There are many different versions (of this song) but James "ironhead" Baker 1933 was credited for being recorded (his version) story has it it's about a prison whip they used on the prisoners in Texas and still do black Betty was the whip and the guards were knows as crackers thats now used as a derogatory description of white people. That's the story I heard anyway. But who knows 😂🤣😂
Yes yes yes absolutely right ! imagine if at time of swing or other dixie land , have this drum line ...? i'm a electronic music DJ and sometimes find amasing primtive electronic tunes from the 40s50s ....
The song has a lot of meanings. Before Leadbelly’s 1939 adaptation of it, the song was first recorded in 1933 performed a cappella by the convict James "Iron Head" Baker and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas (a State prison farm). ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tiCEVl_9-MM.html It’s actual origin was probably from a 1700s military marching cadence about a flintlock musket. A new model of the Black Betty was the Brown Bess. Hence Black Betty had a child (OR) the child is the round discharged by the rifle which was not accurate; Damn thing went wild and it's violent recoil; Damn thing gone blind. Also bam-ba-lam being the sound of the musket when fired
what 5min on wiki gave me.. origin of the term "Black Betty" varies.. 1: was a common term for a bottle of whisky in the borderlands between northern England and southern Scotland, which later was adapted in us(1700s) 2: was whip that was used in some Southern prisons.(18/1900s) 3: was used by prisoners to refer to the "Black Maria" - the penitentiary transfer wagon(1900s) As late as the 1960s, the vehicle that carried men to prison was known as "Black Betty," though the same name may have also been used for the whip that so often was laid on the prisoners' backs, "bam-ba-lam." Also the prisoner vagon/car would make sense in context of the song as black betty(car) had a child(prisoners getting out), but then the phrase that "she is from birmingham and now shes in alabam" would fit the first meaning as she is alcohol and her child are people that are drunk? But true that the fact that she makes him sing could fit the whip description
Gun Reference, bullshit. Nothing else in this song is referencing guns. It says she has a child that went wild, She's always ready, she's from Birmingham...This is talking about a woman of loose morals. This is like Queens - Fat Bottom Girls. They are celebrating ladies of low virtue for letting them get their rocks off with them. Not drugs, not guns, it's about a whore.
@@DarthPoyner please look all this up... It is all in reference to the gun... Your statement just proves more about it being the gun. It's not about a women of loose morals.
For sure. I have on old Leadbelly recording were he sings "Ohhh black betty had a baby. Bamb-a-lamb Ohh black betty. Damn thing gone crazy, Ohh black betty ..." and so on. Not sure when it's from, probably the 1920's?
@@jamesy1979 I heave read that too, the bullwhip would have been a tool used on the the chain gang workers to keep them in line, the musket reference potentially dates back to the civil war. I think personally it could be that both stories are true, and the song was later adopted a different meaning to different people.
This song is about an old rifle, I forgot the details, but it was a solid rifle, and then they made a smaller version of that gun that was actually either jamming or exploding spontaneously killing its user.
'Brown Bess' was the nickname of the standard issue musket of the British Army during the Revolutionary War. It was derived from an expression indicating a plain woman of low caste. 'Black Betty' was the fantasy lover of the men on a Southern chain gang in the early 20th century.
I saw something about the meaning of the song, the 1st verse is about a gun, black Betty's child is the bullet/shot. 2nd verse is about whiskey and 3rd is actually about a woman
I think the alcohol one is about a moonshine still, and the child was a smaller still made from black betty's spare parts which made bad shine and caused temporary blindness. 😁
From “Songfacts”… This is a traditional song that folk singer Leadbelly popularized before his death in 1949. Leadbelly's version is a cappella and commonly sung by laborers to pass the time while working.
There are numerous meanings to "Black Betty" including objects of a musket, a bottle of whiskey, a whip, and a prison transfer wagon. Thats the beautiful thing about music, you can make the lyrics out to be anything you want them to mean. Thanks for reacting very cool song.
Yup, and to anyone complaining it's offensive, well yeah, considering the song's history, military march cadence, work gangs, filtered through country folk and the blues - the lyrics are all meant to be offensive, double- and triple-entendre, about more than one thing at once, often getting away with saying something very naughty in other words... so yeah, it's about all that, and yeah, could damn well be about heroin usage in the 70s too, that could be a new interpretation too, nothing wrong with that. Woah, Black Betty.
"Black Betty" is an old Prison Blues song. Blues/Folk singer Leadbelly spent time in prison for two separate murders that he did not commit (both cases were overturned on appeal). He learned this song during his time in prison, and recorded it in 1939. Ram Jam recorded the primary verse of the song, and added two new verses to the song, but Leadbelly's estate got the full writing credit for the song.
I think Brad is on to something with his nostalgia theory. This may be why I find it difficult to find a modern song or music I truly like or relate to. What's that old saying? "They don't make them like they used to"
It applies some times not all, I think the music of Bach,Beethoven and Mozart and that era is the best ever composed and i have no nostalgia for the 18th century, mordern pop music os just bad, its a fact
I don't know, I didn't grow up with this music, but I'll listen to actual bands with actual instruments as opposed to some generic sounding electronic beat some producer made every day of the week. The mainstream has definitely changed to extremely commercialized and artificial sound compared to bands like these. I don't think it's just nostalgia, there are objective reasons why modern mainstream music mostly sucks.
@@EaterOfBaconSandwiches I have a group currently playing that you might want to check out. Larkin Poe is two sisters, with two cousins playing when they tour. They write original songs and have great covers of older songs. "Mad as a Hatter" is their original about mental health.
The song was first recorded in the field by US musicologists John and Alan Lomax in December 1933, performed a cappella by the convict James "Iron Head" Baker and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas (a State prison farm). Baker was 63 years old at the time of the recording. Black Betty is referring to a musket, the child in the song is very likely referring to the musket ball. The "bam-ba-lam is the sound that the Musket made when it was fired. "The damn thing went wild" meaning the ball didn't always go where it should. "The child is blind" meaning it did not care who it hit friend or foe, "Black betty don't care" meaning the musket also doesn't care who is killed by its child, "that child ain't mine" meaning "it wasn't me who shot my buddy in the back of the head". This is supported by multiple descriptions of the use of the musket in the battlefield. During the Napoleonic/ Russian campaign 1/4 of all French casualties were caused by the rear ranks shooting their own front ranks. The line "she's from Birmingham" also fits as the place where muskets were manufactured.
@@kellyslate7536 Yes,and it was less reliable as well. The bullets would go astray,as in the song when he says "The damn thing gone wild" and "The damn thing gone blind",meaning it would a lot of the time not hit its mark,blindly flying off into the distance.
It's never a bad thing to stop and analyze music, but I'd think the very first time one should listen to it in full before one stops and dissects it. Of course, reactors listening to the entire song isn't conducive to the RU-vid algorithms, nor really the concept of "reacting", then they are just "listening".
Black Betty is actually an old chain gang song. Prisoners would sing it as the were breaking rocks. Leadbelly recorded it, too. But, Ram Jam syncopated it and made it theirs.
The song is an old cover as others have pointed out, but like "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals, this is the definitive version. I always wondered why this band wasnt bigger...Ive always been impressed by how good they are with their instruments and how tight they are as a band. It would be hard to believe they dont have SOMETHING else worthwhile in their discography.
@@scottfrench4139 While true, I kinda meant that with such a lineup, it still didnt get near LZ and their careers after. Personally I think maybe 1 yardbirds song
Thx! Pertaining to Brad’s theory on exposure: he’s right! Familiarity plays such an important part in music! This is why composers and writers repeat a theme or riff or musical phrase! Then they will throw variations in now that the mind has a point of reference! -Terry
The original is a really old deep south folk song, the meaning is disputed though the cannon is one of the suggestions, some classic old musicians did it as well, maybe leadbelly if memory serves
No it's not. The gun nick-name is coincidental. The lyrics are all about a girl. Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) Black Betty had a child (Bam-ba-lam) The damn thing gone wild (Bam-ba-lam) She said, "I'm worryin' outta mind" (Bam-ba-lam) The damn thing gone blind (Bam-ba-lam) I said oh, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) She really gets me high (Bam-ba-lam) You know that's no lie (Bam-ba-lam) She's so rock steady (Bam-ba-lam) And she's always ready (Bam-ba-lam) Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) Get it! Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) She's from Birmingham (Bam-ba-lam) Way down in Alabam' (Bam-ba-lam) Well, she's shakin' that thing (Bam-ba-lam) Boy, she makes me sing (Bam-ba-lam) Whoa, Black Betty (Bam-ba-lam) Whoa, Black Betty Bam-ba-laaam, yeah, yeah So where's the gun tie-in?
This is the greatest one hit wonder ever, IMO. Gotta admit, I'm kind of disappointed that Lex didn't rock out to this one. This is one song I can't help but move to.
The song is a cover. The Original man who made the song is called Leadbelly. A few of his songs have been covered, like Nirvana- where did you sleep last night, and The Animals- The House of the Rising Sun are all covers
I think, in Ram Jam's minds, it is about a Black girl that was hot 🔥 and about how they "appreciated" her ... a LOT. Many will argue the origins of the song and what it's original meaning is. The term, "Black Betty" is known for many things, a Black slave woman, an "old negro work song, "the carriage that took prisoners to prison", a hearse, a musket with a black painted handle (possibly where the "Bam-A-Lam" comes from), a pair of sunglasses that won't put a hole in your wallet, drug ... so, an almost unlimited number of things that anyone wants to say it means. However, since it's been around for a century or so, it's meaning NOW is possibly quite different than it's original one so, whatever the singer thought it meant at the time ... to them. At the time it was recorded, no one would be singing derogatory songs about a Black Woman, even though there are those who say it created quite a stir. I was around back then and heard nothing negative about it. Lots of others say the same thing. Obviously, at this point, you would have to ask the group what they thought it meant to them when they recorded it, because that's what they meant when they sang it. It doesn't matter what it COULD have meant over time. Many things are adopted to new purposes so, something old becomes something new again. We have to get off this cancelling everything or implying that everyone had "kill" or "hate" in their minds from some earlier time, as we do not know what they intended. Let it be.
I heard a interview recently from Bill Bartlett he said this song from their version was about a pin up girl he liked she actually was white but her name was black Betty cause she wore black in the pin up. Starstruck is who bill actually sang this song with....before ram jam.
The song is about the nickname for the whip used in southern prisons back in the day. The chain gangs used to actually sing the song or something similar, the original song was sang by an artist named Leadbelly who was actually in an old chain gang
Black Betty was a musket used in the American civil war. Bamalam is a reference to the noise it made when fired and having a child was reference to the round leaving the barrel I believe.
This song was originally released in the late 40's as a prison work song. Ram Jam bought the rights from them and put there own spin on it. It is in reference of a civil war black powder musket. He is saying Bam-a-lam, that was the noise the gun made when it was fired.
what he's doing is called "scat" where you make sounds instead of words, it used to be very popular ! He got the song from Leadbelly who got it from the chain gangs back in the day.
So many songs are written with lyrics open to interpretation. 10 people can hear the same song and all 10 can get a different meaning. I’ve heard Black Betty could mean a musket, a bottle of whiskey, a whip, heroin, a promiscuous woman, a moonshine still or a prison transfer wagon. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter. It’s music, not an educational lecture.
1:38 it's called ad-libbing(ad-lib). Many different ways to ad-lib in singing, but it's just adding a word or syllable/s to spice up the line "bam ba lam"
I watched a video by a music historian. He said the term "Black Betty" may go back to Ben Franklin. Over the years it meant other things, as pointed out by some of the other commenters. Who used the term also varied: Slaves, prisoners, soldiers, etc. The song goes back maybe hundreds of years. And it has evolved. For me, if your morning coffee doesn't get your blood moving, play BLACK BETTY.
Glad it stopped raining so you could get back to your Reactions :) Gives me a whole new appreciation and admiration for what you guys do. Keep it up and stay strong you two!
It's actually a very old blues song from Leadbelly ... from the end of the twenties, early thirties last century ... so now almost a hundred years old ! And he based it on an even older song
I heard it was about 3 different things, first was a black powder gun, 2nd was a liquor, and last was a sexy woman. This is an old song sung on the chain gangs that was remade by Led Belly, and then this remake in the 70's. one hit wonder.
John Reyes 1 month ago this is a cover of a military cadence from prior to civil war, where "Black Betty" was many things: in the first verse she is a musket that was very inaccurate due to lack of rifling, so the child (bullet) went wild (off target) and gone blind (the heavy smoke blocking vision after firing the weapon), 2nd verse is alcoholic drink of available for cheap to give to soldiers, and 3rd verse is an actual woman who "serviced" the soldiers at a local "men's club" in Alabama. "Bam a lam" is the reference sound of the musket firing and the beat of the singing cadence
The song has a bunch of references; an old musket and its next version, a bottle of whiskey, a whip, a woman, a prisoner transport wagon. I've never heard it being a reference to drugs, but I wouldn't be surprised since I know I probably missed a few!
"Black Betty" 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. The origin and meaning of the lyrics are subject to debate. Historically, the "Black Betty" of the title may refer to the nickname given to a number of objects: a bottle of whiskey, a whip, or a penitentiary transfer wagon. As late as the 1960s, the vehicle that carried men to prison was known as "Black Betty," though the same name may have also been used for the whip that so often was laid on the prisoners' backs, "bam-ba-lam." In later versions, "Black Betty" was depicted as various vehicles, including a motorcycle and a hot rod
That's not quite accurate, it's a much older song than that, the song was originally about a gun, which was called the Black Betty. There was a second model of the gun which was defective, hence "Black Betty had a child, the damn thing gone wild".
The origin and meaning of the lyrics are subject to debate. Historically, the "Black Betty" of the title may refer to the nickname given to a number of objects: a bottle of whiskey, a whip, or a penitentiary transfer wagon. David Hackett Fischer, in his book Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (Oxford University Press, 1989), states that "Black Betty" was a common term for a bottle of whisky in the borderlands between northern England and southern Scotland; it later became a euphemism in the backcountry areas of the eastern United States. In January 1736, Benjamin Franklin published 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." Other sources give the meaning of "Black Betty" in the United States (from at least 1827) as a liquor bottle.
This came out when I was a mere child in junior high (but I'm still old enough to be be Brad and Lex's mama.) Paid no attention then and didn't until I was around 40. My fave reaction to this is JamelakaJamal claiming it cost 3 dollars to make for beer and then there was a potluck. But we partied cheap in the 70s! So southern
Black Betty was most likely the prisoners reference to the "Black Maria", a van used to transport prisoners, might also mean the whip used as it was also called the "black betty", later the black betty reference was put as names of a motorcycle and a hot rod, which I believe Ram Jam sung about, the hot rod called Black Betty, well thats how my father told me about it and researching on internet seems to confirm this
Yes. Queen of Spades is 13 points. Unless you shoot the moon (getting this queen and ALL the hearts in a hand) at which point you give all other players 26 points.
Did you ever have these people that could play spades all day but just couldn't wrap their heads around hearts? I know so many people that play spades but can't be bothered with hearts because "I just don't get it". Such a more fun have that I never get to play lol!
Love love love love love your reactions. Just watched your “MTV cribs” video as well. KEEP IT UP!! We are all here for y’all and y’all do amazing work! ❤️❤️
Bill Bartlett on the lead guitar and vocals kills this song. This is a cover of an old "Lead Belly" song that people would sing on the chain gang in prison. The original song doesn't have as many lyrics but is just as powerful.
Gun Reference, bullshit. Nothing else in this song is referencing guns. It says she has a child that went wild, She's always ready, she's from Birmingham...This is talking about a woman of loose morals. This is like Queens - Fat Bottom Girls. They are celebrating ladies of low virtue for letting them get their rocks off with them. Not drugs, not guns, it's about a whore.
I don't know if they still do but they at least used to play the opening to this song at Yankee Stadium during the 7th inning stretch. Sadly, this version, they cut out the guitar solo.
The lead singer was also the lead singer in a group from the Sixties known as The Lemon Pipers. They had a one hit wonder called Green Tambourine. Need to check it out.
I think you're putting too much emphasis on the "so rock steady" line as being about drugs The term "rock" for coke wasn't really a thing back then as it was being mostly snorted back in those days. Smoking it was known as freebasing. The term rock really wasn't used until years later when crack started showing up on the streets I was never a user myself lol.... but where I grew up it was hard not to know about those things
This song is a cover of a song from Leadbelly, a black musician back in the 30's or 40's. He adapted it from a song that was sung by black field workers or chain gang workers back in the day.
This is a really old song. It was finally recorded in 1933. From Wikipedia: "...first recorded by musicologists John and Alan Lomax in December 1933, performed a cappella by the convict James "Iron Head" Baker and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas (a State prison farm).[11] Baker was 63 years old at the time of the recording"
I don't know how many times my kids used to ask to play this song and turn it up all the way. It didn't matter if we were headed to the school or the store. Lol 😂😂. My kids loved it..
You two are adorable. You won’t even say a word if there might be a negative connotation (curse words, names of drugs, etc.). I love your reactions though!
I kind of think of this as '70's funk. From the same genre - if your schedule ever permits - check out Grand Funk Railroad - "Inside Looking Out" - the live version (1969) is really good.
