Black Betty

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. From the early 18th century, the standard musket had a walnut stock, and was thus known in the British Army (by at least 1785) as a 'Brown Bess'.[2]

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 between northern England and southern Scotland; it later became a euphemism 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."[3][4] Other sources give the meaning of "Black Betty" in the United States (from at least 1827) as a liquor bottle.[5][6]

In Caldwells's Illustrated Combination Centennial Atlas of Washington Co. Pennsylvania of 1876, a short section describes wedding ceremonies and marriage customs, including a wedding tradition where two young men from the bridegroom procession were challenged to run for a bottle of whiskey. This challenge was usually given when the bridegroom party was about a mile from the destination-home where the ceremony was to be had. Upon securing the prize, referred to as "Black Betty", the winner of the race would bring the bottle back to the bridegroom and his party. The whiskey was offered to the bridegroom first and then successively to each of the groom's friends.[7]

John A. and Alan Lomax's 1934 book, American Ballads and Folk Songs describes the origins of "Black Betty":

"Black Betty is not another Frankie, 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 following song." (In the text, the music notation and lyrics follow.)

— Lomax, John A. and Alan Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs. (1934; reprint, New York: Dover, 1994), 60-1

John Lomax also interviewed blues musician James Baker (better known as "Iron Head") in 1934, almost one year after Iron Head performed the first known recorded performance of the song.[8] In the resulting article for Musical Quarterly, titled "'Sinful Songs' of the Southern Negro", Lomax again mentions the nickname of the bullwhip is "Black Betty".[9] Steven Cornelius in his book, Music of the Civil War Era, states in a section concerning folk music following the war's end that "prisoners sang of 'Black Betty', the driver's whip."[10]

In an interview[11] conducted by Alan Lomax with a former Texas penal farm prisoner named Doc Reese (a.k.a. "Big Head"), Reese stated that the term "Black Betty" was used by prisoners to refer to the "Black Maria" — the penitentiary transfer wagon.

Robert Vells, in Life Flows On in Endless Song: Folk Songs and American History, writes:

As late as the 1960s, the vehicle that carried men to prison was known as "Black Betty," though the same name may have also been used for the whip that so often was laid on the prisoners' backs, "bam-ba-lam."

— Wells, Robert V., Life Flows On in Endless Song: Folk Songs and American History. (Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, 2009) 156.

In later versions, "Black Betty" was depicted as various vehicles, including a motorcycle and a hot rod.

The song was first recorded in the field by US musicologists John and Alan Lomax in December 1933, performed a cappella by the convict James "Iron Head" Baker and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas (a State prison farm).[12] Baker was 63 years old at the time of the recording.

The Lomaxes were recording for the Library of Congress and later field recordings in 1934, 1936, and 1939 also include versions of "Black Betty". A notated version was published in 1934 in the Lomaxes book American Ballads and Folk Songs. It was recorded commercially in New York in April 1939 for the Musicraft Records label by Lead Belly, as part of a medley with two other work songs: "Looky Looky Yonder" and "Yellow Woman's Doorbells". Musicraft issued the recording in 1939 as part of a 78-rpm five-disc album entitled Negro Sinful Songs sung by Lead Belly.[13] Lead Belly had a long association with the Lomaxes, and had himself served time in State prison farms. Lead Belly was first recorded by the Lomaxes in 1933 when he was approximately 44 years old. John Lomax helped Lead Belly get the recording contract with Musicraft in 1939.

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 (as a medley with "Looky Yonder", with staccato guitar strums in place of hand claps), and Alan Lomax himself.[14]

In 1968 Manfred Mann released a version of the song, arranged for a band, with the title and lyrics changed to "Big Betty", on their LP Mighty Garvey!. In 1972 Manfred Mann's Earth Band performed "Black Betty" live for John Peel's In Concert on the BBC, but this has not been publicly released.[15]

"Black Betty"
Single by Ram Jam
from the album Ram Jam
B-side	"I Should Have Known"
Released	June 1977 (1977-06)
Genre	Hard rock blues rock
Length	2:32 (single version) 3:57 (album version)
Label	Epic
Songwriter(s)	Traditional Huddie Ledbetter
Producer(s)	Jerry Kasenetz Jeffry Katz
Ram Jam singles chronology
"Black Betty" (1977) "Keep Your Hands on the Wheel" (1977)

In 1977, the rock band Ram Jam, which included former Starstruck and Lemon Pipers guitarist Bill Bartlett, re-released an edit of the Starstruck recording of the song with producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry 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 the UK and Australia.

Both the Ram Jam and the Spiderbait versions appear in the 2005 film The Dukes of Hazzard, with the Ram Jam version also appearing on the soundtrack album.

Figure skating world champion Javier Fernández performed his short program to Ram Jam's version of "Black Betty" during the 2014–15 season, when he won his third European Championships title and his first World Championships gold medal.[16] The level Castle Rock from the 2013 video game Rayman Legends is based on Ram Jam's version of "Black Betty".

