlock pistol and a lady?

  • Black Betty" (Roud 11668) is a 20th century African-American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations of earlier folk material;[1] in this case an 18th century marching cadence about a flintlock musket. There are numerous recorded versions,

  • including a cappela, folk, and rock arrangements. The best known modern recordings are rock versions by Ram Jam and Spiderbait, both of which were hits.

  • Oh and I just looked up the organs of this song and the song had been recorded be for Leadbelly recorded it. above is the article :)

  • This is a part of history! Thanks for posting this :)

  • THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS

  • 1ladiesman102 (stupid name): Why don't you learn punctuation before you criticise others as to their grammar? F***ing moron.

  • it's James Baker

  • i dont know if lead belly was the first with black betty. but i dont think its a song made up inside a jail. most likely people knew the song before they got in jail. OR they were in jail for so long that the song had plenty of time to be made up inside jail :)

  • look up alan lomax library of congress, that'll tell u the story.... there's many good very early negro recordiongs and spiritualt. from me to you

  • who would mute it at 00:00

  • wod you get this

  • @mia99ify found an old LP from my dad.

    he got it from his grandfather

  • @mokaey this indeed was the first recording and credited to convict James Baker and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas (a State prison farm).Baker was also known as ironhead.

  • We were study Parchman prisons in my music appreciation class and I had no idea one of my fave songs was originally a work song!

  • @1ladiesman102 lol you could not be more wrong about me...

    im white...

    im from norway...

    lol you fail at trollin...

    but thanks for telling me about my spelling error haha

  • @1ladiesman102 lol you could not be more wrong about me...

    im white...

    im from norway...

    lol you fail at trollin...

    but thanks for telling me about my spelling error haha

  • @1ladiesman102 What are you the official 'youtube KKK division' grammar monitor? people talk a million different ways, get over yourself Cletis. The south lost

  • @1ladiesman102

    If you're going to critisize others you really should be sure that you are standing on solid ground. It's 'WHO were put in jail'. Also, 'it's 'were'...' should have been the start of a new sentence (I've taken the liberty of inserting the apostrophe that you omitted). As for 'learn to talk and write', I feel that that too should be contained as a discrete sentence.Your punctuation and grammar really are appalling. Every day's a school day, you shit-bag racist

  • @1ladiesman102 You are mentaly retarded.

  • @1ladiesman102 Why don't you, you ignorant, racist, peckerwood.?

  • @1ladiesman102 P.S.- The only "ladies" that you probably would appeal to are the ones you have to pay.

  • @1ladiesman102 *it's

  • @1ladiesman102 nazi

  • I love that part at the end where he whispers "musta been the captain's".  buuuurrrrn!

  • This is awesome, and possibly correct as the first recording. However not the orgin of the song (from chain gangs) and not created from black culture (slave songs) as some have suggested in these posts. Its even older and though it was sung by slaves its original version is as old as the Revolutionary War and was used as a cadence march. And that cadence march is credited to being done by Benjamin Franklin. It has been adapted MANY times since.

  • So sad :'( why is there so many racist people in the world

  • everyone is to busy being a label instead of an american person these days.

  • @TheDuckseason im not following...

  • Lead Belly is the original. i dont think this one is the original.

  • Lead Belly may have been the first recorded version, but the song had been around for decades already.

  • I like the sounds of the voices singing , but it gives me the willies ..... cos

    It's a curiosity of human nature & a testament to ' chinese whispers ' - not to mention also a pretty f*ckin sad & weird thing that what eventually became a massively successfull commercial rock/pop song several decades later , started out it's life as a story about a woman who was enslaved on account of the colour of her skin & then consequentially probably got raped by " the captain " - listen

  • Comment removed

  • real music of real man. respect from Russia. Much better then Ram Jam.

  • WOW! Great great stuff!!! love Mr. Lead Belly's, & Ram Jam version but this is Awsome! This is History!

  • @coptersoisoi wow your are impressive...(ur dumb)

  • @mokaey you're a gosh darn raciserist. maybe Meat Loaf wrote it for Ram Jam. I think that's what happon an stouf.

  • @mokaey *You're*

  • @mokaey *You're x2

  • This is fake. Ram Jam wrote it.

  • @coptersoisoi fuck off idiot

  • @DeportAnchorBabies anyone can add scratch sounds effects just like adobe adds scratches and hairs to a video or film shot. Plus you can hear it is looped.

  • irgendwie is das schlecht :X ...hört sich an wien paar besoffene !

  • The song was first recorded in the field by U.S. musicologists John and Alan Lomax in 1933, performed a cappella by the convict James Baker (also known as Iron Head) and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas.

  • @PositivFritid so ive been told....

    hehe hei norsking. skjer?

  • @mokaey I have a "video" with the same song uploaded :))) I am from Denmark !

  • @PositivFritid ohhhhh vel hei....

  • Meiner Meinung nach besser als von Ram Jam oder Spiderbait

  • Class....

  • nice

  • Hay muchos grupos que han hecho canciones a partir de otras antiguas cantadas por los esclavos negros, por ejemplo, y eso no tiene nada de malo. Todo lo contrario. Es bueno conocer su origen, pero eso no les desacredita en absoluto.

  • @evaristo84 dont speak spanish please.

  • @mokaey abrase gay (fkc u men), se habla español

  • @mokaey hey why not?!?!?! El puede ESCRIBIR español tanto como quiera, como yo, instead, if you want him to speak english to understand him, just write it...

  • @mokaey dont speak english please.

  • @evaristo84 the waka waka of shakira for example

  • thx for educating me with this1! now i know myself...thx ;)

  • @steam143 lol i could just send you the flac

  • this is terrible

  • @TheNightwishsoul you are terrible

  • @mokaey

    how do you know im terrible you dont even know me

  • how come no one covers this song anymore...?

  • @eevlwich perhaps people have learned they should show respect....

  • @eevlwich i will get sum1 2 4 u lol

  • hay mucha historia detrás de cada canción...sobre todo aquellas que no se han contado todavía

  • I think the lyrics are:

    Well, I come from Corsicana

    Well, I'm going to Texarkana.

  • Hattie Leadbelly Leadbetter

  • no it is not.........wish i could find it.

  • White man farted black man got jailed :D

  • I agree with u man all the way and i think that modern day black culture is destroying what their ancestor had worked for decades

  • @alexat410 WHAT????

  • @mokaey hey man greate vid i noticed u dont have any info posted on this song soo soo i thout i might help you out first thing is the song is writen and perfomred by lead belly recorded in 1842 its from the diggin my potatoes album witch im getting u this info off of i bught the cd 2-3 years ago :P and it was recorded while he was in jail by dnm i cant read it the tingy is scratched but yea hope tht helps u

    btw Lead Belly is the bomb

  • Priceless!!!!

  • does someone have these lyrics?

  • @lechevaliernoirboss

    im pretty sure there in the info section of this page.

  • the lyrics are hilarious

  • figures, a one-hit wonder, all their other songs suck, only the good songs come from the old school, oops i did it again was a classic too that re-emerged as a brittney spears song

  • just becuase Ram Jam made a song about it that became popular in the 70s, doesn't mean they were disrespecting these folks. Jeez, get a grip, man.

  • love this and leadbelly

    it's a shame that people feel the need to get all weird about it

    the kkk is a moronic idea and has no basis in Godly teaching

  • without comparison

    thanks for posting

  • @ mikerebel so true so true this is history and great music too

  • THE ORGINAL BLACK BETTY!

  • this is great thank you so much for the lyrics i can stop humming them all day .

  • dmitrishak... im white, and im just saying ur fucked up in the head. if ur so hateful against the, tell me why? what did they do to you?

  • @Jason47D

    RESPECT!!!

    Together against racism...

