black betty

Early recordings

The song was first recorded in the field by U.S. musicologists John and Alan Lomax in 1933, performed a capella by the convict James Baker (also known as Iron Head) and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas.

The Lomaxes were recording for the Library of Congress and later field recordings in 1934, 1936 and 1939 also include versions of "Black Betty". It was recorded commercially in New York in 1939 by blues artist Leadbelly, as part of a medley with two other work songs: "Looky Looky Yonder" and "Yellow Woman's Doorbells". Leadbelly had a long association with the Lomaxes, and had himself served time in State prison farms.

Post-1939

While Leadbelly's 1939 recording was also performed a capella, most subsequent versions added a guitar accompaniment. These include folk-style recordings in 1964 by Odetta, Harry Belafonte, and Alan Lomax himself. In 1976 a Cincinnati band, Starstruck, recorded a rock version of the song on the Truckstar label which had little success. In 1977, the rock band Ram Jam — whose members included Bill Bartlett, formerly of Starstruck — rerecorded the song with producers Jerry Kasenatz and Jeff Katz under Epic Records. The song became an instant hit with listeners, as it reached number 18 on the singles charts in the United States and the top ten in Australia. At the same time, the lyrics became the cause of a boycott by civil rights groups NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality, who claimed it insulted black women.

1990 Dance remixes of Ram Jam's version made the top twenty of the US dance charts and top thirty in Australia. Other notable artists such as Nick Cave (1986) and Tom Jones (2002) have covered the song. Australian band Spiderbait released a version of the song in 2004 on their Tonight Alright album (Interscope Records), which reached #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart in Australia May 2004 and stayed there for three weeks. This version was later accredited double platinum in Australia and was the third best selling single of 2004.

In 2006 the University of New Hampshire administration controversially banned the playing of Ram Jam's Black Betty at UNH Hockey games in an effort to be "sensitive" and to foster a culture of "diversity".

Meaning

The origin and meaning of the lyrics are subject to debate. Some sources claim the song is derived from an 18th century marching cadence about a flint-lock rifle with a black head-stock; the "bam-ba-lam" lyric referring to the sound of the gunfire. Soldiers in the field were said to be "hugging Black Betty". In this interpretation, the rifle was superceded by its "child", a rifle known as a "Brown Bess".[1]

Other sources claim the term was a contemporary reference for a prostitute, a prison bullwhip, or the "paddywagon".

In Leadbelly's version of the song, Black Betty is characterized as a woman with a child:

Oh, Black Betty
bam-ba-lam
Oh, Black Betty
bam-ba-lam

Black Betty had a baby
bam-ba-lam
Black Betty had a baby
bam-ba-lam

Damn thing gone crazy
bam-ba-lam
Damn thing gone crazy
bam-ba-lam

In an interview^[1] conducted by Alan Lomax with a former prisoner of the Texas penal farm named Doc Reese (aka "Big Head"), Reese stated that the term "Black Betty" was used by prisoners to refer to the "Black Maria" -- the penetentiary transfer wagon. Below is a song in which the term "Black Betty", used to refer to the wagon, appears in the context of a prison work song.

Black Betty's in the bottom,
I can hear her roar,
She's bringing some po sucker,
With an achin soul.

She'll bring you here and leave you,
Let your hammer ring,
For a hundred summers,
Let your hammer ring.

(and now we hear the most familiar part of the song)

Black Betty's got a baby,
Let your hammer ring,
Damn thing's gone crazy,
Let your hammer ring,
Dipped its head in gravy,
Let your hammer ring.

In this interpretation, Black Betty's baby may be the prisoner himself, who has by his own admission "gone crazy" -- seeing as it was "Black Betty" who delivered the prisoners into the prison world ("She's bringing some po sucker"). In the lyrics above, the phrase "Let your hammer ring" is used repeatedly. In this case, the "hammer" refers to the hoes used by prisoners to break up the ground in the cotton fields. The song itself was used to keep a steady rhythm among the workers as they toiled in the field. It had the added benefit of helping the time go by faster through collective participation.

Many early blues and proto-blues songs follow the theme that all the wickedness of man (Adam) is the result of a woman (Eve). A number of early artists sang of how they got mixed up with a woman and ended up in prison as a result. As such, the characterization of the prison wagon as a woman is not unprecedented.

In the media

• Bob Dylan parodied the song in his experimental novel Tarantula (published 1971).
• Spiderbait's version can be heard in the movie Without a Paddle and videogame Need for Speed: Underground 2.
• The 2005 film The Dukes of Hazzard used both versions by Spiderbait (on the trailer) and Ram Jam (in the film itself).
• Ram Jam's version was also used in the movie Blow starring Johnny Depp.
• New Japan professional wrestler Togi Makabe uses the Ram Jam version as his entrance music.
• Boston Red Sox pitcher Mike Timlin uses the song when he comes out of the bullpen at home games.
• Texas Rangers' second baseman Ian Kinsler uses this song as his intro music when he comes up to bat.

Selected list of recorded versions

• 1933 James Baker (AKA Iron Head) and group
• 1939 Huddie Ledbetter AKA Leadbelly
• 1964 Odetta
• 1964 Harry Belafonte
• 1964 Alan Lomax
• 1964 Dave "Snaker" Ray (Koerner, Ray, and Glover Lots More Blues, Rags, and Hollers album)
• 1976 Starstruck
• 1977 Ram Jam, US #18
• 1981 Nazareth
• 1986 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Kicking Against the Pricks album
• 2002 Tom Jones
• 2002 Throttlerod
• 2004 Spiderbait, AUS #1
• 2006 Meat Loaf, Bat Out Of Hell III single B-side

External links

• Black Betty at the All Music Guide
• http://www.freeblackbetty.com/