Lead Belly - "Black Betty" 

I had no clue what black Betty actually was. I spent many nights on the dance floor in the 80s dancing to his remakes. What an iconic voice.

Amazing the number of relatively modern hits that were remakes from Lead Belly! Lot's of talent

He claps on every 3 &1/2 beat love this song

black betty was the feared carriage that took men from the prison to solitary confinement. It was feared/ all they had was their togetherness.

The Goat!!!! Give this Man all the credit. He could play 6 different instruments!!! He changed the world.

Eric Clapton, Nirvana etc he will never will be forgotten. He’s truly immortal.

Everyone should research how Lead Belly got his start... it's pretty amazing. His music literally saved his life. Awesome song.

My grandfather used to sing this just like that. It was something else cause the timing was insane.

Great to hear this one. RIP Lead Belly. You are a Legend!

Funny how society generally tries to deny leadbelly did all of these songs, since major label Artists and bands covered many of them in the 1969s and 70s I guess its due time for giving credit where it's due, for a change Fancy label lawyers for the majors involved do nothing but suppress the facts, and leadbelly songs are being unacknowledged and refused, time and time again Thanks for sharing

lead belly, the patriarch of modern music.

Been listening to this song for years and never knew Ledbelly wrote it! Oh Spike Kitty...😊

June 10 2022 I JUST NOW LEARNED ABOUT THIS SONG BY LEAD BELLY FROM THE 30'S...!!!! HOW INCREDIBLE IS THIS....WOW...!!!!!!!!!!! Who would've thunk this could have ever come from where it did...just blows me away. It's a real shame Lead Belly didn't put this w/at least a guitar w/it. real shame. Thank You Smithsonian' for making this available for all generations to find & enjoy. Seek n Ye Shall Find...!!!

Ram jam brought me here 👌

My job is so shitty, I'm going to start singing work chants at my computer checking my email, etc.

It should be "Leadbelly", one word. His name was Huddie Leadbetter, nicknamed "Leadbelly" because once he was shot in the belly (he spent years in prison for murder) and the bullet was never removed. First "bluesman" (Leadbelly was a "songster" rather than a "bluesman") who played in Europe...

lmao the genius!! a classic with only vocals and clapping 😂😂

Very glad someone could educate us on Black Betty.

First time listening to leadbelly instant fan 2019

I just got blown away. Wow is all I can say.

Taking some bong hits listening to true classics today is Leadbelly and scrolling through his songs it's amazing how many artists throughout the years took inspiration and even full songs from Leadbelly. Some iconic songs came from this man right here it's ashame he lived in such racial time he'd of been a legend in today's world

Best Blues singer I ever listened too and still do

That was awesome! This has always been on of my favorites from Ram Jam. I love hearing and reading about the origins of the song!

love how simplistic it is

Never heard this before. Rick Beato sent me here. I literally got chills.

As i got older, i was wondering who else did this song!! O'l Lead Belly, it was great. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻

Amazing sound for a recording that pre-dates magnetic tape.

legend

wait, so spiderbait's song was a cover of ram jam's, which was a cover of Lead belly's?

Now, i know where that 1970's band Ram Jam got their "Black Betty" song from. Lead Belly!!!!

I guessed if that music is from ram Jam, wow, Leadbelly is a legend,

I leaned about him in an English class in college. I hated the class and I couldn't stand the teacher but one good thing was he introduced us to Leadbelly 💕🤷

2019...still here...o my

I first heard this song from RamJam. 1970's were my teen years, I've been very confused about the lyrics for many years, last night I decided to look up the original song and found this first OFFICIAL recording fromm 1933, in this original version LeadBelly sings about Black Betty having a baby, other stories are around saying that Black Betty was 2 things. 1) that ugly whip 2) the vehicle that delivered the prisoners to that ugly prison I'm still confused, I'm trying to understand as my father was a racist and didn't know it, I didn't turn out like him simply because I was born to listen to what my soul and my guardian spirits ALWAYS told me, the clapping kind of sounded like an ugly whip in a strange way I'd love to be wrong about that.

