I still hear it regularly on radio, and not just on rock radio. It is also often on the "jack" format station going right into an Ed Sheeran song, etc.
If they had a second act you would know about it. No - they are a typical one hit wonder, and any half decent bar band can play this song. You just really like this song, and I get that. If you think they are so great pleases post another song here and let us be the judge.
@@jamesbarrick3403 dude, not tryin' to be a smart mouth but... Actually that song is more complex than you think, i mean yeah, the song has 4/4 time signature except for the chorus that has some weird time signature and the 4ths used during this one that are also weird because Bill played them between the third and fourth beat, the solo is one of a kind with a common but iconic chromatic play with the intervals, this song it's just too awesome to be described as you do.
Believe it or not, I'm a 67 yr old white woman who just heard this song recently! And I love it!! I've watched ALL of the reaction videos! I can't stop playing it!♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
I loved the song in 1977 and in 2020. I am a Southern, black female. I also liked "Brother Louie" the version by Stories even though Hot Chocolate released it months earlier. Both songs written by black men.
True, how do people let a magazine tell them what music is good or not? All you have todo is listen, you will very quickly know exactly what YOU like and what YOU don’t. And some songs even grow on you, like when you first hear a song and aren’t sure you like it. But the next thing you know it’s in your personal rotation quite often. Music is universal, you don’t need someone to tell you what to like or dislike. Like Bob Marley said, “Who feels it, knows it.” ☮️🇨🇦
Back in the day my buddies and me used to see Starstruck play at the Boar's Head in Oxford, Ohio. Hearing Black Betty brings back memories of my V-8 Vega.
I was 15 when this came out. I had not heard anything like this(including the gainedout/distorted guitars) before and it totally steered me to rock, hard rock, and metal for LIFE! Before I heard Black Betty I was buying Elton John and Barry Manilow 45's..
superjet113 my mum told me that she was 15 when she danced this song for the first time. We are from Chile so she didn’t understand any word of the song, but she still loves this song, the rhythm. it brings good memories I think. I also think this song is great, it has soul/rhythm. I wish the guy who wrote the original lyrics had received the money he deserved, that’s sad 😞
This was the song we played to crank up the excitement (and the volume) as our high school varsity basketball team hit the floor for the warm-ups before home games (circa '78).
The Hell?! It's a fantastic, stunning and timeless HARD Rock song version that doesn't 'mock' the original, rather is some kind of Concorde style vs. the Wright Brothers plane original. lmao.
The Calgary Stampeders of the CFL have Black Betty day during training camp where they play Black Betty on the stadium sound system all day. They have over 20 different versions on a continuous loop. The trainer of the team started the tradition because he got tired of hearing rap all day 😂
This band Ram Jam use to be Starstruck and played in and around Oxford, Ohio in the early 70's. When I first say this on YT several years ago I recognized Bill and his guitar. I graduated from Miami U in 74 and I saw Starstruck numerous times in my 4 years there. They even opened for a James Gang ( Joel Walsh's first band out of Kent, Ohio) Concert once.
This was released in the disco era where a million songs all sounded the same. People have this warped view of music history because they forget all the forgettable songs. They make up 80% of what you hear. Only the good songs survive which feeds your belief that music was good in the old days. I was there in the 70s... the radios were full of shit.
First time I ever heard black betty my cousin pulled in my yard with a 68 camaro he just bought and black betty blasting from the FM it was 1978 i was12
I grew up on Long Island, where these guys were from (or were formed and jamming at the time), and one day I went out to our mail box and there was 45 record inside it, no packaging, brand new in it's sleeve with 'Time Bomb' on the flip side. It was put in our mail box as an early promotional thing I guess. I was 10, I still have it. The thing is probably worth something at this point.
I'm a NYEr and damn straight,NEVER heard this song on the radio or anywhere in NY in 77 or 78 and I mean I was all over Manhattan..............never even heard of it til a a couple years ago.............................LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!
Yeah, that's freaking wild. The Leadbelly version wasn't gonna be this kind of hit. The guitar drums and Bartlett's intense vocals are what makes this song so good.