  • @Dmitrishak shut up. kkk are devoid of reason. give me a true reason why the kkk rule. i will strike you down with a reason as to why you are all idiots.

  • @Dmitrishak fuck you your mutha fucker kkk sucks monkey dick

  • You know, I can gather my friends, record them as they sing, stick the vocal files to a black-and-white picture and voila!

    Brilliant.

  • @Thamer4life why don't you do some research on it before making bogus claims.

  • from left to right right the 4th 1 alond was my great grandad or great great grandad not too sure parents dont talk about the past alot

  • black betty was a gun

  • this should be the Real legacy of the african-american culture, not the gangsta "culture" MTV has been trying to impose

  • agreed

  • @mikerebel "the gansta "culture" MTV has been trying to impose" ---> ??? ---> LOL? Give me a break.

    The "gangta culture" arose due to social inequality and not because of a fancy idea of music television.

  • so the social inequality makes you buy "bling-bling and cars" and show off that you have more money than other dudes?

  • @mikerebel not at all. but that is why the "gangsta thing" started. the young black rappers who first achieved success were proud and they wanted to show how rich they were while coming out of the ghetto. then the "game" developed.

  • @mikerebel def.

  • @mikerebel

    It is... its legacy is blues, jazz, rock, and arguably all modern music. Rap wouldn't exist without everything that came before it, including this. And besides, the "gangsta culture" that MTV is imposing isn't a legacy of african-american culture, its a legacy of white youth culture.

  • @noudthe3rd that's what i was trying to say, thx for making it more clear

  • I still wonder who Black Betty really is?

  • This was recorded in 1933. James "Ironhead" Baker sang lead. It was recorded at the Central State Farm in Sugar Land, Texas. The first studio recording was done by Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter in 1939.

  • lol "We should not forget the innocent people that was put in jail."

    Great song. Poor english, m'friend.

  • respect for those who have made this great song, african americans.. respect for who they used to be..

    Times changed and they've all turned "gangsta" the same for all the white dudes

  • @FieldMarchall so what are you saying No blacks are gangsters the colinizers are the most gangsta to kill off a people and take a whole continent is gangtsa we are living in a nation of wolves what you think we are going to keep being sheep. Hell whites bring the drugs in the country but blame us

    I can not believe whites every were I go yall are commenting on videos dealing with Black culture what the hell is with yall obsession with African americans and Africans in general Yall are weird

  • an to the devil who read this and want to comment shut the fuck up why are you on this video commenting in the first place are we your God or something I answerd you evil ass before you posted on a comment that was not aimed at your Pale ass in the first place dam yall are sick I was on face book I saw an all white group call "black betty" With a white Black Betty psychotic caucasoids need to take meds

  • @BamaBoy205SR I wasn't talking about that, I don't dislike black people, i hate niggers.. that ain't the same, just the way they act, black people act normal, niggers show off.

  • @FieldMarchall Well I do not hate all Caucasus people as well I just hate those Pale Nigger devils who steal culture and history of Africans and think nothing is wrong with colonization and genocide and thing the wrongs that have been done should not be reversed

    Like I think all the slavetrading Presidents should be taken off of American currency and replaced with Native American cheifs most racist disagree with that thoe

  • come gran parte dele più famose canzoni....

  • well this is all true but they recorded it after as a song

  • it's just retarded to be saying ram jam ripped off somebody else, they were paying tribute to it. black spiritual music was at the very root of rock.

  • They were probably sent to jail for walking in the wrong neighbourhood. I feel sorry for all of the African Americans during that time.

  • (i feel sorry for all the african americans during the great depresion.)

  • why? life probably didn't change much for them during that time if i had to guess

  • @mokaey

    'Black Americans' you mean. You don't see people calling their 'blackberries' AFRICAN AMERICANBERRIES now do you?

  • @mokaey I shure as fuck dont

  • @mokaey, why? it wasn't a depression for us. We were already dirt poor. I've never heard anyone in my family say that the depression affected our people greatly. Its just like today; I'm too poor to be affected by this "recession. I've never been so thankful to be a musician.