Oh Damn this is epic

2023: Excellent. Thank You

Change playback speed to 1.5x and you got a jam!

Who's Black Betty now..... 🎶🎶🦊💖💖. Ces't Moi xxxxx 💕🎤🎸🎼🎵

Who are the 28 dead people that gave a thumbs down to Leadbelly.

enjoyed that sooo much. thanks for posting

Had no idea Lead Belly was still cuttin albums in 2015

Incredible

I love how no.one in the comments relatea this to general feel of punk all through the years.

damnit!so great

I found this a few years back, but it's always cool to find a song that you think is one groups song just to find out it was a cover like Train Kept A-Rollin from Aerosmith, blew my mind that it was a Yardbirds song. I know a shit load of old music too, 10's of thousands of songs, and I still keep finding stuff that was the original that someone else covered and I thought the band covering it that it was there song. I heard SRV playing Commit A Crime live and I thought it was his for a while and then I ran into the Howlin Wolf version and love it too!

Mr hip with the out time claps..too cool for school

My Big Mamma use to sing this song and others while she was work’in Dat MoJo in her Kitchen… I miss you Ethel Mae…

All music that is "American " is based of black cadence work songs. These songs are the basis of a mod American blues, rock, pop, country, country-western, hip hop, etc. It all started here

I was just wondering if anyone had any more information on this song. To me it sounds like a "work" song. Something used to synchronize the efforts of a work crew. I think I heard something like this in a video showing an all black crew straightening a stretch of railroad tracks with nothing but steel bars. Similar to the sea chanteys that were used to get sailors in sync when pulling on lines to raise sails. Does anyone know?

Anybody know Lead Belly? 1930's original Black Betty!

I remember my Grannie singing this song 🎵

Old Shreveport boy. Well mooringsport. Close enough.

still listening in 2016.

rly like this

Why isn't Lead Belly considered the father of rock and roll?

Sounds perfect at 1.4 speed (using custom option)

Is there nothing pop rock musicians didn't steal from Lead Belly?

Ain’t the internet great.

This is great, around what time was this?

Epic.....

☀️☀️☺️☺️💗💗 ...

Black Betty id public domain, you are welcome, young film makers

I'm still waiting for MOBY to sample parts if this song!

Wow...Well done

Even though what we think of "black betty" isn't exactly the same its so interesting how influential lead belly really was

My neighbor sings this song while raking leaves in his yard. Completely nude except for a red, sequined top hat.

super !!

2018

Americana good, Ty :D

If you're happy and you know it klap your...

Lots of confusion on this song. It's in 4/4 fast tempo and the clap is on 4, which is unusual. Or you can say he is superdividing a moderate tempo 4/4 and clapping on and-of-2.

♥️♥️♥️♥️

One man jukebox

Over yourself. Ha. 💖👍🎶

Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Leadbelly

Amazing. Never thought Huddie Leadbelly resembled Wesley Snipes but their he is.

*AMERICAN GODS?*

What would Lead Belly think of RamJam, and Spider Bait?

Vernon any where you have found him in motion, thanks

♥

When snooty older people tried to tell you that Ram Jam was the original.

American gods Brought me here

Black Eyed Susans Show

When u heard spiderbait first and never knew it was remade twice 🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

instrument free lady's n gents.

I'm enraptured

So Ram Jam did not write this? But thier own version. So did Tom Jones

VALHALLA?

Great cover! Like House Of The Rising Sun, it'll never be known who first did it.

The clapping is really hard to do, try it

Ram Jam ripped him off

Why did he steal this song from Lynyrd Skynyrd?

He sounds like he could be someone's granpa.

Man, sampling needs to be outlawed

sounds like ram jam just made up their own lyrics.

ive allways been told black betty was a british musket. her child is the lead ball that exited her barrel. it then proceeded to go blind, wild, and crazy.

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Brought here by American Gods and Caravan Palace.

?

Ram jam is better