By far he grooviest rock riff in history. It annoys the piss out of me that radio stations always cut out the upbeat guitar solo part. I mean...WHY?? They will play the last 16 choruses of 'Hey Jude', but they won't include that part of Black Betty? Same thing with the middle guitar part of 'Don't Fear the Reaper'. Stupid radio...
the grooviest riff in rock history? hmmm I really doubt that. possibly a million songs, maybe more and this is the one? Nope. It is a great song that has survived 40+ years... it is really good. no need for hyperbole.
As a kid growing up in New York City in the late 70s early 80s this song was never heard on the radio. However we were Introduced to this song in the 90’s It had became a massive club hit with a really fire remix. Never ever knew the original was by a black dude though.
one of the most iconic legendary songs you never really got to know about. I'll never forget it when it came out couldn't understand why this song didn't shoot them into Star status. I had a '71 Gran Prix with a 400 under the hood 4 barrel carb. great racing tires....I put this song on hit the rolling hills & back then they made the roads to fit the landscape so coming down a hill entering a bend they would angel the road so the vehicle would suck down into the bend banking off of it like a race track. turn around get back to the beginning & do it again......omg nothing could compare....!!!!!!!!!!! Ram Jam....what they did to them is shameful. I'd like to see them compensated write these guy the checks & attention they deserve & placed in Rock n Roll Hall of Fame to make up for suppressing them because of prejudice
"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. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations of earlier folk material; in this case an 18th-century marching cadence about a flintlock musket. 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 musket, a bottle of whiskey, a whip, or a penitentiary transfer wagon. "Black Betty" used as an expression for a liquor bottle may ultimately owe its origin to the famous pretty black barmaid who worked at the notorious Tom King's Coffee House in Covent Garden, London, which opened in 1720. Another claim: "Black Betty is not another Frankie & Johnny, nor yet a two-timing woman that a man can moan his blues about. She is the whip that was and is used in some Southern prisons. A convict on the Darrington State Farm in Texas, where, by the way, whipping has been practically discontinued, laughed at Black Betty and mimicked her conversation in the song.". And yet another reference: As late as the 1960s, the vehicle that carried men to prison was known as "Black Betty," though the same name was also used for the whip that so often was laid on the prisoners' backs, "bam-ba-lam." While Lead Belly's 1939 recording was also performed a-cappella (with hand claps in place of hammer blows), most subsequent versions added guitar accompaniment. These include folk-style recordings in 1964 by Odetta and countless adaptations since then. The NAACP gave it negative press due to ignorance which is in itself far more degrading.
@@KevinJDildonik That`s exactly right it was a British Army marching song from the early 1700s. It was later replaced with a slightly more accurate musket with an oiled walnut stock that became known as the Brown Bess.
@@brianshockledge3241 Perhaps the prisoners heard the prison guards sing it first= or it was just an all around known song. History is interesting but complicated with speculation
While riding the school bus in 1977, the black kids would sing this every day. There weren't many of us whites so we kept to ourselves and no one had any problems.
something I always wanted to have a discussion about is the difference between the Leadbelly version and the ram jam version. The Leadbelly version has a clap at sort of a weird part of the measure. It's pretty hard to get down. Ram jam's "clap" (they replaced it with a musical hit on the guitars bass and drums) makes it easier to follow along. I always wondered if that was a conscious choice or something they never even noticed.
Which I find hilarious because Ram Jam are essentially considered a one hit wonder because of this song but, with the exception of Bartlett, no one from Ram Jam are actually on it.
Jean-Charles Weyland : Not long ago I ran into Ivan Brown and he was kind enough to Autograph my 1968' original Vynal L.P. "Green Tambourine", super cool guy, I wish I could get Bill and R.G. Nave' s autographs, I believe the original drummer past away???
The song Black Betty was first recorded by the band Starstruck (A band made up of former members of the Lemon Pipers) in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Truckstar records. After they broke up, Bill Bartlett moved, made the band Ram Jam, and then took the Starstruck version of Black Betty, took out some parts and switched around some parts in the song. There used to be a video of the Starstruck version (45 spinning on a record player) on RU-vid but I think it got taken down.
@Batphink Reynolds : Ohhhh I got ya, yes he went into retirement so to speak. Ivan Brown "Lemon Pipers lead singer " is alive and well, he lives in northern California, I mailed my original 68' copy Vynal L..p and signed it and shipped it back with a ton of the Lemon Pipers gig itineraries, band photos, a c.d. of one of his current jam sessions pretty cool guy, very upbeat and outgoing.
