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.
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.
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.
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!♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
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.” ☮️🇨🇦
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 😞
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.
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).
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.
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 😂
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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!!!!
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!!!
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
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 TH-cam 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.
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.
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.
"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
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.
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
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.
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. th-cam.com/video/m7rCvRSJjak/w-d-xo.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 th-cam.com/video/I73T5EJmaS4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ZCxc5xkCm1RXgyBS
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. :-)
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.
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
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.
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 :))
This band is much better than they got credit for.
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.
They didn't wright Black Betty.
@@jamesbarrick3403 any bar band could play black betty, in the wrong way
@@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.
@@harislade6676 write
This is one of the greatest songs ever made. It's a classic and will never die.
Thumbs up everytime this song comes on the radio and you crank it up instinctively.
I've got on my play list here, on TH-cam, when I have a lazy day I play it , to get my butt in gear.
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.
Yesss! Always.🤙🏼
No. No I don't.
never heard it on radio... sadly
I saw them live in the Fall of '77. Ram Jam opened, followed by Little River Band, and then the headliner Foreigner. All three bands were great.
Everyone encounters diamonds on their road of life. That is one of yours.
I was 7 in '77
@@RaininMortars that's good to know thank God you'd learn math in school
@@nickajk1 yes, thank God
now that must of been a show.... 1 year before I was born.
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.
classic frigging tune. absolutely deserved number one spot. I hate censors !
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!♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡
Me either and I'm 75..
Leadbelly got Black Betty from prison road crews in the south. It was sung to time the rhythm for breaking rock to gravel the road.
The prison crew got Black Betty from Fred Flintstone. It was inspired by his burning desire for his best friends wife.
Running down a dream Tom Petty.
Rime Time WTF is wrong with you?
Hahaha I think if you really know history it would probly be vice versa you cornball ass nazi. Stay under that rock u live under coward boy.
@@URKillingme100 true story.
Rolling Stone the silliest magazine of 1978 etc etc etc.Great song still very popular
alex may Fuck, “Rolling Stone” eh? Those are the tossers that hated Led Zeppelin’s first album!
How dim can you get?
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.” ☮️🇨🇦
Rolling Stone first simply pretentious, now woke & pretentious 👏
One of the greatest rock song ever ...
I’d give you a like but you’re at 69. Rock on.
Ram Jam's vesion is the best
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..
I'm so glad Ram Jam turned things around for you. I would hate to live life having to listen to Elton John and Barry Manilow all the time.
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 😞
I have decades accumulation of speeding tickets to prove it’s an awesome driving song 😂😂😂😂☺️
I’m fifty and this song has always been in my life’s soundtrack.
I'm 70 and still love the song I never grew up
I’m 68 and I have always loved this song!
@@patriciabarkley735 I'm 18 months and shit in my diapers too.
@@stejer211 , It’s alright. You will get over it!
@@stejer211 I’m 93 and shit in my diapers over this song
Those original versions would never have been radio hits. Arrangement is everything.
Exactly!
To me,this song pays homage to history, it is a great song, nothing malicious....I Loved this song since I was little...
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.
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).
Black Betty is like Mississippi Queen to me! One of the best blues rock songs ever! I play em both to this day.
There were many great driving songs put out by Ram Jam. I used to blast Ram Jam while driving along the water 30 years ago, and I still do!
This is still one of my all time favorite rock songs ! It has everything a Rock song needs to rock out !
I’m not into hard rock but black Betty is one of my favourites!!! Love the story behind it..
Love the transparency of these guys in this vid. I thank y'all for a solid driving song in my 50 years of life
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.
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 😂
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.
Josh Gellis who’s claiming otherwise?
I always thought it was about this smoking hot black chick that was a bit of a nympho... could just be my 14 year old mind taking me there lol
@@JasperJanssen did you watch the video? The NAACP made a big stink about it.
I remember hearing the song the first time on the radio. I was just "Wow!" The guitars blew me away.
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.
I miss when music had balls
And you knew who the artist was due to their distinctive sound.
..sad but true
I'm more into music with boobs.
I didn't know music could have balls.
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.
@@txicocamotl Pavarotti?
When this song was popular, I really anticipated this group becoming well known and successful, with follow-up hits.
Proof that quality passes the test of time - even if it's cancelled, the youth will find it and treasure it.
Radar Love is the best driving song ever, but this is definitely top ten... maybe top five. LA Woman is also up there...
PtolemyJones Born to Wild is my go to driving song.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. 🚗
Deep Purple - Highway Star, hands-down winner best driving song ever. Radar Love close 2nd.
Running on empty jackson brown blows all them away
Gear Jammer, George Thoroughgood
This one of my favorite songs from the 70's, my 5 year old always sings it. Isn't the same without Bill Bartlett singing.
Are people too sensitive about everything, it’s a great song for drums and guitar just enjoy it.
Sensitive about EVERYTHING??? naw, just MONEY AND RESPECT basically
Evidently they were "sensitive" back in the 1970s too
I wonder how sensitive would "people" be if I went on tour singing a song about white Betty in a negative light, being a "black" man.
@@indigameriseminalindian the song was written originally by a black artist if you wrote a cool song.
@@rodneysettle8106 I know that, because I watched the video
The Best Juke Box song I had ever heard besides zz tops la grange!
These interviews are fantastic. As a musician they are a life saver. Keep ‘em coming, thanks!
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.
They were from Oxford Ohio.
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
This song is the one that gets the most attention but there are many others on that album which are very soulful.
He album is great
This song kicks ass!!!!💜💜💜💜
My favorite song as of 2019...
In high school my best friend had the album on 8 track and he would play the whole thing at parties. The whole album is quite good.
I absolutely LOVE this song!
Excelente , saludos desde Costa Rica, pura vida !!!
The silliest song of 1977!! What a load of crap! That WAS a GREAT song!!
"best driving song ever made"... No... "Radar Love" is the one, the lyrics themselves are about someone driving, and the music is just perfect.
I love this classic song from my youth in the 70's......
They had a great talented guitarists & drummer... and great singer...number - one
This is a killer old classic song and Ram Jam really rocks the heck out of it!!! What a great band! :)
Fantastic tune. As hard hitting as ever and I don’t hear anything “ offensive “ in it other than the beating the drums are taking.
Thats my jam
Joalberto
Shocking Bartlett never got a dime for his additions. He brought it to life and added so much.
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.
The timing of the guitars and the whole composition is just a masterpiece. It's stands on it's own.
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!!!!
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!!!
Bartlett was in the Lemon Pipers who had a hit with" Green Tambourine."
I was 4 when this song came out. It was my first 45. Ram Jam’s Black Betty taught me that some music must be played loud!
Well i was thirteen years old when it came out .i am from The Netherlands and it did go number one there..i still love it.
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
No one but the prison crew deserves it!
Bill Bartlett was the lead guitarist for the band The Lemon Pipers in 67/68'
Drop your silver in my tambourine
Help a poor man fill his pretty dream
It's been a while since I haven't heard that song ^^
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 TH-cam but I think it got taken down.
@Batphink Reynolds : Not sure what your referring to?
@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.
Back in the nineties this song ended all the parties of my secondary school. It screams “this is your last chance to get kissed” :)
A song from the 70s Ended 90s Parties .. HOW Coll is that The 70s ,, WERE FAAAAN TAST TIC
Legendary Classic that crossed genre's a Hip Hop staple....!
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.
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...
"Hey Jude" drives me nuts!!!
All I can say to that is don't listen to radio.
What about the single version of 'Roundabout' or the extended solo on 'Hold Your Head Up' by Argent?
It always comes down to money, time costs money...
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.
I grown up ,with the funky song in the Sonoran Desert 🌵 Mexico too.
Love this song.....its on my Spotify playlist ....you'd never get away with this today
"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.
Cheers for that, Kurt...I didnt realise there were earlier versions than Leadbelly's...I always thought the song was his :)
Love your research
Nice copy-paste.
@@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
I challenge anyone to walk down the street with this on headphones without syncing up your footsteps to the kick drum.
I'm a drummer and anybody with rythm would step to the backbeat.
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.
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
The song Leadbelly got his version from was about a gun. "Black Betty" was a gun, hence Bam-a-lam.
@Carolina to the Caribbean
I suspect something like that perhaps.
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.
Every body claims they know what Black Betty means.
@@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.
@stringbenderE2E Funny how conservatives are the most thin skinned snowflakes though eh?
I would love to see Bill Bartlett come back out of hiding and take his rightful place among this iconic band.
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.
If I can get your email, I will send you some pictures and recordings of Bill with Southern Rain
@@randywoolum2648 what's your email address, Randy?! I'm interested
@@adamericsson6903 me 2
@@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.
I love this song and love lore. Thank you for combining two things I love!
This is one of the best songs of the 70's.
And there were 1000s and 1000s Of Huge hits in the 1970s
Bill Bartlett, lead guitar and the rest of the band, RAM JAM, were cheated out of their careers. What sad story!
what how? why they only have song on their account?
@@davisxd4745 watch the video. That’s how.
I played the shit out of this song in the early 80's
Everytime i had to take i BIG SHIT I played this song so I could squeeze it out
Late 70s to When it was RELEASED ,, 70s BABY
Number one ... One hit wonder of all time..
Great job you guys.
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.
th-cam.com/video/m7rCvRSJjak/w-d-xo.html
Thanks, I knew the story but that interview is very cool. Interesting, he says, his version is about Betty Page.
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
th-cam.com/video/I73T5EJmaS4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ZCxc5xkCm1RXgyBS
wish someone would interview bill about this.
I just did. I found him, Ill post it soon
@@thelegend2571 cant wait
@@sheddingmyvelvet ill try to have it posted by end of the month it will be on the "brutalityinbuddha" youtube channel
@@thelegend2571 can you link me to that channel?
Here's the video m.th-cam.com/video/m7rCvRSJjak/w-d-xo.html
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. :-)
Omg that’s fantastic ..so much I never heard about...still one of my fav rock songs 🎸🙌🙌
I had NO IDEA that Ned Flanders wrote Black Betty...I'm Shook
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.
G Perrin
Ned Flanders?
Running on empty another great cruisin tune
Cool vid. Thanks. I've loved this song since it first came out. I always thought the band was super tight.
Love this. Actually searched for this about 2 months ago. Now today TH-cam decides to put this in my recommended lol.
Good song. I like it. I dont need to politicize it.
"He faded into oblivion" stuff like that bugs me out, dude could be dead and we'll never know.
he wasn’t answering phone calls
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
Did not know all of that. Thanks!
Bring it! Bring the amberlamps!
Was also in a Little known movie called "Blow" ☺
THE GREATEST ROCK & ROLL SONG EVER RAM JAM VERSION.
'Round about 2008 - 2010 I was working on the assembly line in a factory and was genuinely shocked that absolutely never HEARD this song!
Bill Bartlett rocks
Black Betty was a GUN, bam-a-lam, it used to make ‘em run, bam-a-lam
And it had a child?
I could listen to this all day.
Classic and still a timeless song.
Whoever wrote this originally really love rock music.
Didn't you watch the video? Leadbelly, or even some guy way before him, wrote the original. That was decades before the advent of rock'n'roll!
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.
...and please check out Elvis' version of Milk Cow Blues.
Leadbelly also sang Midnight Special and My Girl, covered by Nirvana.
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 :))
Racists aren't sensitive to other races, otherwise they wouldn't be racist.
I've loved this song since the first time I heard it as a kid.
This was and is actually an amazing record…..love it…still love it