I remember when some kid auditioned for Canadian Idol with that song. He made it on the show but it turns out that that was the only song he knew how to sing. As I recall, he didn't last very long. 😂
I discovered the Ram Dam version a few years back and loved it immediately. Since I've picked up bits and pieces of the story of the song Black Betty, a satisfying little project. There's probably enough on this song for a doctoral thesis. Thank you for filling in gaps in the legend.🎶🎸🥁🕺
fun fact, Kurt discovered Leadbelly after reading an interview with William S. Burroughs where he said something along the lines of these younger musicians should just throw away their guitars away and listen to leadbelly"
What drives me crazy about this song is when I hear it on the radio; they always play the short version, which cuts out about a minute and 20 seconds of the best rock and roll to ever exist. Why? Was 4 minutes too long of a song for radio when it was released? That must be it…oh wait, radio followed it up with AC/DC who just sit and repeat the same line for 5 minutes. Super annoying.
"Generic named radio station that claims to play ONLY THE BEST!" Proceedes to play Back in Black and the Final Countdown back to back followed up by another AC/DC tune, lol.
There was a comment on the official black betty video which proclaimed "The singer looks like he has the ability to turn water into weed.". I Laughed so hard at it that I had to mention it here. Such a weird and strange song! The guitar the singer uses in this song was later tracked down because it has a very interesting history. If you look at the headstock....it looks like an Ibanez Headstock on a Gibson Les Paul. People were really confused by this guitar for years until it was found. The Singer modded that guitar heavily and the headstock broke in half. The Singer redid the headstock entirely and routed a different shape on it. The top face of the guitar body was custom glued with a different type of wood than it originally came with and painted. It's a really unique Gibson Les Paul.
The controversy is only among the uninformed. Anyone knowledgeable in traditional _("Trad")_ American music knows this tune is obviously an old 19th century _(or earlier)_ slave field chant. An interesting version, easily located, was recorded in the sixties by _"Koerner, Ray, & Glover."_
It wasn't named Where Did You Sleep Last Night. Lead Belly's song was named Black Girl. Later changed the lyric to "my girl" and then Nirvana happened. It does go back even further and In The Pines was also a name used.
Interesting fact by Bill Bartlett the singer from Ram Jam this song was credited to Ram Jam, but in actuality it was performed by a band he formed and was lead singer in just prior to Ram Jam called Starstruck.
The song has as much to do with Bettie Page as it does with Betty Rubble, Betty Crocker, Apple Brown Betty, or *"Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian"* _(which is not at all)._
I remember hearing this song in the underrated 2000s teenage mutant ninja turtles movie called tmnt 2007. It’s the scene where nightwatcher aka Ralph’s vigilante alter ego tries to catch a runaway monster from the brotherhood.
The controversy is only among the uninformed. Anyone knowledgeable in traditional _("Trad")_ American music knows this tune is obviously an old 19th century _(or earlier)_ slave field chant. An interesting version, easily located, was recorded in the sixties by _"Koerner, Ray, & Glover."_
I've been listening to this song for years now and before all these movies and other things that this song was on!!!?? It's just another kick ass rock song from the 70's and I love it 😀 😍 🙌 👌!!!! Just saying Ya'll!!? God bless you all today 🙏 Shalom
Was "u know it gets me high" in the original? If so, then I'd say that it leans toward booze...although: when on the way 2 jail in a wagon - that's when everyone meets up, gets reacquainted, and tells war stories. I know that the experience of enslavement is vastly different, but was this aspect? Perhaps not.
I never heard of prescription amphetamine drugs called "black betties". My dad use to talk about in the 70s they would get "bottle caps" that was an amphetamine.
It seems odd to me that people are so confused by this song, when the biggest hint to the meaning is right there in the lyrics - if Black Betty had a child that has gone blind, then Black Betty is in fact whiskey, and this reference dates to the prohibition era when wood alcohol would sometimes be passed off as grain alcohol, or used to extend the volume of it. Wood alcohol is dangerously poisonous, and drinking it can cause blindness. Reading the lyrics again, no other interpretation even comes close to making sense, but that one fits all the way.
Musicians have built on the work of other musicians from the beginning of time. "That sounds good...lemme try this with it." Writing music to get rich is a relatively recent development. Before that, people made music because they had to. Because they must.