The song was remixed by Dutch DJ Ben Liebrand in 1989 as Rough 'n' Ready Remix and became successful, reaching number 13 in the UK as well as charting in several other countries.

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[47]	Gold	75,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[48]	Gold	400,000
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

"Black Betty"
Single by Spiderbait
from the album Tonight Alright
Released	February 2004 (2004-02)
Genre	Hard rock alternative rock
Length	3:26
Label	Universal Music (AUS) Interscope Records (US)
Songwriter(s)	Traditional Huddie Ledbetter
Producer(s)	Sylvia Massy
Spiderbait singles chronology
"Arse Huggin' Pants" / "Bo Bo" (2002) "Black Betty" (2004) "Fucken Awesome" (2004)

In 2004, Australian alternative rock band Spiderbait released a version of "Black Betty" as the lead single from their sixth studio album, Tonight Alright. Produced by Sylvia Massy, this version is a slightly faster re-working of Ram Jam's hard rock arrangement.

The song was a hit in Australia, reaching number 1 on the ARIA Charts in May 2004, becoming Spiderbait's first number one single in Australia. The song also made an impression in the United States, reaching number 32 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart in November of the same year.

Spiderbait's "Black Betty" was used in the following films: Without a Paddle (2004), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Guess Who (2005), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), The Condemned (2007), Death Race 2 (2011), The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017), and Birds of Prey (2020). It was also used in episodes of Malcolm in the Middle and My Name Is Earl, and the games Need for Speed: Underground 2 and Gran Turismo 6.

In 2006, the University of New Hampshire administration controversially banned the playing of Ram Jam's "Black Betty" at UNH hockey games. UNH Athletic Director Marty Scarano explained the reason for the decision: "UNH is not going to stand for something that insults any segment of society".[54] In 2006 UNH students started the "Save Black Betty" campaign. Students protested at the hockey games by singing Ram Jam's "Black Betty", wearing T-shirts with writing on the front "Save Black Betty" and writing on the back "Bam-A-Lam", and holding up campaign posters at the game. The Ram Jam version was again played once at a UNH–UMaine hockey game on January 24, 2013, after a seven-year hiatus.

• 1933 James Baker (AKA Iron Head) and group[8]
• 1939 Mose Platt (AKA Clear Rock)[55]
• 1939 Huddie Ledbetter (AKA Lead Belly), originally on the 78rpm album Negro Sinful Songs
• 1964 Odetta, as "Looky Yonder" on the album Odetta Sings of Many Things
• 1964 Alan Lomax, Texas Folk Songs album[56]
• 1964 Koerner, Ray & Glover, Lots More Blues, Rags and Hollers album[57]
• 1968 Manfred Mann, as "Big Betty" on the Mighty Garvey! album[58]
• 1972 Manfred Mann's Earth Band, BBC live recording for John Peel's In Concert (unreleased)
• 1976 Starstruck
• 1977 Ram Jam
• 1986 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Kicking Against the Pricks album contains a version of the entire Lead Belly medley "Looky Looky Yonder/Black Betty/Yellow Woman's Doorbells"[59]
• 1989 Mekong Delta, Toccata 12-inch maxi single
• 1989 Mina, Uiallalla album
• 1990 Ram Jam, Australia #17 single, Ben Liebrand remix of the original 1977 version called the "Rough 'n' Ready Remix"
• 1992 Electric Boys, "Dying to Be Loved" single (taken from the album Groovus Maximus)
• 1994 Electric Boys, Freewheelin album
• 2001 The Candy Snatchers, on the Taking a Ride EP.

• 2002 Tom Jones UK #50 single, also on the UK #36 album Mr. Tom Jones
• 2002 Throttlerod, on the compilation album Sucking The '70s
• 2004 Spiderbait
• 2005 Pumpjack, from the album Triple Platinum
• 2006 Meat Loaf, Bat Out Of Hell III single B-side
• 2006 Joe Brown, Down to Earth album
• 2006 Ying Yang Twins' song "Dangerous" contains a sample of the Ram Jam version
• 2007 Big City Rock on the TMNT soundtrack
• 2007 Soil, on the re-release of the album Throttle Junkies
• 2008 Ministry, on their cover album Cover Up
• 2009 Moriarty (band)
• 2011 Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, on a split 7-inch single
• 2011 Melvins, on the covers album Everybody Loves Sausages
• 2012 Scooter, Music for a Big Night Out album
• 2013 Moby, on the album Innocents the song "The Last Day" samples Lead Belly's version of "Looky Looky Yonder"
• 2017 Larkin Poe, on their 2017 album Peach
• 2020 Metal Church, on their album From the Vault

• Roud Folk Song Index
• List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States

• Collins, Lewis. Historical Sketches of Kentucky. Cincinnati: James & Co. (1848).
• Thornton, Richard H. (ed.). An American Glossary. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company (1912).

• Black Betty at AllMusic
• SecondHandSongs: List of cover versions
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics