William Gottlieb Leadbelly, National Press Club, Washington, D.C., 1940
I may have posted this before but it is a favourite singer and bluesman and a favourite song I used to wander the streets of my little village singing this at the top of my lungs (well out of earshot I trusted!) when but a callow youth barely thirteen years old - probably the reason why I bought a 12 string as my first guitar too!
This from the wonderful facebook page Colouring The Past
Not the whole song here which is a shame but just look at the state of that six string guitar!!
Remembering HUDDIE WILLIAM LEDBETTER (Jan 20, 1888 – Dec 6, 1949), better known by the stage name LEAD BELLY, American folk and blues singer, musician, and songwriter notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In The Pines", "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
Lead Belly was renowned for his powerful voice, dexterity on the 12-string guitar, and the vast repertoire of songs he adapted from traditional sources or wrote himself. Growing up in Louisiana and Texas, he was exposed to a rich mix of blues, work songs, field hollers, children’s songs, ballads and more from the oral folk tradition. After various prison stints where he further expanded his songbook, Lead Belly went on to influence seminal 1950s folk revival artists like Pete Seeger and the Weavers, who had major pop hits covering his songs “Goodnight Irene” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine.”
Other Lead Belly compositions that have become deeply embedded into the Great American Songbook over the decades include “The Midnight Special,” “Rock Island Line,” “Cotton Fields,” and “In The Pines” (later adapted into “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” by Nirvana). Artists from virtually every musical genre have recorded or performed versions of his songs, and his forward-looking style served as an early blueprint for rock music. Lead Belly’s commitment to preserving and building upon traditional forms deserves much credit in the growth of folk into a globally-beloved genre.
In recent decades, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy Hall of Fame rightfully inducted Lead Belly for his profound influence. When listening today to popular music of any stripe, traces of Lead Belly’s rich legacy invariably reveal themselves. Though his career met an sadly premature end, Huddie Ledbetter paved the way for countless artists who came later and brought the beauty of American folk songcraft to the world stage. On his birthday, we honor Lead Belly’s lasting impact and give thanks for the musical gifts he provided that still resonate today, 75 years after his passing. His combination of talent, determination and fearless creativity continue inspiring new generations of musicians and music fans alike.
NOTE: The footage here features Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter serenading his wife, Martha Promise, (as well as a room of adoring and well-dressed fans) with his signature song “Goodnight Irene.” I've upscaled and colorized this precious footage.
GOODNIGHT IRENE
Written in 3/4 time, Goodnight, Irene was first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1933 and the lyrics tell of the singer's troubled past with his love, Irene, and express his sadness and frustration.
Several verses refer explicitly to suicidal fantasies, most famously in the line "sometimes I take a great notion to jump in the river and drown," which was the inspiration for the 1964 Ken Kesey novel Sometimes a Great Notion and a song of the same name from John Mellencamp's 1989 album, Big Daddy, itself strongly informed by traditional American folk music.
It was the pioneering musicologist and folklorist John Lomax who recorded a version of Huddie Ledbetter's song "Irene" in 1933, on a prison visit to Angola (Louisiana State Penitentiary). These recordings for the Library of Congress included three takes of "Irene".
As part of the Federal Art Project that began in 1935, the song was published in 1936, in Lomax's version, as "Goodnight, Irene", a joint Ledbetter-Lomax composition.
It has a straightforward verse–chorus form, but is in waltz time.
It is a three-chord song, characterised as a "folk ballad" with a three-phrase melody, with provenance in 19th-century popular music transmitted by oral tradition.
"Irene" has been styled by Neil V. Rosenberg a "folk recomposition" of the 1886 song "Irene Good Night" by Gussie L. Davis.
Hank Williams connected the melody to the English ballad tradition, via a mountain song he knew as "Pere Ellen".
Lead Belly's account was of performing "Irene" by 1908, in a way he learned from his uncles Ter(r)ell and Bob. By the 1930s he had made the song his own, modifying the rhythm and rewriting most of the verses. John and Alan Lomax made a field recording of Bob Ledbetter's version of the song.
Lead Belly continued performing the song during his prison terms. An extended version of the song that includes narratives connecting the verses appears in Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly. In 1941 Woody Guthrie used the melody for his New Deal anthem Roll On, Columbia, Roll On.
"Irene" remained a staple of Lead Belly's performances throughout the 1930s and 1940s. In 2002, Lead Belly's Library of Congress recording received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.
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more from the original clip here but still with fits and starts and unecessary cuts. Filmed for the Library of Congress this is EARLY for sure!
Another fuller live version by the master (sadly with no film)
Ry Cooder - Goodnight Irene (Leadbelly’s heritage)
Ry Cooder and the Chicken Skin Band play 'Goodnight Irene’ live at Shepherd's Bush Television Theatre, London in 1977.
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