I think Tom Jone's version is better. I always figured it was about a White guy who was with a Black girl who got pregnant. Black girl tries to say he was the father. "She must think I am blind" would refer to the fact the child looks nothing like him. My 2 cents.
I always thought it was about a black girl that was easy to hook up with and she blew your mind and your you know what you know what I mean hahaha yeah tonight
I'm surprised that the version of "Black Betty" that was featured in Rayman Legends wasn't mentioned. That was a really fun level and a surprise combination of music and platforming.
Spiderbait version of the songs was used for the soundtrack in the movie "Without a paddle" 2004 and The Sugar Land 95 are the 95 African-American individuals unearthed during a construction in Sugar Land, Texas, 30 miles southwest of Houston. Archaeologists found evidence that the 95 individuals belonged to the state of Texas' convict leasing system and were buried in the unmarked gravesite.
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How many albums did the band bad wolves produce?
I like how every once in a while you reach back into oldschool rock
I played this song for my grandmother who happened to be a black woman named Betty. She just chuckled and walked away.
based
Racist
Liar
Your grandma sounds awesome. 👍
@@PaulSmoker420 she sounds imaginary
Black Betty will always be a jammin' ass song
Remember this song from when I was a kid in the 70’s. Great song! Damn thing gone wild!
"Black Betty" was in Kung Pow: Enter the Fist in 2002 as well.
I am a great magician.....now your clothes are red. - Master Betty
@@daBEAGLE1017 “But isn’t Betty, a woman’s name?”
@@russc.9618 Just remember one thing from this conversation, "killing is badong"
I need my goberchucks
I know this song from Need for Speed Underground 2. That version covered by Spiderbait.
I knew a guy who thought the lyrics for black Betty went " oh black Betty, family lamb" and it's all i can think about any time I hear it.
That is hilarious 😂
Thanks a lot, now I’m going to think that!
Every family should have a lamb, but not everyone can afford one. Some of us have to settle for a goat _(or a secondhand lizard)._
I remember when some kid auditioned for Canadian Idol with that song. He made it on the show but it turns out that that was the only song he knew how to sing. As I recall, he didn't last very long. 😂
Thanks for sharing.
I discovered the Ram Dam version a few years back and loved it immediately. Since I've picked up bits and pieces of the story of the song Black Betty, a satisfying little project. There's probably enough on this song for a doctoral thesis. Thank you for filling in gaps in the legend.🎶🎸🥁🕺
Australian band Spiderbait covered it a few years ago. Rippling version too.
Like 12 years ago…man, time flies
Yes mate agreed top version.
Rippling?
What’s crazy is Australia had a non white ban on the country around the time black poeple created the song
fun fact, Kurt discovered Leadbelly after reading an interview with William S. Burroughs where he said something along the lines of these younger musicians should just throw away their guitars away and listen to leadbelly"
One too many, "away."
@@OttoByOgraffeyPedantic.
Black Betty had a child bambalam the damn thing gone wild bambalam
What drives me crazy about this song is when I hear it on the radio; they always play the short version, which cuts out about a minute and 20 seconds of the best rock and roll to ever exist. Why? Was 4 minutes too long of a song for radio when it was released? That must be it…oh wait, radio followed it up with AC/DC who just sit and repeat the same line for 5 minutes. Super annoying.
"Generic named radio station that claims to play ONLY THE BEST!"
Proceedes to play Back in Black and the Final Countdown back to back followed up by another AC/DC tune, lol.
The edit gives it more punch for radio. Sometimes it works in favor. Long versions for parties🥂🚬
@@jasfan8247 AC/DC sure could use more punch for the radio then. All their songs could really be edited down to 30 seconds 😂
Fuuuuuuck off about the AC/DC bullshit. The biggest misconception in rock.
@@steelerfreak1977 lol. What misconception?
There was a comment on the official black betty video which proclaimed "The singer looks like he has the ability to turn water into weed.". I Laughed so hard at it that I had to mention it here. Such a weird and strange song! The guitar the singer uses in this song was later tracked down because it has a very interesting history. If you look at the headstock....it looks like an Ibanez Headstock on a Gibson Les Paul. People were really confused by this guitar for years until it was found. The Singer modded that guitar heavily and the headstock broke in half. The Singer redid the headstock entirely and routed a different shape on it. The top face of the guitar body was custom glued with a different type of wood than it originally came with and painted. It's a really unique Gibson Les Paul.
This song is actually about moonshine! Back in the day in the south some folks used to call black Betty moonshine.