  • Whta they ther for in prison , stealing chickens....

  • that's music!

  • What was the percentage of false imprisonment of blacks in Texas during this time?

  • @TheGreatCorneliuski

    where do you mean?

  • Right there 1:01 on your video photo

    All those lined up for work on the rail road

    Year 1933

    and vs.2000

  • @TheGreatCorneliuski

    i dont know i dont think they researched it at that time.

    maybe because it was very many people that got a false sentence.

    ive been reading though big ass book about that subject in the past week.

    but i didnt find anything.

    it was the prison records and police chargings from the state of texas.

    it was very many anon people you got locked up.

    it was mostly just small sentences like over night stuff.

    dont ask where i got the recordes!

    ps. they where very hard to find and read

  • Our car is called Black Betty! And she's a beaut! :)

  • james baker and gang, good old times when all are simple

  • very wrong

  • wtf its no where near black betty by ram jam. this is a folk song and it aint even the original talked about black betty being a hooker and the kid robbing a bank locked in prison!

  • i agree there is only very scetchy info on this subject.

  • @blackrowstones Its not even folk...but okay haha

  • @blackrowstones this is the original. it was an african american blues spirital written in the early 1930's. first recording was in 1933. this is that original recording. ram jam's cover was in the 70s...

  • i was talking about this is not the original this is a remake of the spiritual the original was talking about black bettys child going to jail.lead belly's version was about having sex with her and having a child that turned out to not his.ram jam version was about having the hots for betty and she had children that were not hers.thus commemorating the Leadbelly version.everyone keeps sayen they ripped it off!they all go together.

  • The FIRST Black Betty was by blues legend Leadbelly.

  • Ram Jam really made this song so much better ! Doesn't everybody agree ?

  • nope

  • I disagree

  • they sing amber lambs

  • Comment removed

  • @beasontech lmao my p got stiff and became a b if you know what i say's sir.

  • I guess some people don't iknow thier history

  • the cover is so anoying

  • which cover?

  • "Black Betty" was the name that prisoners gave the wagon or truck they were transported in from the prison to the job site and back. She is an empty promise of cool rest and comfort actually serving to prolong suffering and misery. Typically a windowless black box that would soak up the brutal heat of the Southern sun all day long, so that by the end of the day the only shade waiting for them was hotter than an oven.

  • Very astute.

  • thank you for the info but (PLEASE) STOP SENDING ME BULLSHIT INFO LIKE THIS!!!!!!!

    IVE HEARD THAT SAME STORY LIKE 600 TIMES JUST IN A DIFFERENT FORM!!!!!!

  • fuck yeh awesome!!!!!

  • Damn it you are right...! that's the real one!!

  • it is looks like the Brazilian Macumba!!!

  • it's amazing to think that these chain gang songs are the roots of the blues. it's incredible how music can evolve and change.

  • asians were into wood percussion and metal symbols and possibly string instruments as well. Europeans and Middle easterners created brass instruments, Drums with animal skins were invented by different tribes such as native americans, afrians and even western european tribes. Then you take African slave music who incorporated irish celtic and french style music and you form jazz and rock. "Rock and Roll" was a black term similar to "Rolling in the hay" or "Making whoopie"

  • What are these guys doing standing around? We're not feeding you to stand around, get to work!

  • @Eddiefry go work youreself !

  • lol

  • Mokaey, I got ya missing lyric for you. He says"Well I come from Corsicana/ and Im goin to Texarkana" In other words... he's bout to make a run for it

  • hmmmm il check it out.

    thank you

  • this is simply... thats just it i cant find the words to describe this piece of art...

  • A musician myself I LOVE the orginal versions of various songs (all styles) (going through and early 1910/20s bluegrass phase at the moment) this is brilliant!!!! Thank you for posting this!!!! Question...Where did you find this historical piece of music??

  • Theres something eerie about this recording.