You can’t listen to this without breaking out feeling awesome…loved this when it first came out and still can’t be beet. Wow….just don’t listen to it while driving..trust me. Lol
A Black Betty is not a gun. It was the name given by black road gangs to the club that the guards used to keep the prisoners in line. The Bam-a lam is the sound of it being used on the back.
@@markblack1163 Yeah, I agree. I've heard a number of explanations, including Leadbelly's own. Suffice to say, it is most likely to do with Blacks in prison.
Just an amazingly good song, and if it's history is from the chain gangs, even more remarkable that it has stayed with us through so much pain. Thanks to all who recorded it :)BTW, this series is phenomenal!!!
hadn't heard Black Betty on radio since I was a teen, in 2006 I bought a 76 black Mustang II, trying to name her. Then one day crussin around Black Betty came on the radio I cranked it up and said that's it, and she's been known as Black Betty ever since! just want thank the band Ram Jam
You want the truth I'll tell you. My dad played in a very popular cover band in the 80's in Cincinnati called Southern Rain. Bill was the other guitar player along with my dad. Black Betty was actually recorded by the band Starstruck....not Ram Jam, these guys are full of shit. My dad talked to Bill on the phone about 2 years ago. Bill lives in Liberty, IN and has for over 40 years. He has finally started getting royalties from Black Betty since the movie "Blow" came out with Johnny Depp. Bill for a while was playing in Oxford, OH playing piano a couple of times a week. My friend Jeremy delivers mail to Bill every day. I have cassette recordings and videos of Bill playing with southern rain(my dad's old band) in which he was a member of for a good 10 years.
@@randywoolum2648 you’re absolute correct… the meme era of Ram Jam had NOTHING to do with this song. It was recorded by Starstruck before Bill even joined Ram Jam. Bill lives outside Oxford Ohio and doesn’t really play anymore.
What they kind of gloss over is the fact that the Ram Jam record is not actually these guys, but is really just an edited version of the older recording Bartlett had made with his prior band Starstruck. Bartlett didn't totally disappear. Here's a recent interview by a fan who tracked him down and cold called him. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-m7rCvRSJjak.html
Any fan of this song might want to check out the original Starstruck edit, it's freaky how they chopped it up and got it to work ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-I73T5EJmaS4.htmlsi=ZCxc5xkCm1RXgyBS
Lived in the Los Angeles area from 1961 until 1987 then, l moved to the OC and l have listened to FM radio since 1974. But l don’t recall ever hearing this song until somewhere in the 1990’s how the hell can that be? They did say NY and LA stations wouldn’t play it.. must be the case. I know for sure I would have remembered hearing it if I ever did back then
Bill Bartlett is not a recluse and will answer anybody on the phone! He just doesn't want to talk to Jam Ram! I should know because I just spoke with Bill Bartlett! He's 80 and lives in Indiana. Bill was never a painter and has lived in Indiana since 1970!
He didn’t write it. Where the hell you get that? This is a direct rip off of three guys who played it around 1963 as folk music. They were Korner, Ray, and Glover. Young pickers you’re so lame… Don’t worry about Leadbelly listen to the three guys above.
It was an ole blues song when it was written. Milk Cow Blues or Big Ten Inch Record, performed by Aerosmith, are two more GREAT examples that will have you tappin' your toes.
I was digging for this record for years and couldn't find it. Then one day I'm going through my collection and I found I had doubles of it on a disco complication. Never thought it would be with disco.
NAACP called this song racist but only if it's sung by white guys. The orginal was done by a black guy. Who'd figure?? Tell you everything you need to know about the NAACP
It becaus we play for our kids my kids been hearing since they were very little. I love the long and hearing its origins is interesting. You guys should have had a top spot on in this song. I was born in 62 my kids are now 15 and 18 and play music influenced by rock. :-)
This is very interesting. Historically Black Bettys mostly referred either to a whiskey bottle or a prison guard's whip "bam-ba-lam." Never a black woman. But the mere connotation: a white man singing about a black woman or a black man singing about a white woman...well, that just wasn't done. Even in 2006, the University of New Hampshire banned the playing of Black Betty at UNH Hockey games. The crowd continued to sing it Acapella anyway :))