Interesting....I was always told it was about a firearm.
I don’t think so.
Moonshine can’t have children.
The controversy is only among the uninformed. Anyone knowledgeable in traditional _("Trad")_ American music knows this tune is obviously an old 19th century _(or earlier)_ slave field chant. An interesting version, easily located, was recorded in the sixties by _"Koerner, Ray, & Glover."_
Great vid R&RTS. Thanks ! 🤘
It wasn't named Where Did You Sleep Last Night. Lead Belly's song was named Black Girl. Later changed the lyric to "my girl" and then Nirvana happened.
It does go back even further and In The Pines was also a name used.
Youre on the wrong comment section bud
Ministry does one hell of a cover of this song also.
Ministry🤘🤪🤘🙋♂😁✌😎
I think I only discovered this song via the Spiderbait cover.
"Damn Thing Gone Wild!"
Let's not forget in was also used on the soundtrack during the climactic fight scene in Kung Pow! Enter the Fist.
My favorite version will always be
Whoa! Black Betty
AM BA LANCE !!!
Whoa! Black Betty
AM BA LANCE !!!
Amber lamps
Vid starts at 0:53
Interesting fact by Bill Bartlett the singer from Ram Jam this song was credited to Ram Jam, but in actuality it was performed by a band he formed and was lead singer in just prior to Ram Jam called Starstruck.
It was also in the CGI only TMNT film from maybe 10 12 years ago, though I don't think that's Ram Jam version. You forget a lot in 10-12 years
Someone suggested it came from an army song about the Black Bess gun.
My dad likes how the music video reminds him of some of the biker events he goes
IS the guy clapping in the film clip the regular lead singer of Ram Jam?
I know the bass player’s daughter! She lives a town over . Good friends with a former band mate of mine
Wow that's really cool man
I have never thought of Betty Page when listening to this song. But that's just me.
The song has as much to do with Bettie Page as it does with Betty Rubble, Betty Crocker, Apple Brown Betty, or *"Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian"* _(which is not at all)._
I knew this day was coming, but I thought it would have been raycons
"Amba-lance" 🎵
Oh he's leaking! Call the amber lamps!
Someone call 9-1
Call…call….Ambalance lol
Amazing. This is one o my fav songs of all time.
I have a kitty at home that I name Betty because of this song
I remember hearing this song in the underrated 2000s teenage mutant ninja turtles movie called tmnt 2007. It’s the scene where nightwatcher aka Ralph’s vigilante alter ego tries to catch a runaway monster from the brotherhood.
"I must apologize for Wimp Lo. He is an idiot. We have purposely trained him wrong as a joke"
'I am bleeding. Therefore making me the victor!'
“I see the way you look at him. I'm a man, too, you know? I go pee pee standing up.”
are the 4 minute videos made specifically to get ads out?
James "Ironhead" Baker looks like a badass.
is that a more recent photo of bill at "3:21"?
The controversy is only among the uninformed. Anyone knowledgeable in traditional _("Trad")_ American music knows this tune is obviously an old 19th century _(or earlier)_ slave field chant. An interesting version, easily located, was recorded in the sixties by _"Koerner, Ray, & Glover."_
I've been listening to this song for years now and before all these movies and other things that this song was on!!!?? It's just another kick ass rock song from the 70's and I love it 😀 😍 🙌 👌!!!! Just saying Ya'll!!? God bless you all today 🙏 Shalom
Was "u know it gets me high" in the original? If so, then I'd say that it leans toward booze...although: when on the way 2 jail in a wagon - that's when everyone meets up, gets reacquainted, and tells war stories. I know that the experience of enslavement is vastly different, but was this aspect? Perhaps not.
How is this song not about a woman? Black Betty had a child, damn thing gone blind/wild/whatever.
Lead Belly has one of the craziest life stories. Would make a good video
It is a good song.
actually the bassist ( David Goldfilies) played with the Allman Brother Band after Ram Jam was Disolve, he is still rockin and play in Florida.
I thought Black Betties were pills. Amphetamines.
I never heard of prescription amphetamine drugs called "black betties". My dad use to talk about in the 70s they would get "bottle caps" that was an amphetamine.
@@the_original_Bilb_Ono well the term is obviously slang. It was very commonly used in the 60s and 70s.
I came here to say that, I thought it was about black Betty's ( 70s slang for uppers )
They were called "black beauties".
