Black Betty
| "Black Betty" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Lead Belly | |
| Released | 1939 |
| Genre | Work song, marching song, military cadence |
| Length | 1:55 |
| Label | Musicraft |
| Writer(s) | Traditional |
| "Black Betty" | |
|---|---|
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| Single by Ram Jam | |
| from the album Ram Jam | |
| B-side | "I Should Have Known" |
| Released | June 1977 |
| Format | 7-inch single |
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock |
| Length | 2:32 (single) |
| Label | Epic |
| Writer(s) | Traditional, Huddie Ledbetter |
| "Black Betty" | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Single by Tom Jones | |
| from the album Mr. Jones | |
| Released | November 2002 |
| Format | CD single |
| Genre | Pop rock |
| Length | 3:10 |
| Label | V2 |
| Producer(s) | Wyclef Jean, Jerry Duplessis |
| "Black Betty" | |
|---|---|
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|
| Single by Spiderbait | |
| from the album Tonight Alright | |
| Released | February 2004 |
| Format | CD single, Digital download |
| Genre | Hard rock, alternative rock |
| Length | 3:26 |
| Label | Universal Music (AUS), Interscope Records (US) |
| Producer(s) | Sylvia Massy |
"Black Betty" (Roud 11668) 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. There are numerous recorded versions, including a cappella, folk, and rock arrangements. The best known modern recordings are rock versions by Ram Jam, Tom Jones, and Spiderbait, all of which were hits.
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.
Some sources claim the song is derived from an 18th-century marching cadence about a flint-lock musket with a black painted stock; the "bam-ba-lam" lyric referring to the sound of the gunfire. In the British Army from the early 18th century the standard musket had a walnut stock, and was thus known (by at least 1785) as a 'Brown Bess'. There is no citation however for this firearm or a subsequent model being known as a 'Black Betty'.
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 of northern England/southern Scotland, and later 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.
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Wikipedia