Good Night Irene
Lead Belly
"Huddie Ledbetter was the foremost Black Blues musicians to gain the attention of White audiences and become a leading figure in the media in the early thirties. The fact that he was an ex-convict fascinated people at the time far more than his musical talents.
Ledbetter was born in 1888 in Louisiana. As a young man, he learned the guitar and began performing for local functions. By the time he reached his late teens, he had landed in the red-light district in Shreveport. Apart from his attraction to women, music was his first priority. After a brief marriage, Ledbetter picked up the 12-string guitar and began performing his own songs as well as some other artists' music. His first song was "Irene," which later became one of his most popular songs, "Goodnight, Irene."
About 1915, Ledbetter met Blind Lemon Jefferson. Jefferson taught him how to play the slide guitar. The duo worked together for a few months, but since Ledbetter had a problem following the law, Jefferson went his separate way. Two years later, Ledbetter was imprisoned for shooting a man and was sentenced to thirty years on the Shaw State Prison Farm. Ledbetter continued performing in prison, but luckily in 1925 he was pardoned by Pat Neff, the governor of Texas on his last day of office. Neff had heard Ledbetter play at a prison visit prior to the pardon.
After his pardon, Ledbetter took the name Lead Belly and held several regular jobs for the remainder of the decade. But Lead Belly could not seem to follow the law. He was convicted in 1930 for attempted murder. He got 30 years at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Unbelievably, Lead Belly got another chance. In 1933, John Lomax, who was researching Blues and American music for the Library of Congress, came across Lead Belly's reputation. Lomax was so impressed by the Black prisoner-singer that he helped him get out of prison in 1934. The two began a partnership. Lead Belly became Lomax's driver while at the same time he was able to record and make future plans.
The partnership soon dissolved. Lomax and the media portrayed Lead Belly as a savage. He was dressed in his prison uniforms in photographs and on stage. The White community went wild about the fact that he was an ex-convict, but Lead Belly felt demeaned. The fiasco turned out not to be very profitable for either Lomax or Lead Belly. Neither was the partnership. Lead Belly rebelled and left Lomax after he recorded for the ARC (American Record Company) in 1935. It turned out that the type of music Lead Belly was recording was not what the Black people wanted to hear. However, some of his beat recordings were right for the ARC.
After his split with Lomax, Lead Belly relocated to New York, where he finally found his fame. There, he recorded for a few different labels, including Musicraft, Bluebird, and Folkways. Most of his recordings in the early Forties were, surprisingly enough, children-oriented. The recordings went on to become some of Lead Belly's most successful. He still had not reached the stardom he was hoping for, but he did not give up. Lead Belly even attempted to convince Hollywood to pick him up. When that didn't happen, he settled and signed with Capitol Records in 1944.
Shortly after recording approximately a dozen albums for Capitol, Lead Belly became ill. He never gave up and continued to perform, but in 1949 he played his last performance at the University of Texas. He died only two months later on December 6, 1949, in New York. Ironically, in 1951, the Weavers started the new Folk revolution and made "Goodnight Irene" a huge success. In 1957, Lonnie Donegan covered "Rock Island Line," another Lead Belly original, and sent the song and the Folk revolution soaring. Lead Belly was responsible for popularizing the 12-string guitar."
"It is very rare that the music of one musician so defines an instrument. It is not an unreasonable statement to say that without Leadbelly the 12-string guitar would have faded into obscurity. The rural style of the early blues player like Blind Willie McTell was being replaced by newer urban sounds. In Mexican-American music, guitars and mandolins were being replaced by accordions and brass band instruments. Without Leadbelly championing the 12-string in the ?30s and ?40s, it probably would have passed into the historical curiosity category along with harp guitars and bass mandolins."
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Irene goodnight, Irene Goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I will see you in my dreams.
Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I take a great notion
To jump in the river and drown
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I will see you in my dreams
Stop your ramblin
Stop your gamblin
Stop staying out late at night
Go home to your wife and family
And stay by thr fireside bright
Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I will see you in my dreams
Sometimes I live in the counry
Sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I take a great notion
To jump in the river and drown
Irene goodnight, Irene Goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I will see you in my dreams
Stop your ramblin
Stop your gamblin
Stop staying out late at night
Go home to your wife and family
And stay by the fireside bright
Oh Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene
I will see you in my dreams |