@@-HighTide yeah you're right
It seems odd to me that people are so confused by this song, when the biggest hint to the meaning is right there in the lyrics - if Black Betty had a child that has gone blind, then Black Betty is in fact whiskey, and this reference dates to the prohibition era when wood alcohol would sometimes be passed off as grain alcohol, or used to extend the volume of it. Wood alcohol is dangerously poisonous, and drinking it can cause blindness.
Reading the lyrics again, no other interpretation even comes close to making sense, but that one fits all the way.
No evidence of this.
Musicians have built on the work of other musicians from the beginning of time. "That sounds good...lemme try this with it." Writing music to get rich is a relatively recent development. Before that, people made music because they had to. Because they must.
OF COURSE the naacp had a problem with it 🙄
The radio station said that Black Betty was referring to a black slave that was repeatedly raped on sugar plantation by her master and his friends
It was about Bettie Page? Cool.
The song also appeared in Kung Fu: Enter the Fist.
I always thought it was about heroin
Great video.
Black Betty had a Child and the thing went Wild 😁🤫😆😆😆😆
Pastrana 199 used this song on Monsters on Main street in 2008
I think Tom Jone's version is better.
I always figured it was about a White guy who was with a Black girl who got pregnant. Black girl tries to say he was the father. "She must think I am blind" would refer to the fact the child looks nothing like him.
My 2 cents.
Lead belly also sang THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN
Black Betty was a cow (ram-a-lam). She's a hamburger now (ram-a-lam).
The Dukes of hazzard version was by Australian band spiderbait
First time I heard this song was when raphael fought the jersey devil
I always found this song to be very annoying fortunately its only two minutes long
In the early 1800s it was slang for a bottle of whiskey
Spiderbait turned it into a song about a car in their music video
1 min ad on 4.5 min video
how am i now finding your channel.
The world has been wondering.
“The NAACP was mad at them because they were white guys that weren’t in prison and had their own freedom”
Dude….I don’t where you read that but….😂
Is anyone proofreading this? 🤣🤣🤣
That's experience speaking 🔊 facts about the times.
I always thought it was about heroin lol
I thought this song was about drugs
How many albums did the band "bad Wolves produce?
Dude, that pic you showed of the guy wearing the Fedora was not Bill Bartlett from Ram Jam lol!!!
I always thought it was about a black girl that was easy to hook up with and she blew your mind and your you know what you know what I mean hahaha yeah tonight
The boycott would not be futile today.
Could you guys please do an episode on Alan Wilson and Bob Hite from the band Canned Heat?
Blues muddafukkas
We all know what it's about. 😼
No disclaimer
Hey did your new hires not work out or just not start yet? I got some new equipment if you need help again.
4 minute video, 1 of them being an ad
I remember the cover of "Black Betty", but I just can't remember who sang the cover. Cool upload!
Maybe Spiderbait. They are an Aussie band and it was huge here.
@@tjm8128; Yeah, now I remember! They made that song ROCK. That was one great tune!
Jeez, a 1:20 intro for a 4:30 clip.
Yeah, it's kinda confusing *bam ba lam....*
I know this song from the TMNT CG movie.
Kung Pow: Enter The Fist
That is what always think of when I hear the song. Great movie.
@@deansmith6593 Right on, Dean! 🤣😂
They should sue for royalties just like dying did diddy
I'm surprised that the version of "Black Betty" that was featured in Rayman Legends wasn't mentioned. That was a really fun level and a surprise combination of music and platforming.
Lead belly?
I LOATHE this song! 😂.
Spiderbait version of the songs was used for the soundtrack in the movie "Without a paddle" 2004 and The Sugar Land 95 are the 95 African-American individuals unearthed during a construction in Sugar Land, Texas, 30 miles southwest of Houston. Archaeologists found evidence that the 95 individuals belonged to the state of Texas' convict leasing system and were buried in the unmarked gravesite.
I think if it's confusing it's on you he remade a song
Do house of the rising sun video
I fucking love lead belly
It was also used in Kung Pow
1000° like.🇮🇹
This video felt very rushed. I think i prefer the other 'true rock n roll stories' channel.
I have never seen an ad before the actual subject matter starts. Bad time to look into this channel.
Start watching from 53 seconds, you'll thank me.
This video was 1/4 an ad for some stupid headphones. Good vid otherwise
At 1:00 is where the history starts
Ramjamoram.